Valentine's Day Chocolate Cupcakes

Happy Valentine's Day! I love making cupcakes! Made special ones for my two love bugs. Found the chocolate cupcake recipe from Joy of Baking's website. Topped them with yummy buttercream frosting, also from the Joy of Baking. Used a little food color to make them more festive :)

INGREDIENTS:
*1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder (used Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate & Cocoa)
*1 cup boiling water
*1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
*2 tsp baking powder
*1/2 tsp salt
*1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
*1 cup granulated white sugar
*2 large eggs
*2 tsp pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly butter, or line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Then in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.
5. Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full with batter and bake for about 16-20 minutes or until risen, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing.


Buttercream Frosting:
*2 cups confectioner's sugar
*1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), room temp
*1 tsp pure vanilla extract
*2 T milk
*Assorted food colors, if desired

In an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter
until smooth and well blended. Add the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the milk and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes). Add a little more milk or sugar, if needed. Tint the frosting with desired food color