There’s no reason to use boxed cake mixes as a starter for your chocolate cupcakes. The quality of a fresh-baked, homemade cupcake can’t be beat. Using ingredients that are easily available, such as flour, eggs, and baking powder will give you better results than any mix can. And learning how to bake from scratch will make you a more confident baker.
Devil’s Food cake is one of the most popular, rich chocolate cakes. The name for this rich chocolate treat is in some dispute. The term ‘deviled’ was used a couple of centuries ago to refer to spicy foods. You could add cinnamon or a pinch of chipotle chocolate to this recipe or to the frosting, to spice it up. However, most Devil’s Food cake is fairly mild. Another theory is that it picked up the name because it was formerly often baked using a lot of red food dye (it’s similar to red velvet cake). My mother never used red dye when making this cake, so I can’t personally attest to the truth of that claim.
I just know that it’s a wonderful cake, and chocolate cupcakes made with this recipe are especially rich. The sour cream really adds to the fluffy quality of the cake.
As with all cake recipes, you don’t want the batter to be too lumpy (unmixed) or too thick. But, it shouldn’t be like water, either!
This recipe makes about 18 cupcakes.
Ingredients
6-8 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (depending on how chocolaty you want it)
½ cup boiling water
½ cup tablespoons (120 g) butter, softened
2 cups white sugar (400 g)
3 medium eggs
2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 C).
- Load muffin pan with paper or foil cupcake liners.
- Measure cocoa into small bowl, add boiling water, and mix with a fork until smooth. Set aside to cool.
- Using an electric or tabletop mixer, mix the butter and sugar on medium speed until creamy (about 4 minutes).
- Separate egg yolks and whites, then add yolks to butter and sugar mixture. Mix well.
- Sift in flour, baking powder and baking soda together in a bowl.
- Add to the butter, sugar, and egg mixture. Continue mixing on medium.
- Add cocoa liquid, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Mix well.
- Whisk the egg whites until stiff and then fold gently into the cake mixture. Do not overmix.
- Using a large spoon or spatula, fill liners about 2/3 full.
- Bake at 350 degrees until tops spring back when you press them with a finger lightly.
- Remove from oven and let cupcakes stand in muffin pan for no more than 3 minutes.
- Cool on a rack before frosting.
Frost the cupcakes with your favorite icing. Some chocoholics prefer a nice dark chocolate buttercream frosting sometimes with a bit of coffee mixed in for a rich mocha flavor. I’ve had these cupcakes with a chocolate mint frosting and covered in a thick vanilla buttercream, which is hard to beat.
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