best one-bowl chocolate cupcakes

Today I thought I'd share my favorite cupcake recipe with you. I originally made it for the halloween brain cupcakes of 2010, and it comes from Martha Stewart. I made the recipe again this week for some treats to take to work, and they were just as delicious as I remembered. Both times I have made them as mini cupcakes. The size I use is between standard and truly mini, but I think they are the perfect size! You don't have to eat two to be satisfied, but if you do you won't feel sick. Also, this last time I halved the recipe, and it made about 25 cupcakes. If you make the full recipe in mini size, you will have a ton.

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used dutch processed, yum!)
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 3/4 cup buttermilk (I never have buttermilk, so I either use milk+lemon juice or powdered buttermilk)
• 3 tablespoons safflower oil (I use canola)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl (I don't sift, and it is okay). Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.
2. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes (11 if using the medium-mini pans), rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Frosting

I used a good old Betty Crocker recipe for this, from my mom's ancient red book. It was very simple, and A thought it was particularly delicious.

Combine 1/3 cup butter and 3 cups powdered sugar in the mixer. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla and 2 tablespoons milk, and mix until smooth.

I wasn't sure I would have enough frosting to pipe, so these last cupcakes I knife-frosted, which surprisingly took a lot longer. They don't look super awesome in my instagram picture, but in real life I thought they looked charming. I was going for Christmas decor, but we didn't have as many Christmas sprinkles as I had remembered (a lot more red than green). I actually don't like eating sprinkles, but in this case they communicated the point I was going for. If we're friends on facebook, you know what I mean. If not, I'll explain later.

Anyway, give these cupcakes a try! They are crazy easy, and super delicious, and did you notice that they only have 3 tablespoons oil? Awesome!