Chocolate Cake with Fudge Icing

 My fiance and I were putting together an impromptu dinner for our good friends when we remembered that Megan's birthday was this week. Adam suggested we stop and buy a store-made cake to surprise her. Every ounce of baker in me repelled this idea, so I went to my stand-by recipe, grabbed all the ingredients, and headed to his house. Within 30 minutes we had cupcakes cooling and icing waiting for the great reveal after dinner! It pays to keep a well-stocked pantry, and oddly enough, I happened to have buttermilk from a recipe last week. For a list of items to always keep on-hand, see the list at the end of the post.

Cake Ingredients
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup, less 1 tbl unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Icing Ingredients
1/2 cup (1stick) butter, softened, not melted
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar,
3 ounces (3 squares) unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325. Line 2 cupcake pans with paper cups. In a medium bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well. Fold in 1/4 of the flour mixture at a time, alternating with the buttermilk.

Fill cupcake tins 1/2 to 2/3 full. Anymore and it will overflow. Bake for 15 min-20 min, or until the tops are just firm and a toothpick comes out with a few little crumbs attached. If you bake until the toothpick is clean, they'll be too dry.

While they're baking, prepare the frosting. Beat soft butter and confectioner sugar until light and fluffy. Melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl at 30 second intervals, stirring well each time. Add the chocolate while beating the butter mixture. Add vanilla and beat until smooth. Put icing in your decorating bag or a gallon ziplock and let cool to room temp. When the cupcakes are completely cool, put a small amount of icing on each cupcake. If you want to pile it on thick, you'll need to double the icing recipe. Add sprinkles or choc shavings before the icing dries.

Pantry Staples 
(everything you need to make almost every cake, cookie, and pie)
All-purpose flour
Granulated sugar
Powdered sugar
Brown sugar
Salt
Baking Soda
Baking Powder
Vanilla (clear if you need to make white cake or icing)
Cocoa Powder
Chocolate Baking Squares
Chocolate chips, white and semi-sweet
Shortening
Eggs
Milk
Butter
Oats
Raisins