Photo by Donya.
I'll start by stating that I've developed a minor obsession with this dark chocolate cake recipe. You'll notice it popping up a lot. That's because it's good. Like, REALLY good. I have plans to bust it out for some triple chocolate high-hat cupcakes soon, so stay tuned for that one. Also, I liked it for this recipe because you can make the coffee extra strong by using Starbucks VIA packets, which gives the cake a slightly mocha-ish flavor all on its own, even without the icing. (Usually, even though there is coffee in the batter, it doesn't taste like coffee, it just tastes like chocolate).
(For a printable version of this recipe, click here)
The Cake...
Dark Chocolate Cake (Yield 2 dozen standard sized cupcakes)
Adapted from Sweetapolita's Rich & Dark Chocolate Cake
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups dark cocoa powder, such as Hershey's Special Dark
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup strong black coffee (I used 1 cup water + 2 Starbucks VIA packets)
1 cup whole milk, room temperature
1/2 cup melted butter, cooled
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
12 Ferrero Rocher chocolates, unwrapped (optional)
