For Valentine's Day this year, I made my husband chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. This was the first time I had made either cupcakes or frosting from scratch, so I was very nervous about it. Baking, to me, seems like the most complicated form of cooking to master. So far, I've done fairly well at it and these were no exception. I am very proud of how it all turned out and the hubs ate 4 cupcakes that night!
Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes
Ingredients:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk (I used 1%)
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup sugar
5 Tbsp butter, softened
1 large egg
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line twelve muffin-pan cups with paper baking liners.
In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a 2-cup liquid measuring cup, combine milk and vanilla, set aside.
In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat sugar and butter just until blended. Increase speed to high; beat 3 minutes, or until mixture is light and creamy. Reduce speed to low; add egg, beat well.
Add flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat just until combined, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula.
Spoon batter into muffin-pan cups, filling each about half full. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 22 to 25 minutes. Immediately remove cupcakes from pans and cool completely on wire racks.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes about 3/4 of a cup, enough for 12 cupcakes or a 1/2 sheet cake
Ingredients:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
3 ounces cream cheese
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
In a medium bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat ingredients until blended. Increase speed to medium, beat until frosting is smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula.
