Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream

Adam absolutely loves cupcakes. He adores them. So, naturally for his birthday he requested that I make cupcakes. He said that he wanted chocolate chip cupcakes with chocolate frosting, so I obliged. I had seen this recipe for chocolate chip cupcakes in Martha Stewart Living in February and thought it would be perfect. It turned out really great, though next time I might add more milk to make them a bit more moist. Other than that, these were really good. I used a chocolate buttercream recipe that I found on allrecipes.com. I changed it a bit by melting 4 oz. of chocolate chips to add a more chocolately flavor and it worked perfectly.

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Source: Martha Stewart Living February 2009

Makes 30

Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
7 ounces (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
5 large egg whites, room temperature
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Combine milk and vanilla in a small bowl. Reduce speed to low.

Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with wet ingredients (milk/vanilla mixture) and ending with dry. Scrape sides of bowl.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites to stiff peaks, and fold into batter. Fold in chocolate chips. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.

Bake cupcakes about 22 minutes. Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks. Cupcakes will keep, covered, for up to 3 days, unless otherwise noted.

Once cooled, Frost with buttercream, and serve immediately.

Chocolate Buttercream

Source: allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
2 cups confectioners sugar
4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk

Directions:
Cream butter & sugar together. Melt chocolate over double boiler or in microwave in 30 second intervals. Add to butter/sugar mixture. Add milk & vanilla. May need to add more milk (slowly) until frosting reaches a spreadable consistency.