I finished university today.
Eek!
I am so excited 🙂
It has been four, long, years of balancing full-time courses, with full-time and part-time work, my handsome fiancee, family, friends, the gym, soccer, kitties, and, of course, this little ‘ol blog of mine.
The prospect of finally having my own classroom walks a very fine line between incredibly exciting and nauseatingly daunting…
…*comforts self*: one day at a time…
And today is a day to celebrate! And what better way to celebrate my final day at university than with delicious, chocolatey, cupcakes?
Without exaggeration, this chocolate cake recipe is the moistest, tastiest, fluffiest, most chocolatey cake ever. It is my forever-go-to recipe that has never failed me.
It’s a cake that is fit for a just-graduated-from-my-bachelor-of-education-program-at-university sort of a celebration.
Righto.
Black Magic Cake
Adapted from allrecipes
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/3 cups white sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup strong brewed coffee
1-1/4 cups buttermilk (I make my own by combining 1 cup+3 Tbsp skim milk with 1.5 Tbsp white vinegar. Stir together and let them sit for 5-10 minutes to sour)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line muffin tins with paper liners (this will make 24 regular cupcakes, or 12 large cupcakes). Alternately, you could grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans or one 9×13 inch pan.
2. In large bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center.
3. Add eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes on medium speed. Batter will be thin. Pour into prepared pans.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. For a larger cake, bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and finish cooling on a wire rack. Fill and frost as desired.
**For the frosting, I used mint buttercream (below) and raspberry buttercream and drizzled with melted semi-sweet chocolate.
Mint Buttercream
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
a pinch of salt
4 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon pure mint extract
milk, as needed
green food colouring, if desired
Directions
1. Whip the butter until light and fluffy. Add the salt and slowly incorporate the icing sugar.
2. Add the mint extract and only enough milk to reach your desired consistency.
3. If desired, add green food colouring and combine until smooth and well-incorporated.