Cupcakes!!

Every month, we have a birthday celebration at work.  This month (Feb) I volunteered to do the baking.  I decided on cupcakes (each is a serving!  they're cute!  and they can be eaten without knives, plates, or forks, which means less waste and dishes!) so on Friday, I fiddled around with an idea for rainbow-themed cupcakes.  I quickly realized that I couldn't fit 6 colours in one cupcake, so I settled on three: red, yellow, and blue.  I used a vanilla cupcake recipe that I love, added the food colouring, and baked them - they came out perfect!  I piped on some from-scratch chocolate frosting, added some sprinkles, and viola! Beautiful :)

After eating a few, though, I realized a few things: the colours didn't come out as bright as I had hoped.  And in mixing in the colouring, I deflated the batter, so the resulting cupcakes were quite dense.  And the chocolate frosting was nearly overpowered by the taste of the brown sugar I used.  So, back to the drawing board.  I'm glad I did a test run, but now I had to try a new recipe Tuesday night, when it counted, and this was what I had been trying to avoid with the original test run.  Oh well, nothing to do for it now!

On Monday, I read Rhonda's blog post in which she introduces the "the best moist chocolate cake recipe" she has ever tried with the following sentence: "Just so you're well aware that it's not all angels, love hearts and sweetness in my kitchen, here (below) is the beginning of the ugliest cake I've ever made."  Immediately, I was hooked!  She provided a link to the recipe, and I decided to give it a go (especially as the recipe's author had conveniently included cupcake directions too).  Jordan and I ate dinner as the cupcakes cooled, and just before bed, I iced them with a simple buttercream frosting (recipe below) and broke out the same fun sprinkles.  I tried piping the icing at first, but quickly realized that it was much too stiff (as it burst through the sides of the bag!) so I switched to simply spreading the icing with a knife.

They turned out fabulous!!  Definitely very moist, and the coffee added just a subtle flavour.  I'll definitely be making these again, though maybe not for little kids :)

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Frosts about 24 cupcakes - maybe a few more :)

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
6-8 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
1. In an electric mixing bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, or a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter for a few minutes until smooth and creamy.
2. Add 4c of the sugar, all the milk, and the vanilla and mix on low speed until combined.
3. Add another 2c of sugar and mix on low speed until light and fluffy.  Add remaining sugar if needed to reach desired consistency.

Store in an airtight container out of the sun or in the fridge.  It sets very quickly, so add additional decorations promptly.

Tip: to avoid filling the air with powdered sugar, place a clean tea towel over the mixing bowl.