This year for Geoffrey’s birthday, I promised to bake him a cake. I typed in the words “best chocolate cake recipes” into Google, clicked on the first page that came up, and promptly made a shopping list of ingredients that we were in need of. The night before his big day, we returned home from visiting his family, and I set out to make the cake.

We moved into The Little Barn only a few weeks ago, but between work, dogs, contractors, and life, we have yet to unpack absolutely every box. (We only just got our kitchen sink installed on Friday.) When I went to grease two 9″ cake pans, I realized that I only had one bread pan, a casserole dish, and two muffins trays. Pardon my French, but my first thought was, “Shit. Now what?” Never one to be deterred in the kitchen, I chose to turn this two-tiered chocolate cake into 29 muffins, given that he was turning that exact age this year.

This one decision turned an everyday chocolate cake recipe into a beautiful mountain of chocolate cupcakes. It was definitely a silver lining moment.

Chocolate Cake Cupcakes:

For the cake mixture:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

For the frosting:
2 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tbsp butter
5 tbsp evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare the muffin trays by buttering and lightly flouring.

2. Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk through to combine well.

3. Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla. Mix at medium speed until combined. Add boiling water, and beat at a high speed to add air to the batter.

4. Distribute mixture evenly to muffin trays, filling about 1/2 to 3/4 full. Bake for approximately 17 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. Let cool.

5. In a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa, and set aside.

6. In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk. Blend in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. If necessary, adjust consistency with more milk or sugar.

7. Once cool, remove the cupcakes from the trays. Frost the tops of each cupcake. Place in the refrigerator.

8. After the frosting has hardened, build a tower of cupcakes. Then serve, and enjoy!

Because of time constraints, I had to use store-bought icing for Geoffrey’s Chocolate Cake Cupcakes. The next time that I make this, I will be sure to make it from scratch. BTW, I most definitely will be making this recipe again. The design and the taste were that extraordinary! Be sure to try it out for yourself!

<3

Emory

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