Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Frosting

Sorry the picture is a little blurry... Nighttime baking

doesn't provide great lighting

     Yes, I am still alive. Yes, I am still baking. Yes, I am incredibly busy now. Yes, I am still looking for a job as an RN. But let's get back to the yummy stuff! So I decided to veer away from my normal chocolate cupcake go-to's and try a new white cupcake recipe... but I still needed some chocolate on there thus the frosting and those cute itty bitty chocolate chips (which I've always wanted to use).

Chocolate Chip Cupcake
(Recipe taken from good ole Martha Stewart)
Yield: ~15 cupcakes**

1 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp milk
1/4 cup + 3 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature!
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
3 large egg whites, rooooooom temperature
1 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips

**NOTE: I halved the recipe. For some reason Miss Stewart likes to have recipes that yields WAY too many cupcakes.**

Step 1
Get that oven fired up to 350 degrees, yee haw! Then line yer cupcake tin with those dern paper lienrs! (Don't ask where that came from)
Then whisk up the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Also, dump the vanilla into your milk, let's just prepare everything!

Step 2
Now take your room temperature butter and cream cream cream on medium-high speed until smooth. Then slowly add in the sugar until the mixture is a pale fluffy buttery cloud, well not really a cloud, but you get what I mean!

I wish I had a way to doodle 

clouds on here easily...

Next, we get to destroy our heavenly cloud of butter and sugar and make it look even more heavenly. At a low speed (to prevent a flour cloud), slowly add in the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with 2 additions of the vanilla/milk. Only beat until combined.

Flufffffyyyyyy

Step 3
So now in another bowl you gotta whisk your egg whites on medium speed until it forms stiff peaks. Be sure not to overwhip these little guys. You can tell when you have overwhipped them when they start to separate. I wish I had a picture to share, but I got a little excited about our next step... you can just google what stiff peaks look like for now.

Our next step needs to be done with a spatula, spoon, or whatever utensil you prefer. We are going to fold the egg whites into the batter. To fold, put the whites into the middle of the batter and then gently scoop from the outside to the inside... I hope my explanation is decent, sorry if it isn't :\ After folding, you're gonna fold in those cute tiny little chocolate chips!

Step 4
Divide the batter evenly among the cups, which will be about 3/4 full. Martha Stewart says to bake for 22 minutes, but I stopped at 18 since the tops were starting to brown and they looked cooked. Put the cupcakes on a rack to cool and remove them from the tin.

I think they're missing something...

Dark Chocolate Frosting
(Adapted from Martha Stewart)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup boiling water
1 1/8 cup (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted room temperature butter
6 tbsp powdered sugar, sifted
1/8 tsp salt
~ 1lb of semi-sweet chocolate (I like chocolate, you can have less if you please), melted and cooled

Step 1
Combine the cocoa and boiling water until sewper smoooooth. I like to do this in a coffee mug because its easy to heat the water in there too.

Step 2
Get your electric mixer out and put your room temp butter, powdered sugar, and salt in there. Beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it, all you got to do is beat it...until fluffy. Then slow down the speed to low and add the melted and cooled chocolate, mix until combined, and then add the cocoa mixture. Be sure to scrape down the sides as needed.

Step 3
Get a small spatula or a knife, or your hands if you really want to do things that way, and put the frosting on those little cakes! Feel free to add sprinkles or some of the leftover mini chocolate chips to the top. You can store these cupcakes in the fridge in an air tight container for a couple of days and bring to room temperature before eating (or just eat them cold like my boyfriend likes to do).

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to message me or post it!

In the next couple of weeks I will be doing Valentine's themed baking stuff! I'm not the hugest fan of V-day, but what's cuter than little heart shaped sprinkles?