Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

I love cupcakes! They're so tiny and girlie and delicious... I tried using several cupcake batter recipes and they were lacking. Fed up, I used David Lebovitz devil food cake recipe with one revision- sour cream! It made them even more airy and delicious!!!


The cream cheese icing was not over the top sweet which is important as I'm not a fan of things that are too sugary. The tart cream cheese, when mixed with butter and sugar is perfectly balanced and makes for an icing that's silky smooth.


If you want to get pastel colours, make sure you only use ONE SMALL DROP of food colouring. It's amazing how potent these dyes are!


I made the cakes a night prior to serving. I waited for them to cool and stored them in a cake container. They were still moist when I iced them the following day!


Ingredients:
9 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ cups cake flour (not self-rising)

½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup strong coffee
1/4 cup whole milk

1/4 cup full fat sour cream


Method:

Line muffin tins with cupcake liners. Sift together the cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.

4. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, or by hand, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. (If using a standing electric mixer, stop the mixer as necessary to scrape down the sides to be sure everything is getting mixed in.)

5. Mix together the coffee, sour and milk. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, the add the coffee and milk. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients.

6. Use an ice cream scooper to divide the batter into the cupcake liners and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
8 oz cream cheese (room temperature)
2-3 cups confectioner sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Method:
With a paddle attachment on an electric mixer, mix the cream cheese and butter together for 3-5 minutes until it's smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla and when it's well blended add the sugar 1/4 cup at a time. After the second cup I taste it and add more sugar 1 tablespoon at a time if desired. Ice your cupcakes as you like:)