"Hearty" Cupcakes

Ok, I know the title is corny, but I couldn't help it. Last night we had our friends the Cha's over for dinner. My mom and I made up a baked Italian Ziti with penne pasta, ground beef, Italian bacon, spinach, cheese and onions in a homemade tomato sauce. We also made homemade French bread and salad. The dinner was great and I am learning so much from my mom about how to create something delicious out of minimal ingredients. For dessert I wanted to use these chocolates we got from our Norwegian relatives, they are thin milk chocolate hearts that I used as garnish. Once I cooked the cupcakes, I thought they were too pretty to frost so I just put a dollop of frosting in the middle to secure the chocolate heart. I did not have muffin cups so I had to put the batter straight in the cupcake pans. Trying to get them out of the pan was difficult, there was a a lot of cupcake stuck at the bottom. So while it was moist I cleaned them out and rolled the excess into a ball and placed it into a plastic bag. Then I put it in the freezer for about 2 hours and ate it later. It was delicious! It tasted like a homemade truffle, so I made about 6 of them. I found the recipe online and it is really simple. This recipe makes about 16 cupcakes.

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Frost with your favorite frosting when cool.