Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes

There's no resisting this "Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes" recipe, with its perfectly moist and insanely chocolatey flavor, topped with a supreme fudge chocolate frosting. You might even consider taking this cupcake over the top and adding some chocolate ganache as a filling, oh my!

This cupcake recipe is moist and tender, not too dense nor too light, with just the perfect crumb texture. The chocolate frosting recipe is deep, intense, chocolaty, fudge-consistency frosting. For the chocolate frosting recipe you will need softened room temperature unsalted butter, powdered sugar sifted, Dutch processed cocoa powder, vanilla extract, melted and slightly cooled dark chocolate and heavy cream. To make the chocolate frosting recipe, to start in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about two minutes. Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add the cocoa powder and beat until completely creamy and smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract, melted chocolate, and heavy cream, mixing until combined. Add the powdered sugar as necessary until frosting is spreadable.

A typical cupcake uses the same basic ingredients as standard cakes butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. Most any recipe that works for a layer cake can be used to bake cupcakes. The cake batter used for cupcakes may be flavored or have other ingredients stirred in, such as berries, nuts, or chocolate chips. A cupcakes small size is more efficient for heat conduction, making them bake much faster than a normal layered cake. Cupcakes may be topped with frosting or other cake decorations. They may be filled with frosting, fruit, or pastry cream.

Chocolate is a typically sweet, usually brown, food preparation made from cacao seeds, roasted and ground. It is often flavored with vanilla. It is made in the form of a liquid, paste, or in a block, or used as a flavoring ingredient in other sweet foods. Cacao has been cultivated by many cultures for at least three millennia in Mesoamerica. The earliest evidence of chocolate can be traced to the Mokaya (Mexico and Guatemala), with evidence of chocolate beverages dating back to 1900 BC. In fact, the majority of Mesoamerican people made chocolate beverages, including the Maya and Aztecs, who made it into a beverage known as xocolāt. The seeds of the cacao tree have an intense bitter taste and must be fermented to develop the flavor. Chocolate is a popular treat eaten in a variety of mostly sweet desserts. Some of the things you will find chocolate include candy making, chocolate chips, chocolate beverages (hot chocolate), chocolate covered almonds, truffles, cookies, puddings, fudge, cereals, ganache, cheesecake, chocolates with various fillings, cakes, granola bars, lollipops and candies.