chocolate cupcakes + cream cheese icing

after making my birthday cake, which was my first experimentation with chocolate, i wanted to make cupcakes as well. on thursday night i whipped up this batch & i'm proud to say i'm very happy with them! paula deen recipes haven't disappointed me so far. i've found that i'm starting to prefer cakes made with oil instead of butter, they're always lighter & fluffier, which is the texture i prefer. dense cupcakes can still taste nice, but i love bouncy cake.

i used 2 separate paula deen recipes for these. for the cake, i used this recipe, but omitted the filling elements. the filling is supposed to be coffee buttercream by the way, so maybe i'll try that one day! for the icing, i used this recipe, which i always use for my red velvet cupcakes as well.

lately when it comes to icing i've just been using a good old ziploc bag. i need to get some tips & get creative! round icing is pretty but i want to experiment.

for the cupcakes:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled
• 3 large eggs
• 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

preheat the oven to 350 degrees f. line muffin pans with paper liners and set aside.

in a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. add oil, coffee, & eggs. beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. mix in the sour cream & vanilla.

spoon the batter evenly into prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. bake until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, for 16 to 18 minutes. let cool before icing.

for the icing:

• 1 pound cream cheese, softened
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

beat the butter, sugar & vanilla together until smooth. add confectioners sugar slowly until incorporated.