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By The Recipe: Magnolia Bakery Chocolate Cupcakes

By on June 24, 2013
cuppycakes

This is my daughter. And yes, that is an Oscar. A real one. No, it does not belong to her. Although sometimes her tween behavior, attitude and drama could make her a front runner.

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Even though her Oscar winning performances are turning my hair gray, I love her to pieces! From day one, she has taken after her father. Colicky. Poor sleeper. Happy in the mornings. A small package of unlimited energy. She lights up the room simply by walking into it.

The one thing she has from me, is a love of baking. As soon as my little people were able to, I would put them up onto the counter (gasp!), put the bowl between their legs and give them a big wooden spoon. We would turn up the music, and as they stirred, I would sing at the top of my lungs, and dance silly, always bringing a smile to their sweet little faces. In fact, we still do it sometimes today, minus the sitting in the counter. We crank the music and they join me, singing like crazy. I wonder when the day will come that they will be embarrassed by me.

This week is her last week at elementary school. Here, elementary school ends with grade six, and high school is grades 7 through 11. It has been quite the year for her, and us. The fall was riddled with the stress of high school tours, entrance exams, interviews and waiting for the acceptance letters or phone calls. With the winter came the excitement of being accepted at her first choice school, and settling in to finish the year. Graduation preparations started and culminated with a ceremony and Hollywood themed dance, just last week.

 

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Turns out she doesn’t need the Oscar. She earned awards in Community Service, Leadership and Sportsmanship.

So back to the baking. Her class is having an end of year party today. Her contribution, cupcakes. Made and decorated, by herself. And thankfully for me, there are extras! Now to figure out how to get her to clean up when she is done. Her reply to me was “mummy, I did clean up, I put everything in the sink”. As I said, she takes after her father.

 

magnolia bakery chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting

 

This recipe comes straight from the book More From Magnolia by Alissa Torey. This is a great book if you need some good cake recipes. This recipe yielded us a dozen full sized cupcakes and at least 30 mini cupcakes. Thankfully she left the full sized ones for us and took the mini ones to school. Also I must note, that she was disappointed with how her frosting looked. I thought it was fantastic, of course.

 

Cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To melt the chocolate, place in a double boiler over simmering water on low heat for 5-10 minutes (about; stir occasionally until completely smooth and no pieces remain; remove from heat and let cool 5-15 minutes or until lukewarm.

Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers; set aside.

In a bowl, sift the flour and baking soda together; set aside.

In a big mixing bowl, cream the butter, using an electric mixer on MEDIUM speed, until smooth.

Add the sugars and beat for about 3 minutes or until fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beat well after each addition.

Add the chocolate, mixing until well incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients, in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla.

With each addition, beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overmix.

Scrape down the batter from the sides of the bowl, using a rubber spatula, to make sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.

Carefully spoon batter into cupcake liners; fill 3/4 full.

Bake in a 350° oven for 20-25 minutes or until pick comes out clean.

Cool in tins for 15 minutes.

Remove from tins and cool completely on a wire rack.

Ice when completely cool.

 

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

1-½ cup unsalted butter

2 tablespoons milk

9 ounces, weight semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled to lukewarm

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-¼ cups powdered sugar, sifted

 

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter using an electric mixer on medium speed for about 3 minutes or until creamy.

Add the milk carefully and beat until smooth.

Add the melted chocolate and beat well for 2 minutes.

Add the vanilla and beat for 3 minutes.

Gradually add in the sugar and beat on low speed until creamy and of desired consistency.

Yields enough frosting for a 9-inch 2-layer cake or about 2 dozen cupcakes.

 

Julie of By The Recipe says this about her food writing:

I’m not sure which came first: my sweet tooth, or my desire to bake.  Before I was a wife and a mother, I was a baker.  I love to bake.

Before kids, I wasn’t much of a cook. After kids, my cooking abilities improved, I guess because I needed to feed my family. Over the years I have come to enjoy cooking, almost as much as baking.  But let’s be honest, the best part of baking and cooking are the accolades of a great mouthful of food. That inspires me.

When I cook, I cook by the recipe. Almost always.

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