Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Icing

This recipe is adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe, and they are amazing.

Chocolate Cupcakes
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners.
Into a medium bowl, sift together cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each, then beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with sour cream and beginning and ending with flour.

Pour batter into cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out with only a few crumbs, about 20 minutes. (Don't overbake.)

Cool in pan 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, then pipe with Buttercream Icing. Decorate with chocolate shavings, if desired.

Buttercream Icing

1 cup butter, softened
1 pound confectioners' sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons cream
2 tsp vanilla

In a mixing bowl, cream butter until smooth. Add vanilla.
Gradually add confectioners’ sugar; beat until smooth. If too thick to spread, beat in 1 to 2 tablespoons cream.


Cream butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

Add the cocoa mixture and mix well.

Line a muffin tin with cupcake cups.

Spoon batter into the cupcake cups, about 3/4 full. (This made 16 cupcakes for me, but you could fill them fuller and make 12).

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Cool in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then on a wire rack until completely cool.

 Izzy loves to keep me company while I cook.



Pipe frosting onto cupcakes.

Sprinkle with chocolate shavings.

Share with friends, if desired. (optional)

Easter Cupcakes

I wanted to make some special Easter treats and I decided to bake cupcakes! I used Duncan Hines Butter Recipe cake mix for the cupcake and my buttercream recipe for the icing. The instructions can be found here.

I bought these cute cupcake liners at Michaels.

These are felt Easter stickers that I also found at Michaels. I thought they would be fun as cupcake decorations.

So I lifted the backing and placed a toothpick on the sticky part...

...then I covered the toothpick with the backing.

Voila...instant cupcake decorations. I actually ended up cutting a tad off the ends because they were extra long toothpicks.

I used clear and colored sugar on the cupcakes.

A virtual Easter menagerie.

I am taking them to work tomorrow as a surprise. Shhhh...don't tell!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Sometimes a really delicious recipe doesn't have to be made totally from scratch. These cupcakes are a perfect example. It's hard to beat the Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Cake Mix. It is light, or should I say "light," and moist. The frosting is my version of a simple buttercream, and I love it so much that I believe it even trumps chocolate. The combination of the two makes a really fabulous cupcake.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

1 box Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Cake Mix
1 tsp vanilla

Prepare cake according to package directions with the addition of the vanilla. Spoon into a muffin tin lined with cupcake cups and bake at 375° for 15 minutes. Cool and frost with buttercream frosting. Yield: 22-24 cupcakes


Buttercream Frosting

2 sticks butter, softened at room temperature
1 lb confectioners sugar
5 tbsp heavy cream (milk or 1/2 & 1/2 are fine)

Beat butter at high speed until light and fluffy. Add sugar, vanilla, and cream and continue beating until desired consistency. Add more cream or sugar if needed.

Mix cake according to package directions, with the addition of a little extra vanilla.

Spoon into paper liners and bake at 375° for 15 minutes.

They will be a light golden brown on top:

The frosting will look a little dry until you add the milk.

I like to pipe the frosting onto the cupcake, but you can spread it with a knife if you want to. Be careful not to be too generous with the piping or you might run out of frosting. For me it makes JUST enough.

I also like to use Wilton White Sparkling Sugar Sprinkles on top for a little bit of sparkle. You can double click on this photo to see it better.

I made these cupcakes for some dear friends of mine who came over for dinner the other night. I wanted to send them home with one as well. I found these cute individual cupcake boxes (again by Wilton) at the Hob Lob.

I apparently love the combination of pink and green because I already had plenty of ribbon to choose from.

They come with inserts that stabilize the cupcake and keep it from touching the sides. Cool idea.

Tie it up with a little bit of ribbon and you have a great party favor.




I suggest having the cake mix and some of these boxes on hand so you can be ready to give a special little gift at the spur of any moment.

Marshmallow Flowers

This is a simple way to add a touch of spring to cupcakes and it has only two simple ingredients: marshmallows and sparkling sugar. This is an adaptation of a cute idea I found in a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.


Bake cupcakes and frost with your favorite vanilla frosting.

With sharp scissors, cut each marshmallow into 5 slices. You will need to rinse the scissors with warm water very frequently, as the marshmallows are quite sticky. This will make up the petals of the flower.

Sprinkle each petal with sparkling colored sugar.

Don't allow them to sit for too long because they are easier to work with if they are still soft. These taste just like Peeps, by the way.

Using the icing on the cupcake as your glue, gently form your flower with 5 petals per cupcake. Overlap one petal on top of the other.



I used a small piece of decorating candy as my center. If these were for a birthday, a candle in the center would be cute as well.

I served mine on a cupcake stand. This one is by Wilton and it holds 13 cupcakes.

Owl Cupcakes

I found this cute recipe in the 2007 edition of Land O' Lakes Harvest Baking. I used a chocolate cake mix, but you can bake the cupcakes in any flavor, and from scratch, if desired. I added 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate morsels to the cake mix to add a little more chocolate flavor. I am not a fan of canned frosting, so I made homemade butter cream using a recipe from one of my old Betty Crocker cookbooks. It is a simple, wonderful frosting recipe, and I am including it in this post.

I was so engrossed in making these that I did not do many step-by-step photos, but you should be able to figure out the assembly from the above photo. I used Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate morsels for the eyes because they are a little larger than the semi-sweet, but you can use either one. I experimented with how to attach the morsels to the life savers and decided that Betty Crocker Cookie Icing works the best. I used it on the owls in the bottom of the above photo, so you can see the difference. It takes a few minutes to set, so don't get in a hurry.

Owl Cupcakes

1 pkg cake mix (I used Duncan Heinz Moist Deluxe Dark Chocolate Fudge)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
oil, water, and eggs, according to package directions
24 cupcake liners
Butter Rum Life Savers
Betty Crocker White Cookie Icing
Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate morsels (if desired, for eyes)
sliced almonds
whole cashews

Bake cupcakes according to package directions. Add chocolate morsels if desired. Cool.
Prepare frosting and frost the cupcakes. Place 2 butter rum life savers just above halfway on each cupcake for the eyes. Place a dot of cookie icing on each life saver. Place a chocolate morsel on top of the icing. Arrange sliced almonds around the eyes for feathers. Add a cashew for the beak.

Frosting:1/3 cup softened butter
3 cups confectioners sugar
3 tbsp milk
1-1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat ingredients until smooth. Add a little more milk, if necessary to achieve the desired spreading consistency.


Bake cupcakes according to package directions:

Frost and decorate:

These would be great for a kid's party. Or a ladies' spend-the-night party, which is what I took them to. I hope you have fun with these!