Chocolate Cupcakes Take One

I have wanted to try a new baking adventure and last night I finally got around to it. My mother and my granny both make this super yummy chocolate cake with a secret ingredient. No, I am not going to tell you. It is a secret! I wanted to see how it would work as a cupcake. I also wanted to try topping it with cream cheese frosting. First the batter was so soupy. Might I mention that if I have ever made this cake it was a long time ago. Well, I made a valiant and very messy attempt at filling the baking cups in my usual manner, with a ziplock bag. I did get to lick plenty of delicious batter off my fingers. It made enough batter for 18 cupcakes.

Then I had to guess at the baking time for cupcakes. When I checked them at 15 minutes they looked like little inverted volcanoes. Finally they became nicely rounded finished cakes. But alas as they cooled they sunk down again.

I found a recipe for cream cheese frosting in my favorite cookbook. When the cupcakes were cool enough to frost the fun really began. The cake was so soft that it crumbled and cracked. The frosting filled the "volcano" holes, but stubbornly refused to be spread over the edges. I gave up on making pretty cupcakes. JJ and I are well practiced at eating ugly things since he insists on experimenting with cooking and I insist on experimenting with baking, so we plunged right in and it was so worth it! I wish I could send each of you one, but trust me when I say that they were fabulous. So, I give these cupcakes a 10 on the taste scale, but a 2 on the "nice enough presentation I could ask someone to pay money for them" scale. I guess we will have more adventures soon.