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Deep, dark and delicious: Julie's chocolate cupcakes

By on November 25, 2013

By Julie of By The Recipe.

Happy birthday this month to my baby boy!

Now he is 10.

The lament of every parent is “where did the time go?”

I remember the colicky days. I remember the sleepless nights. I remember the pacifier that made all our lives easier.

We read Ruby in Her Own Time, over and over again.

20131105-204014From amazon.com:

Mother Duck and Father Duck are worried about Ruby. As the littlest duckling of the family, she learns to eat and swim long after her four sisters and brothers. Father Duck frets that Ruby will never catch up, but Mother Duck calmly reassures him that Ruby will flourish — “in her own time.”

That was Ruby. And that was my little baby boy. Late to sit up. Late to roll over. In fact I don’t think he ever did that one. Late to walk. Late to talk. We joke because now he doesn’t stop. talking. at. all.

 

20131105-203441He is kind and sensitive.
He is boisterous and fun.
He has a very dry, witty sense of humour.
He is everything I could have wished for in a little boy.

 

Deep Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

This recipe, from the Hershey’s Chocolate Lover’s Cookbook, is my absolute favourite chocolate cake. Works well as a cake , or as a cupcake. 

CAKE:

2 cups granulated sugar 500 mL
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 425 mL
3/4 cup HERSHEY’S® Cocoa 175 mL
1 1/2 tsp baking powder 7 mL
1 1/2 tsp baking soda 7 mL
1 tsp salt 5 mL
2 eggs 2
1 cup milk 250 mL
1/2 cup vegetable oil 125 mL
2 tsp vanilla extract 10 mL
1 cup boiling water 250 mL

Directions:

1 Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease and flour two 9-inch (1.5 L) round baking pans or one 9 x 13-inch (3.5 L) baking pan.

2 Stir sugar with flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer, on medium speed, for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Divide batter evenly between prepared pans.

3 Bake for 30 to 35 minutes for the round pans (35 to 40 minutes for the large pan, 20 minutes for cupcakes) or until a wooden pick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on a rack. Turn cakes out from pans; cool completely. (Sheet cake may be left in pan if desired.) Makes 8 to 10 servings.

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:

6 tbsp butter or margarine, softened 90 mL
2 2/3 cups icing sugar 650 mL
1/2 cup HERSHEY’S® Cocoa 125 mL
1/3 cup milk 75 mL
1 tsp vanilla 5 mL

Beat butter in medium bowl. Combine the icing sugar with the cocoa. Alternately add the icing sugar mixture and the milk to the butter, until a spreadable consistency is reached (additional milk may be required to reach preferred consistency). Stir in vanilla. Frost cooled cake.

Makes about 2 cups (500 mL) of frosting.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: I have had the pleasure of eating Julie’s chocolate cake. And I will tell you, it is bar-none the best chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten… and not just because one is sharing it with great company, although that never hurts.)

 

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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