Death by Chocolate Cupcakes

Death by Chocolate Cupcakes are from-scratch, rich, chocolate cupcakes made with cocoa powder, studded with chocolate chips, and topped with decadent chocolate cream cheese frosting.  To die for!

As a participant in the Young & Hungry Blogger Challenge, I was presented with the task of creating the prettiest, funniest, wackiest or loveliest cupcake I could think of. My first reaction was, "Well, that narrows it down!"  Haha.

As a girl who has never claimed to be a baker, I was a little intimidated by this one.  I started wracking my brain trying to decide how to make my cupcake stand out with the cupcake liners that the challenge was centered around.  What would make my cupcake the star of the contest?

And then it came to me.

Chocolate.  Pure, rich, sweet, unadulterated chocolate.

My plan was to make even those who aren't chocolate fanatics drool over my cupcakes.  So I set out to create the chocolatiest, most decadent, most drool-worthy cupcakes I could imagine.  And so we have the Death by Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting!

Everything in the recipe is made from scratch.  It was chocolate on top of chocolate.

And then I added some more chocolate.

You know, because I didn't think that there was quite enough chocolate going on.

Do you like the little tombstones?  Cute, right?

I thought they went with my whole "death by chocolate" theme perfectly and add a little whimsy and a funny element that I thought would catch the voter's eye.

Death by Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

   

Yield: 12 frosted cupcakes

Ingredients

CAKE

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 5 tbsps milk
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, plus extra for garnish

FROSTING

• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Instructions

1. For the cake: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter an sugar on medium-high speed for 3 minutes.  Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula.
4. Reduce speed to low and add the vanilla and egg.  Beat until incorporated.
5. Add the flour mixture and the milk to the bowl a little at a time. (I alternated with a half cup flour mixture, then one tablespoon milk, and repeated until they were both gone.)
6. Pour the batter into the muffin tin.  Bake in the preheated oven for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.  Cool in the pan for 10 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before frosting.
7. For the frosting: Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth.  Add the vanilla.  Next add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing between additions.  Finally, add the cocoa powder and beat until fully combined.  Pipe or spread the frosting onto cupcakes and sprinkle with mini chocolate chips.

Notes

• I used a 1M Wilton tip for the frosting.  I love it!
• Source: Frosting adapted from cupcakeproject.com.
• This recipe was created for the ABC Family Young & Hungry Blogger Challenge.  (Please vote for me!)  I was provided with cupcake liners as an inspiration for this challenge.  All thoughts and opinions, as always, are my own.