Dreamy Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Last week I made the dreamiest cupcakes ever! Moist vanilla cake with melt-in-your-mouth chocolate frosting.

I love baby cupcakes because they are so adorable and because I always tell myself I’ll just eat one baby one and then I’ll be done. But they are so tiny and delicious, I always end up eating more!

I was experimenting with vanilla cake and chocolate frosting because my older son’s birthday is coming up and I’m baking a cake for his party.

I found a great vanilla cake recipe on Kitchen Simplicity that was very moist and had a nice crumb. Then Savory Sweet Life told me that you could whip chocolate ganache into frosting. Oh. Wow. That sounded incredibly chocolately and oooh so bad. I had to try it.

The chocolate frosting is like pure whipped chocolate melting in your mouth. You should make these; your family and friends will thank you.

Dreamy Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
makes about one tray regular sized cupcakes plus one tray mini cupcakes

Cake
adapted from Kitchen Simplicity

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 egg yolks, room temperature
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sour milk (1 tablespoon vinegar with milk added to 1 cup) or buttermilk, room temperature
3 teaspoons vanilla or other flavoring (almond is nice)
6 egg whites, room temperature

1.  Cream butter and sugar (it will be crumbly). Add egg yolks, one at a time (it’s ok if they both fall  in the bowl together by accident :)).

2. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking soda. Add alternately with buttermilk to the butter mixture in three additions, beginning and ending with flour. Mix in vanilla and set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 egg whites into cake batter to loosen. Fold in remaining egg whites gently until no white streaks remain.

4.  Pour into cupcake tins with liners and bake at350 F 17-10 minutes for regular sized cupcakes or 10-12 minutes for mini cupcakes; or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.

6. Cool for 5 minutes. Then remove cupcakes to a cooling rack to cool before frosting.

Chocolate Frosting
adapted from Savory Sweet Life

12 ounces good quality dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1 cup heavy cream

1. Place chocolate pieces in a large mixing bowl. Heat cream on medium high until it comes to a boil.

2. Remove cream from heat and immediately pour cream over chocolate.

3. Stir until completely mixed and glossy.

4. Allow the mixture to cool. I put it in the refrigerator to cool for about 20 minutes. It’s good if it’s slightly cold before whipping it.

5. Whip cool mixture until it is the texture of frosting. This can be spread or piped onto the cupcakes after they’ve cooled.