Kennedy Favorite- Devil's Food Cupcake

Devil's Food Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

Easy but takes a little time

If you needed a sweet Valentine's treat, look no further!  Seriously, this is the last cupcake recipe you will ever need!  I got this from one of my Williams Sonoma cookbooks, but it originally comes from the best cupcake cafe in New York, Magnolia Bakery. Honestly, this isn't a recipe you make for your child's whole class, you make these to hide in the fridge for yourself or your Valentine :)

I don't frost the cupcakes until I am ready to serve/eat them.  Instead, I keep the cupcakes covered on the counter and the icing in the fridge (it has eggs in it).  About 5-10 minutes before I am ready to serve/eat, I spoon out enough frosting for the amount I need and let it come to room temperature, then ice and serve.  Adding red food coloring to the icing will add that extra "sweet" touch.  Enjoy!

For the Cakes:

1/2 cup (1 1/2 oz.) Dutch-process Cocoa Powder

3/4 cup firmly packed Light Brown Sugar

2 tsp. Instant Espresso

1 cup boiling Water

1/2 cup Buttermilk

2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup Granulated Sugar

2 Large Eggs, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour

1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Salt

For the Buttercream:

1 cup Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

2 Large Egg Yolks

1 Tbs. Vanilla Extract

1/4 tsp. Salt

2 cups Confectioners' Sugar

Preheat oven to 350.  Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners or lightly butter the cups.

In a bowl, combine the cocoa powder, brown sugar and espresso powder.  Add the boiling water, stir until smooth and let cool to room temperature.  Stir in the buttermilk and vanilla and set aside.

In a large bowl, use and electric mixer on high speed to beat together the butter and granulated sugar until fluffy and almost white in color (3-4 minutes).  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping the sides of the bowl after each one.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt.  Fold 1/3 of the chocolate mixture into the beaten butter.  Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, stirring gently to combine.  Continue folding in the chocolate mixture and adding the flour until all the mixtures are combine into a smooth batter.

Divide batter into the muffin cups and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cake comes out clean (about 15-18 minutes).  Let cool to room temperature in the pan on a wire rack.

To make the buttercream, in a bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter until fluffy (3-4 minutes).  Add the egg yolks and beat until fluffy.  Beat in remaining ingredients.