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These gourmet (looking) chocolate cupcakes are SO good! Everyone loves them when I make them! We love to make cupcakes (this lime cupcake is great, too!)

INGREDIENTS:
– 1/2 cup softened butter (to soften it, just stand the stick of butter on one side, cook for 10 seconds, flip it over and do the same on the other side).
– 1 1/2 cups sugar
-2 Eggs
-1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
-1 1/2 cups flour
-1/2 cup cocoa (use the baking cocoa)
– 1/4 teaspoon salt
-1/2 cup milk (I like to use buttermilk here- it turns out the best)
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1/2 cup water

FROSTING:
1/2 cup butter (again – soften it)
3 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 1/2 ounces unsweeted melted chocolate
2 tablespoons evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Chocolate shaving (You can buy the chocolate chunks and just chop them).

DIRECTIONS:

– Preheat oven to 375°.
– In a bowl, cream sugar a butter until fluffy.
– Add one egg at a time, beating well each time.
-Beat in vanilla.
-Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in separate bowl.
-Combine buttermilk and water in separate bowl.
-Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Add in buttermilk and water, beating well after each addition.

– Line your muffin tin and fill 2/3 full. Bake 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in the pan and then move to wire rack to cool.

FROSTING:
In a bowl, combine butter and sugar. Beat until smooth. Add in the melted chocolate, milk, vanilla and salt (I do this in my Kitchenaid mixer).

Frost (I like to pipe it on. I do it two ways- for the “wave” look, I put a large dollop of icing in the center and then I pipe the icing around it using the wave top (I have this kit with a ton of different options). For the easier one, I still do the dollop in the middle, but then just pipe it on normally, like this one:
cupcake