TWD: Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes

So my cupcakes didn't exactly turnout looking too pretty and I would rather not show it in its entirety because it's a little sad when the domed tops dome the other way. Anyways, it feels great to be baking ahead of schedule.. haha. I was definitely excited for this recipe and it wasn't because of the obvious reason.. chocolate. It's because chocolate cake recipes are generally more forgiving when it comes to overmixing and dryness. White cakes can be so disappointing in the texture department. They use just as much, if not more butter and not to mention cake flour! Could it be the cocoa powder, the buttermilk or the boiling water that most recipes use? Sometimes I'm just tempted to make a chocolate cake recipe minus the chocolate to see if I can get a moist and tender white cake.

Other than the sinking, the recipe turned out pretty well, although I wish there was just a bit more chocolate flavour. Some TWDers mentioned that their cupcakes turned out dry and how it might have to do with proper flour measurements. What really is one cup of flour anyway? I guess it can be whatever you want it to be.. 5oz (CI), 4.8oz (Dorie). For me, I spoon the flour into a measuring cup then give it a little shake at the midway point to settle the flour (which I think you're actually not supposed to do) and then spoon the rest in with a final sweep using a knife. That usually gets me at or just a little off 5oz. I really should be using a scale, but sometimes I get a little lazy, which is suprising since I'm always worrying (a little too much!) about stuff like proper measurement, mixing times, baking times and temperatures. I won't even tell you how I reacted when I found out that my liquid measuring cups were all different! You would think that at least within a brand that they'd be consistent, but that is not the case with my Pyrex ones.


My cupcakes ended up pretty moist, but I pulled them out a lot earlier than the 22-25 mins suggested. Then again, I still got 12 cupcakes using my large sized cookie scoop after halving the recipe. Most cupcake recipes I make finish in my oven at 17 minutes, but these were done at 14. Once the wonderful smell of chocolate started to come out of the oven, I checked the cupcakes with a toothpick and pulled them out when there were a few (maybe 2) mini moist crumbs attached. I ate one while it was still burning hot and it was really nice and fluffy. As they cooled, the texture totally changed and it became more brownie like, which is still good, but fluffy is better! I guess I should've left them in for the usual 17 minutes I normally do, since they remoistened so much.
Thanks to Clara of I Heart Food 4 Thought for choosing this recipe, which can be found on her blog and in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From my Home to Yours. Don't forget to checkout the TWD Blogroll!

Ok, this is a little embarassing and I couldn't stop laughing when I saw them, but this is what happened.