Double Chocolate Cupcakes

I have a random problem. I am a gift card hoarder. I realized when I was switching purses that I have quite a nice stack of gift cards, most of them being from last Christmas. I can spend my own money fairly easily, but for some reason, I want a gift card to end up resulting in a purchase that’s truly a gift. 🙂 This past weekend, I combined a couple of Macy’s gift cards (from Christmas last year), and purchased myself a big girl food processor. No more making salsa in batches in the small 3-4 cup food processor….no more shredding cheese by hand…this gal is very excited! I think that’s a good gift, no? It’s crazy how excited I am about this new kitchen toy.

I also hoard other random things…usually pretty things, like certain skeins of yarn, fabrics and well, as silly as it sounds, these cupcake liners. I purchased these from Pick Your Plum months ago, and I just thought they were so pretty…I couldn’t just use them on just any cupcake. So, they’ve been sitting in a drawer for months. I decided that I just had to bake with these at some point, and with Halloween around the corner, the orange polka dot ones would be perfect.

I got the idea to make double chocolate cupcakes from a local shopping expo yesterday. A bakery was giving out samples of chocolate-chocolate chip cake, and I thought that would be an excellent cupcake for Halloween. Dark chocolate in orange liners….festive, right? These cupcakes are delightful…I added chocolate chips in there to give it a deeper chocolate flavor, and then topped them with a classic chocolate buttercream that I featured on here before, which is always a winner. 🙂

Double Chocolate Cupcakes
Source: cupcakes slightly adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction, frosting from Savory Sweet Life

**makes 24 cupcakes**

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

• 1 cup (2 sticks)  unsalted butter
• 4 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the buttercream:

• 1 batch chocolate buttercream

Directions:

1. Prehead the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 cupcake pans with cupcake liners and set aside for later.
2. In a medium microwave safe bowl, melt the butter and chocolate together, microwaving in 30 second increments (stirring after each time). In another medium sized bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt until well-combined. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the eggs, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla together until smooth. With the mixer on low, add in half of the flour/cocoa mixture, then half of the buttermilk. Repeat again until everything is added. Add in the mini chocolate chips, and mix until just combined (being mindful not to overmix).
4. Add batter to the cupcake liners (1/2-2/3 of the way full). Bake for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting.
5. Make the frosting according to the directions (linked above) as the cupcakes are cooling. Frost the cupcakes and enjoy!