The thought of baking a cake from scratch sounds super time consuming, but it's not at all;
it beats any boxed mix + tub of frosting any day! I doubled the frosting recipe to have enough for a good amount of frosting per cupcake. Feel free to halve the recipe if frosting is not your thing.
Ingredients:
Cupcake ingredients:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (125g; spooned into measuring cup...not packed)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons canola oil
- 2 large eggs (at room temperature)
- 1/2 cup buttermilk (at room temperature)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup hot water
Frosting ingredients:
- 3/4 cup butter (at room temperature)
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 3 teaspoons vanilla
- pinch of salt
- 3-6 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners or spray with cooking spray. (I like to use these tulip cupcake liners.)
- In a large bowl, combine flour, sugars, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, beat oil, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla together for about one minute. Slowly add dry ingredients into wet ingredients while mixing. Once combined, pour in hot water and mix together another minute. The batter will be liquidy!
- Pour batter evenly into muffin cups. (I used 1/4 cup per cupcake liner.) Bake for about 18-22 minutes. When toothpick placed in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean, you know it is done.
- Let the cupcakes completely cool before taking out of the pans and frosting.
To make the vanilla buttercream: In a medium mixing bowl, beat together butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, salt and cream (start with 3 tablespoons and work up to desired consistency). Once its all smooth and creamy, frost cupcakes. If desired, top with sprinkles.
*www.thesaltedsweets.com