City Chick Cooks

please excuse the frosting, it’s not very pretty.

i made some pumpkin cupcakes for a visiting friend, and made way too much frosting. i racked my brain on how to avoid making the same cupcakes to use up the rest of the frosting (one can force-feed their friends only so much pumpkin cake) and then i figured- everything goes with brownies! note: these brownie cupcakes are dense and super fudgey. recipe adapted from here.

first, chop up some dark chocolate and 1 stick of butter and place in a microwave-safe bowl.

so the recipe called for 4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate. i had an issue with this. 4 ounces? bars are sold as 3.5 ounces, and the packs of ghiradelli squares are 5.5 ounces. so math was done and i used roughly 10 and a half squares of ghiradelli 60% cacao chocolate. it was probably too sweet but hey, fine by me!

microwave in 30 second intervals, mixing in between,  until melted and smooth. it took me 3 30 second intervals.

once the chocolate/butter mixture has cooled a bit, mix in the sugar and vanilla.

then add the eggs one at a time, fully mixing after each addition.

mix in the flour and salt.

line a 12 cup muffin tray with cupcake liners and fill each cup about 1/2-3/4 full. bake at 325 for about 25 minutes.

you want them to be a little undercooked, so start checking at 20 minutes. a toothpick should come out with some crumbs.

let cool and frost and serve! 🙂

fudge cupcakes

makes 12 cupcakes

4 ounces very dark chocolate, or 10 1/2 ghiradelli squares, chopped

1 stick butter, cut into chunks

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 eggs

3/4 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1. preheat oven to 325, line a 12 cup muffin tray with cupcake liners.
2. microwave the chocolate and butter, in 30 second intervals, until smooth. let cool to room temperature.
3. mix in the sugar and vanilla.
4. mix in the eggs, one at a time.
5. mix in the flour and salt, being careful not to overmix.
6. fill the muffin tray cups about 1/2-3/4 full.
7. bake for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out with some crumbs.

pumpkin cream cheese frosting

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup pumpkin

3/4 cup powdered sugar (or more to taste)

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

few dashes pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped to stiff peaks

1. mix the cream cheese, pumpkin and sugar until smooth.
2. stir in vanilla and pumpkin pie spice.
3. fold in the whipped cream.
4. chill until ready to frost, at least 30 minutes.