Easy Chocolate Cupcakes

Sometimes, you just want to satisfy that sweet tooth with minimal effort. Sure, there are recipes that provide hours of toil that produce the most decadent and glorious cupcakes you’ll ever place in your mouth, but we consider those “special occasion cupcakes”. And, sure, there are cupcakes that are paleo friendly and gluten free and dairy free, but we consider those, “healthy cupcakes” that aren’t quite as good. That’s why we’ve come up with the perfect go-to chocolate cupcakes that are consistently delicious, easy to make, and great for any occassion.

Cupcake Ingredients

• 10 tablespoons butter
• 1 ¼ cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract
• 1 ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup milk

Frosting Ingredients

• 2 ¾ cups powdered sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 5 tablespoons evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. You’ll need two muffin pans, and you can either sufficiently grease each cup, or line each one with a paper baking cup.

Next, in a medium sized bowl, mix your butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy; beat in the eggs, almond and vanilla extract. Slowly add in the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt, alternating with the milk until well blended. Be sure that you add the milk often enough to keep the powder from the mixture from welling up and escaping the bowl. Once everything is mixed together and smooth, divide the batter evenly into the prepared cups in the pans.

Bake in the oven until the tops spring back up when lightly pressed, roughly 20-22 minutes. Allow cupcakes to cool on a wire rack. While cooling, prepare your frosting.

In a bowl, mix together the powdered sugar and cocoa, and set aside. In a larger mixing bowl, beat together the slightly melted butter and sugar mixture, stopping every few seconds to pour in a little bit of the evaporated milk. Once well mixed, blend in the vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. Create the consistency that you’d like by adjusting the amount of milk or sugar – add more milk for a thinner, creamier texture; add more sugar for a thicker, more stiff texture.

Enjoy with a tall glass of milk!

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