Chocolate Cupcakes

Or Devil's Food Cupcakes, whatever

This recipe for Devils Food Layer Cake comes from Williams Sonoma online, not to be confused with the recipe in any Williams Sonoma cookbook. Full recipe here: https://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/devils-food-layer-cake.html (which for data protection reasons cannot be accessed in Europe. Come on, Williams Sonoma, get your sh*t together). I have not changed this recipe, but I have put in gram based measurements. You may note that my cupcakes look a bit shi*t, and you would not be wrong. These were iced with a butter knife because my palette knife was not with me and I couldn't find a piping bag. This recipe makes a 2 layer 9 inch cake or 24 cupcakes.

Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cake:

1 cup/225g boiling water

3/4 cup/75g unsweetened cocoa powder

1 3/4 cups/210g all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups/400g granulated sugar

10 TBSP/142g unsalted butter at room temperature

3 large eggs at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups/300g buttermilk at room temperature

If you don't have or cant find buttermilk, or you don't want to buy it, low fat yogurt works just fine. Use the nastiest thinnest wateriest yogurt and don't forget to include that gross water that accumulates on top

Icing:

3 3/4 cups/450g confectioners (icing) sugar

1 cup/100g unsweetened cocoa powder

8 TBSP/112g unsalted butter at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

Up to 1 cup/230g heavy cream

If in the UK, use half double cream and half single cream, adding the double cream first

Instructions

For the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350˚F/180˚C

Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans, or prepare a muffin tin with liners

In a small bowl, whisk together boiling water and cocoa powder and cool completely

You can chuck it in the freezer for a little while to expedite the cooling process, just stir it every few minutes to keep an even chill

In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt, set aside

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or using a handheld mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, for around .3 minutes

Beat in the eggs one at a time, then beat in the vanilla and cooled cocoa mixture

Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl from time to time to make sure the mixture is evenly distributed and you don't have clumps of sugarbutter

Add the flour mixture and buttermilk in 3 additions, starting and ending with the flour mixture, and mix until just combined

This does not have to be done in exact measurements, and remember to scrape the sides

Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans, or fill cupcake liners roughly 2/3 of the way

Don't worry if it's a little bit messy

Bake 35-40 minutes for layer cakes, 20-25 minutes for cupcakes until they pass the clean knife test with a few moist crumbs and the cakes begin to pull away from the sides of their pans

Immediately run a knife around the edge of the cupcakes as soon as they come out of the oven. This will make sure that they will come out easily, if any batter has overflowed from the liners. It's a lot easier to do this when they're fresh out of the oven, otherwise the spilled batter will dry and glue the cupcakes to the pan, and it will be a lot more difficult to get them out without breaking the cupcake tops

Let cool in pan on a wire rack for c.15, then invert onto the racks to cool completely

This is not a real cooling rack, it's a dehydrating rack from an old convection oven. It works just fine. Any similar thing will work as a cooling rack, as long as it lets air flow under and around the cakes/cupcakes. The insert to a large grill pan also works very well.

While the cakes/cupcakes are cooling, make the icing:

Sift together the cocoa powder and confectioners sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer

Or into a large bowl if using a handheld mixer

Add the butter and vanilla extract and beat until crumbly

It should look like dirty sand or fine gravel

With the mixer running, gradually pour in the cream until you have a spreadable icing

You can add less or more depending on how stiff or runny you want the icing to be

The towel in the second picture is a trick I picked up from the Preppy Kitchen channel. If you wrap a towel around the mixer/bowl, it stops the sugar billowing out and making a mess. You can also use cling film, but the towel is the easiest. Don't use any towel that can't get stained and dirty, because it will.

For the assembly:

Making sure the cakes/cupcakes are completely cooled, spread the desired amount of icing over the top

You can use a piping bag to make a nice pattern, or a palette knife to make a more aesthetically pleasing finish. But, a butter knife also works just fine - they all taste the same.

(If you're making a cake, frost the middle, then thinly frost the top and sides for a crumb coat, refrigerate 30 minutes, and go over it again with a thicker coat of frosting).

These can be stored covered at room temperature, or in an airtight container. According to one consumer, these are just as good two days after they're baked, and three days after they're baked, but I'd say not to keep them for longer than five days after baking (because yuchgh to five day old cake). There's butter and cream in the icing, so it is better to store them in a refrigerator if your kitchen is particularly warm. Do not store anywhere warmer than room temperature.