In this post I mentioned my horrible experience making and finding the perfect chocolate cupcake recipe. I tried three different ones and none were perfect. One of the things I noticed was the amount of grease that soaked through the cupcake liners and ended up in the bottom of the tin. I had to wonder if that had anything to do with dry and crumbly cupcakes, all the fat had disappeared. I saw a mention of grease proof cupcake liners somewhere. At this point I couldn’t tell you where it was, sorry, I read so many different blogs and websites trying to find out what I was doing wrong. So I ordered some grease proof liners from Sweets Treats Boutique on ETSY.
As a test to see if the wrapper made any difference. I made my old standby chocolate cake recipe. The results were fantastic. First, I can’t say enough about the liners. They sat in the cupcake tin nice and sweet as can be, no folding like the cheap-o liners from the grocery store. I used a blue chevron pattern liner to see how true the color stayed. You know what I mean. You buy cute little holiday cupcake liners and the image totally disappears, especially with chocolate cake. Not this one! The color was still vibrant blue and not a bit of grease anywhere.
According to my taste testers the cupcakes were moist and had a great chocolate flavor. I do plan on making a couple more different recipes to see which one really is the best. But for now I’m happy to know that the wrapper solved a huge part of my problem. I also cut down the baking time to only 15-16 minutes. My oven has to be running too high, even though the oven thermometer says it’s 350.
I thought I would share my cupcake recipe here. Ironically enough the name of the recipe is The Perfect Chocolate Cake and it really does turn out every time. Any wonder why I couldn’t figure out why my cupcakes weren’t turning out?
The Perfect Chocolate Cupcake
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups boiling water
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter or margarine softened
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
In medium bowl, combine cocoa with boiling water, mixing with the wire whisk until smooth. Cool completely. Sift flour with soda, salt, and baking powder. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tin with liners. In a large bowl of electric mixer, at high speed, beat butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, scraping bowl occasionally until light – about 5 minutes. At low speed beat in flour mixture (in fourths), alternately with cocoa mixture (in thirds), beginning and ending with flour mixture. Do not over beat. Divide evenly into cupcake liners and bake for 15-16. Cool in pan 10 minutes and remove to cooling rack. Makes about 4 dozen standard size cupcakes.
A Little of This and a Little of That 