Devil's Food Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Frosting

Servings 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

½ cup light brown sugar packed

1 teaspoon Ground Cocoa Beans (You can use coffee, but obviously I won’t ;) 

1 cup hot water

1 stick softened butter plus some for greasing

¾ cup sugar superfine or granulated

1-½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs at room temperature

For the frosting:

½ cup butter softened

4 ounces cream cheese softned

4 ounces Dark chocolate melted (see recipe notes)

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt optional (to cut sweetness)

½ cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder sifted

1-1½ cups powdered sugar sifted

Black gel food coloring optional (as needed)

Instructions

For the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/180 C.

In a mixing bowl whisk together the coco powder, instant coffee, brown sugar and hot water. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together, beating well until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract.

Add eggs, one at a time with a cup of the flour mixture in between eggs. Mix in the rest of the dried ingredients for the cake and fold in the cocoa mixture.

Divide the batter evenly into 12 cupcakes and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

In a large bowl, beat the melted chocolate with the softened butter and cream cheese.

Add the cocoa, vanilla extract, salt and ½ cup of the powdered sugar adding another ½ cup of the sugar until smooth and desired consistency. If using, add the black food coloring a little at a time (mixing in between) until the color deepens to your liking.

Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

**Recipe Notes

What chocolate? Use dark chocolate that is between 54-66% cocoa solids. In the US, bittersweet chocolate works well.   Chocolate higher in cocoa percentage would probably be too bitter. I would also avoid milk chocolate unless you have a real sweet tooth.