Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

How do you better the chocolate cupcake? You add more chocolate! Starting with a dark chocolate cake, covered with a thin layer of white chocolate ganache, mounded with a white chocolate frosting, sprinkled with German chocolate shavings, topped with a chocolate covered cherry...

Makes 24 cupcakes (I usually cut it in half)

Adapted from Hersey's Kitchens

2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup dark chocolate powder

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1.2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F and grease cupcake pans. Sift together sugar, flour, dark chocolate powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, vanilla, and oil; beat on medium speed for two minutes. Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin). Pour batter into cupcake pans. Bake for about 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool before frosting...

patience is required, as I have many times gotten excited and attempted to remove them before cooling. Results in a crumbly mess. Which I then have to make a trifle. That's a story for another day...

Frosting recipe

Credited to: Andie (which I have found to be the only truly successful frosting recipe I have baked with.) 

1 cup milk

5 TB flour

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup butter at room temperature

 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

In saucepan on low heat, simmer milk and flour until smooth and thickens. Be sure to stir the whole time so that the mixture does not become clumpy. Remove from heat after about 7 minutes or when the mixture resembles cake batter. Allow to cool completely.

Meanwhile, mix butter, sugar, and vanilla until creamy and smooth. Once the flour and milk mixture as cooled completely, I repeat... completely, with a beat together with butter/sugar mixture until frosting is whipped and soft. I like to add a bit of dark cocoa powder if I am making chocolate cupcakes. Enjoy!