Chocolate Cupcakes with a Whipped Frosting

I was watching Martha Stewart the other day and she had a guest on who owned a cupcake shop that used parchment paper as cupcake liners. Ever since then I've wanted to try it. Today was the day. I was out of cupcake liners so out came the parchment. On the show she used brown parchment but around here you can only get the white. I cut them into sqaures and used a cup to form them into the cupcake pan, then filled with batter. I think they turned out very cute. Will definetly do it again. And they're a breeze to take off.

The chocolate cupcake recipe is very simple. It's a one bowl recipe that is easy and quick. I've been meaning to search for the ultimate chocolate cake recipe that is moist and delicious. I've used this one a few times but I always looked at it as to simple to be the one. Especially after doing a search on the web. But everytime I make it, it turns out great. There are still a few that I want to try to see if there is a better one, but until then I'm quite happy with this one. Especially because I usually have all the ingredients in the house.

One-Bowl Chocolate Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F.

2. In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed just until combined. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add egg and beat 2 minutes more.

3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. (The time suggested here is for a 8" or 9" pan. The cupcakes I had were in for about 20 minutes.)

This makes 12 large cupcakes.
Now for the frosting. You can find this recipe all over the web under different names. Mock whipped cream, mock twinkie filling, flour frosting and many more. There are slight variations to all of them but I really liked this one.

Whipped Frosting

1 cup sugar
4 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
3 tbsp heavy cream
3/4 cup unsalted butter, soft but cool, cut into small pieces
1/2 tsp vanilla

Some confectioners sugar added to taste at the end. I did about 1/2 a cup. It's not necessary though.

In a medium heavy bottomed sauce pan, whisk the sugar and flour together. Add the milk and heavy cream and cook over medium heat whisking occasionally until the mixture comes to a boil and has thickened. Strain after to take out any lumps.

Cool mixture in the fridge.

Beat the butter till light and fluffy. Add the milk mixture and vanilla andbeat some more until it looks like whipped cream. Taste and see if you need to add icing sugar. If you want it to be thicker than add more icing sugar as well.

I put it in a ziploc bag and cut a whole at the end to pipe on the cupcakes. This makes more icing than you need for 12 cupcakes.

Erna