Chocolate sour cream cupcakes with buttercream frosting

I’ve been slow to post this week because we moved. The kitchen (and everywhere else) needs some serious organizing – that will be the major project for the week.

We rented a house by the beach for the month of July and spent our first weekend out there this weekend. Despite the fact that we had only been in our new apartment for a few days and had lots we wanted to do there, it was wonderful to take a break from boxes. On Sunday we had R’s sister and a friend out for a southern-style shrimp boil (more on this later – I’m still perfecting the recipe). The weather was perfect and we ate outside under the shade of umbrellas. On Monday, my sister and cousin came out and we barbecued and hung out by the pool. I made cupcakes to celebrate the Fourth of July decorating them with red, white and blue sugar stars that I found at NY Cake.

I pulled the cupcake recipe from Elinor Klivan’s Cupcakes which I’ve found to have very reliable recipes and some good ideas. The chocolate sour cream cupcake is moist and scrumptious and is simple to make. I went with a traditional buttercream frosting to keep things easy as we don’t have a lot of baking supplies or equipment in the summer house.

Chocolate sour cream cupcake batter

(Makes enough batter for 18 regular cupcakes, 12 extra-large cupcakes, or 60 mini cupcakes. I could also see using this for a traditional sheet cake)

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ¼ cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup sour cream
½ cup water

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl or the top of a double boiler and place it over, but not touching, a saucepan of barely simmering water (or the bottom of the double boiler). Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from the water and set aside to cool slightly.

Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until smoothly blended and creamy, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. On low speed, mix in the melted chocolate. On medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is blended into the batter. Add the vanilla and beat until the mixture looks creamy and the color has lightened slightly, about 1 minute. Mix in the sour cream until no white streaks remain. On low speed, add half of the flour mixture mixing just to incorporate it. Mix in the water. Mix in the remaining flour mixture until it is incorporated and the batter looks smooth. The batter is ready to bake, or for additions such as nuts, fruit, chocolate chips, or other flavorings.

Bake cupcakes at 350 for approximately 20 minutes.

Frosting

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 4 tablespoons whole milk (I used skim because that’s what we had and that was fine)

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla together with 3 tablespoons milk, then add up to 1 tablespoon more milk if needed to form a creamy, smooth, spreadable frosting. Use a small metal spatula to spread about 2 ½ tablespoons of frosting over the top of each cupcake. Decorate as desired.

The cupcakes can be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Optional: The frosting can be flavored with ½ teaspoon almond extract or 1 teaspoon grated lemon or orange zest.