{ The Life In Cupcakes }: chocolate buttercream

When I was a little girl, I used to pronounce 'chocolate' as 'osh-quit'. I knew I loved it even before I knew how to say it! I was wandering about Trader Joe's one day and came across Trader Joe's Unsweetened Cocoa Powder so I decided to give it a whirl. THEN I look on the back and see a recipe titled, "The Greatest & Easiest Chocolate Cake" and I couldn't resist. This recipe uses a great deal of buttermilk, more than I have ever used in a cupcake recipe, so I new this would turn out with a great texture. I disregarded the directions and followed my own preferred steps and just used the ingredient list. I topped these little cakes off Chocolate Buttercream made with Ghirardelli's 60% cacoa baking chips. So delightful! You MUST try!

Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes
(Makes 48 cupcakes, or 24 cupcakes and one 9 inch round cake)

3 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 1/3 cup Trader Joe's Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
3 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
12 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
3 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla (as always, I only use Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla from Nielsen-Massey)
5 eggs, room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin(s) with cupcake liners and grease 9 inch round cake pan (s).
2. Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add in vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
5. Alternating between the dry flour mixture and buttermilk, pour in each in thirds and wait until well blended before each addition. Be sure to start and end with adding the dry flour mixture.
6. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 18-20 minutes for cupcakes, or 50-55 minutes in cake pans.
7. Frost and DEVOUR!

Ghirardelli Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Find the recipe in a previous post HERE :)

All set with equipment and ingredients!

Have a wonderful week!

The best part of making cupcakes is the creativity. Cupcakes are 3 square inches of an empty canvas, so make every inch count with delicious details!

We celebrated my friend Andrea's birthday a few weekends back and, of course, I jumped at the opportunity to paint some edible canvases. I really enjoyed incorporating a special part of her personality into the cupcakes: Andrea is currently in graduate school for Archaeology! So with a bit of research on the career, I got the creative juices flowing, preheated the oven, and baked away.

When asked what flavor she prefers, Andrea replied, "Chocolate, duh!". haha! So I used the Chocolate Cupcake recipe from Dede Wilson's Book, A Baker's Field Guide to Cupcakes and the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting from the book, Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery. As usual, I often make these recipes my own by adjusting the quantities, substituting ingredients, and adding my own instruction if I choose to.

Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 18 cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup milk, room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pans with 18 cupcake liners.
2. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl; set aside.
3. In large bowl using an electric stand mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Be sure to scrape down the bowl at least once.
4. Beat in vanilla extract. Beat in eggs one at a time, waiting until egg is absorbed and scrape bowl before adding additional egg.
5. Add flour mix in four additions, alternating with milk; beginning and ending with the flour mixture on low-medium speed.
6. Using a spring-loaded ice cream scoop, fill cupcake liners 2/3 full.
7. Bake for 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center shows a few moist crumbs. *Do not over bake! Chocolate cupcakes can get dry easily. I could have pulled them out a minute sooner to retain more moisture.
8. Remove from oven, cool cupcakes in pans for 5 minutes then remove and place them on cooling racks to cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Frosts 15-20 cupcakes

6oz (1 dry measure cup) of bittersweet chocolate, I used Ghirardelli's 60% Cacao baking chips
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablepsoon 2% milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups confectioners' (powdered) sugar, sifted to remove all clumps

1. Place chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl and melt on medium for 25-30 second intervals until smooth and has a think pouring consistency. Stir well in between each interval to prevent burning the chocolate. Leave to cool slightly.
2. In a larger mixing bowl, beat butter, milk, vanilla, and confectioners' sugar until smooth. This can take several minutes.
3. Add the slightly cooled melted chocolate and beat again until thick and creamy. If it appears too runny to frost cupcakes, keep mixing as this will thicken it and improve consistency.

Step #1: Melting the chocolate chips

Step #3: Add slightly cool chocolate chips into creamed mixture until desired thickness is acheived.

Making the archaeological fondant toppers.

Because I know as much about archaeological tools as I do about rocket science, I did my homework first! I knew I wanted to do for the artifacts, but thanks to the wonders of Google, I found inspiration for the tool toppers here.

Top row from left to right: ceramic bowl and grinding tool with corn granules, stone-carved arrows, stake wire flag with flagging tape, fan brush with hand trowel, and rock pick with soil probe.