Day 6-Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I find myself feeling like a broken record, but yet, once again it was a very long day at work. The cure? Chocolate and pure sugar bliss. Since I started back at work this week on a Tuesday I've been feeling off ALL week. I must remember to go to work early tomorrow. Usually on Wednesday I treat myself to a small dinner out but feeling like today was a Wednesday, it's not it's Thursday apparently,  I took my little brother out for dinner. We ate high class at the local Subway. ;)  I like to round dinner out on a savory note so I came home and made cupcakes. I also have a spiffy new cup cake decorator that I've been itching to try. I need a little bit of practice but for my first attempt they didn't turn out quite too shabby. 

I adapted the cupcake recipe from a Martha Stewart recipe:

Chocolate Cupcakes: 

1.) Sift together 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa, 1/4 cup dark cocoa, 1 & 1/4 cup all purpose flour, 1/4 cup whole wheat flour, 1 & 1/2 cups of sugar (I prefer cane sugar), 3/4 tsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt and a dash of cinnamon. 

2.) Add 2 eggs (at room temperature), 3/4 cup warm water, 3/4 cup buttermilk**,  3 TBS vegetable oil and 1 heaping tsp of vanilla.

3.) Mix until just well combined. You just want to get the majority of the lumps out. It's important not the mix this too much otherwise you risk making them firm

4.) Using a 1/4 cup as your scoop place them into a well greased muffin tin or in paper cups.

5.) Bake for 15-18 minutes at 350 degrees. The timing will depend on your particular oven and whether or not you have dark or light colored pans.

**I never keep buttermilk on hand. So, before sifting the dry ingredients make your own buttermilk by "souring" regular milk. Measure your milk into a cup and place 1 TBS of lemon juice for every one cup of liquid. Let stand for about 10 minutes. **

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1.) In a bowl cream 2-8 oz packages of cream cheese that has been softened at room temperature.( I just let it sit out while I'm preparing the cupcakes.)

2.) Add 1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter and 1 tsp of vanilla. Cream well.

3.) Slowly and in parts add 1 & 1/2 to 2 cups of powdered sugar.

4.) Wait until your cupcakes are completely cooled before frosting.