I love chocolate, I love Bourbon, and I love cupcakes. Why not combine all three? This is what happens when I have cravings at midnight and I have to do something about it right away.
This won't be another one of my tl;dr (too long, didn't read) posts. Just a simple recipe with a few a additions and viola, Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Cupcakes.
First thing you need to to know is that this is the very best chocolate cake recipe of all time. I don't mean fancy fuck-all cakes that have no flour, added coffee, or blah, blah, blah added to them. This is for straight up chocolate cake. Now, I did tweak the recipe for the cupcakes, but you need to know that this recipe is makes simply the best chocolate cake in the world. Super moist, and super chocolate-y.
Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup of milk
1/2 vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
*1 cup boiling water
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.
VARIATIONS:
ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.
THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.
BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.
CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.
What a Hershey's recipe? Yes! Hershey's unsweetened cocoa is actually world class. Only snobs will shun it because it's from Hershey's. Eff them! You don't have to use Hershey's if you don't want to, but certainly follow this recipe. I used Droste because it was on sale when I bought it. You know how expensive Whole Foods is and when they put stuff on sale, it's a jump at moment.
What I did to change the recipe was, I added one cup of chopped pecans to the cake batter. I found that after they were baked they tasted amazing, but next time I will probably roll the frosted cupcakes in chopped pecans instead. It's up to you. Either way its still delicious.
Instead of boiling water, I heated 1 cup +2 tbls Buffalo Trace Bourbon. Add one cup to a sauce pan and heat. Add the 2 tbls of bourbon to the batter itself. Do Not let it boil. Just heat it up to the point before it boils and add it to the batter.
Bake as recipe calls for.
For the frosting I just tweaked another classic recipe I found for a chocolate butter cream that calls for hot fudge.
Chocolate Fudge Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup shortening
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 cup hot fudge topping
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
- Cream together the butter or margarine with the shortening.
- Sift the cocoa with the confectioners' sugar and add to the creamed mixture. Mix together adding 1 tablespoon at a time of milk to keep mixture smooth. Don't add more than 1/4 cup of milk.
- Add the hot fudge topping and the vanilla extract. Blend until smooth and creamy.
I simply subbed the milk for the Buffalo Trace Bourbon. I added little bits more at a time if the frosting was too thick.
And there you have it. Super moist, very decadent, bourbon-y, deliciousness in the guise of a simple cupcake.
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