Chocolate Cupcakes with Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting

Hellooooo!

Things have been getting all crazy up in here, with finals rushing up. It's insane for me to realize that I'm gonna be a junior in college in a few months! Aw geez, I'm gonna be an upperclassman, how cool! I remember being a junior in high school... I had stupid hair, wore too much makeup, and had the self esteem of a salted snail. I also had a penchant for writing emo Facebook statuses and updating my profile picture every two weeks with another selfie. Ohhh, those awkward cringe-worthy years. Actually, I'm still awkward and cringe-worthy, but I heard that the new word for that is "quirky," which sounds ten times more complimentary.

So I made these cupcakes a while ago for a sweetie-pie I know who turned 22 (just like Taylor Swift's song)! I wanted to make simple, delicious cupcakes that didn't require a handheld mixer or anything fancy. I used a simple one-bowl chocolate cake recipe from Sprinkle Bakes, and they turned out moist, chocolatey, and not too sweet. I envisioned a chocolate ganache topping the cupcakes, so I decided to buy some kind of chocolate nut butter -- I bought chocolate almond butter from Trader Joe's, but Nutella would be equally delicious! I made a stiff, pipe-able whipped cream frosting that wouldn't melt like regular whipped cream, but would still be just as tasty. 

Cupcakes are some of my favoritest things ever (big surprise, I know) because they're not only yummy, but they're adorable, tiny, and colorful as well. Everyone loved these cupcakes, and I'm sure you will too!

Chocolate Cupcakes

Yield: 19 cupcakes

3/4 Cup + 1/8 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 Cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

3/4 Cup hot water

3/4 Cup heavy cream

3 tbsp canola or other vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line muffin tin with cupcake papers and set aside.

Sift together cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.  Add eggs, water, heavy cream, oil and vanilla.  Mix with whisk or hand mixer until smooth.  

Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each half full.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Let cool. 

Homemade Whipped Cream Frosting (For Piping)

8 ounces mascarpone cheese (or cream cheese)
1/4 Cup sugar
1 Cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Scrape the mascarpone or cream cheese into a large bowl, and add the sugar and vanilla extract. Whip it until it reaches a smoother, less clumpy texture. Pour in the heavy whipping cream and continue whipping until the consistency becomes smooth, fluffy, and stiff. Do not overwhip, or it will begin to look clumpy. If your frosting is too soft to pipe, chill it in the refrigerator for an hour.

Constructing the Cupcakes:
After the cupcakes are cool, spread each of them with about a tablespoon of chocolate nut butter on top. Pipe or carefully spread the whipped cream frosting over the top of the cupcakes. If desired, garnish with rainbow sprinkles like I did!

These cupcakes are sure to bring a smile to anybody's face! I hope you try them out. They are fantastic for birthdays or really any day. If you bake them for your special someone, they'll be astonished by your crazy baking talent, and will immediately fall in love with you. Why wouldn't they? I'd fall in love with someone who brought me cupcakes as delicious as these ones. MmHMM. Have a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend!