Chocolate Cupcakes 'n Cream Cheese Frosting

Sometimes cakes aren't as pretty as they taste.  Not everything I bake turns out picture perfect but I prefer a yummy cake to a pretty cake any day of the week.  And that's just how these little cakes turned out.  I could blame it on the new silicon liners I used, or the fact that I baked them with my toddler tugging at my jeans, but really, no excuses needed.  They were yummy.

When I told my friend Ashley that I had started a new blog and would be posting the occasional recipe, the first thing she said was, "Oh!  I hope you post the recipes that don't turn out perfect too!"  What's the fun in perfection every time?

So here's to the not-so-perfect culinary confections.  And if you are one of those people who doesn't judge a book by it's cover (or a cake by its perfectly fluffed frosting), then I present to you, my favorite chocolate cupcakes with vanilla cream cheese frosting (recipe by Elinor Klivans).  Trust me, they are tasty!

You'll need:

3 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 C flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 C unsalted butter (room temp)

1 1/4 C sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 C sour cream

1/2 C water

(more ingredients below for frosting)

So heat the oven to 350F (176C or gas mark 4) and line your cupcake tin.  Maybe skip the silicon liners...

Break up the chocolate and zap it (carefully!), stopping to stir frequently until melted.  Or double boiler if you have more time than me.  Set it aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl and set that aside as well.  Then in a big bowl (using some kind of mixer) beat the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.  Time for the chocolate.  Mix it in on a low speed.

Add the eggs at a medium speed, then the vanilla.  Keep mixing for a minute or two till it looks lighter in color kinda like this:

Mix in the sour cream just until you can't see it anymore and then slowly add the flour mixture alternating with the water until you've got it all mixed together.  Then put it into the cupcake liners and pop em in the oven for around 22-24 minutes, or when the toothpick comes out clean.

Let those cool off while you whip up the sugar rush, I mean, frosting.  You'll need just a few things for that.

1/2 C unsalted butter (room temp)

6 oz cream cheese (room temp)

1 tsp vanilla

3 C confectioners sugar

Beat the butter, cream cheese and vanilla until smooth.  Add confectioners sugar and mix till smooth. Then kick the speed up and mix for a few minutes more to make it fluffy.  Done!  Now smother your cupcakes and enjoy!