Triple Chocolate Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
1. Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a cupcake tin with 12 liners. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, sift together your cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, sea salt, and sugar. Whisk together briefly and then set aside.

3. In another bowl (or large 4 cup glass Pyrex measuring cup) whisk together your egg, vegetable oil, buttermilk and coffee.

4. Pour your mixed wet ingredients into your mixed dry ingredients and whisk together for 10 seconds, making sure to get all of the sides and bottom of your bowl. Scrape down sides and bottom and whisk another 5 seconds.

5. Pour batter back into your 4 cup measuring cup for easy pouring into your baking cups and pour batter 2/3 of the way up the liners (or just spoon batter 2/3 of the way up).

6. Bake cupcakes in the center rack of your oven, turning pan around halfway through baking time, for about 20 minutes. Your cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out with little crumbs. I suggest setting time for 15-17 minutes and checking. Then baking another few minutes if need be.

7. Remove pan from oven. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

For the chocolate buttercream frosting:
1. Create a double boiler using a small sauce pot with about an inch of simmering water and a glass bowl on top (make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the simmering water). Chop up your chocolate if using bars and add it into your glass bowl. Melt chocolate completely and gently, stirring every few minutes. Do not let the bottom of the bowl touch simmering water—this could cause your chocolate to burn. Also, do not let any water get into your bowl, as your chocolate could seize up. Once chocolate is completely melted, remove bowl from the top of the pot and set it on the counter to cool a bit.

2. Next, in a stand mixer bowl, add your room temperature butter and beat until fluffy with a paddle attachment. Add in your sea salt and mix together well.

3. With mixer on low, add in all of your sifted powdered sugar. Once it’s almost all mixed in, turn mixer speed up and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

4. Stop your mixer and scrape down sides and bottom of bowl. Add in vanilla extract and mix again. With mixer on low, gently pour in your melted and cooled semi-sweet chocolate. Once it is all mixed in, stop mixer, scrape down the bowl and mix together again.

5. Lastly, while mixer is on medium-low, add your whole milk until mixture loosens up a bit and is the consistency of thick frosting. Depending on your taste this can be up to double the listed amount of milk. I only added the listed amount because I like my frosting on the thick side. Mix together on medium high another minute or two.

6. Once cupcakes are cooled, add frosting into a piping bag fitted with desired piping tip and frost your cupcakes! Set frosted cupcakes aside while you make the drizzle.

For the semi-sweet chocolate drizzle:
1. Create a double boiler using a small sauce pot with simmering water and a glass bowl on top. Chop up your chocolate if using bars and add it into your glass bowl. Melt chocolate completely and gently, stirring every few minutes. Do not let the bottom of the bowl touch the simmering water—this could cause your chocolate to burn. Also, do not let any water get into your bowl, as your chocolate could seize up. Once chocolate is completely melted, remove bowl from the top of the pot and set on counter to cool a bit.

2. Once melted chocolate is cool to the touch, generously drizzle it over each cupcake, allowing it to drip down the side of the frosting and cupcake. Yum! Serve cupcakes room temperature.

Notes:
– Cupcakes can be baked a day in advance. Just store in an airtight container in the fridge until the next day. Allow them to come to room temperature before serving.
– Frosting can also be made a day in advance. Just put it in an airtight container with plastic wrap pressed directly onto the surface of the frosting and store in the fridge until the next day. Then allow it to come completely to room temperature before frosting room temperature cupcakes.
– Make drizzle the day of serving.
– Makes 1 dozen regular sized cupcakes.
– Frosting recipe adapted from EveryDay with Rachel Ray Magazine.