Mocha in Your Mouth Cupcakes

I made a batch of "Mocha in Your Mouth Cupcakes" for a friend this weekend and, despite an unfortunate mishap (I suddenly realized, after spraying all the cupcake cups and pouring in the batter, that my canola-oil spray for some godforsaken reason has *BUTTER* in it), this was hands down the best cupcake-batter recipe I've made. The frosting was a bit iffier (though it was, in fact, tasty) simply because it ended up being excessively soupy and oozing its way off the cupcakes, despite my best efforts at keeping it congealed by refrigerating them. But the cake itself, holy mother.

And funny thing is, I had my doubts after I mixed together all the ingredients and the batter WAS AS THIN AS WATER. I kid you not. I thought, how in god's name is this gonna bake into cupcakes and not just turn into an absolute mush? But they came out perfect--moist and wonderful.

I fed the non-vegan batch to my non-vegan friends and gave the cupcakes I managed to salvage (the 2nd batch which I didn't spray with the damn non-vegan oil) to my vegan friend, and I got a buttload of compliments on them. Every compliment I received entailed the words "so moist," which is, of course, a good thing when it comes to cake. And most everyone exclaimed that you couldn't tell the difference between these cupcakes and non-vegan ones, one friend actually stated that they tasted store-bought.

So hats off to Alysia Angel and this kick-ass cupcake recipe (you can read more about her and her bakery HERE).

And my apologies for the unflattering picture--this cupcake looks shocked, like someone snapped a picture of it when it was just getting out of the shower and hadn't yet had time to cover itself up with the towel.

Cupcake Batter

• 2 cups brown sugar


• 1 3/4 cups unbleached flour


• 3/4 cup cocoa


• 2 teaspoons baking soda


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 1 cup milk or soy milk


• 1/2 cup canola oil


• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract


• 2 tablespoons white vinegar


• 1 cup boiling water


• Espresso beans or chocolate-covered espresso beans for garnish, if desired

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tins with paper liners. Combine dry ingredients in large mixing bowl. Add milk or soy milk, oil, vanilla and vinegar. Mix about 2 minutes at high speed. Stir in boiling water until incorporated. Pour batter into lined tins, filling each three-quarters full. Bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely. Frost and garnish if desired.

Serves 20.

Frosting

• 1/2 cup margarine or butter, at room temperature


• 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar


• 1/4 cup espresso or strong coffee, room temperature

Combine all ingredients, and beat on high speed until light and fluffy. (You only actually need about a half-batch of the frosting to frost the 20 cupcakes from the above recipe.)