Chocolate sour cream cupcakes

I had about half a cup of sour cream left over recently and wanted to make something to use it up. Of course, I wanted to make some type of dessert with my left over ingredient and I immediately thought of sour cream chocolate cake.  I don't remember ever having this before (and if I did, then I wasn't aware that the cake I ate had sour cream in it), so I wanted to try it out.  My husband was jazzed when he heard that I was going to attempt this recipe, and he was anxiously waiting to do his regular quality control check once the cupcakes were done.

These baked up beautifully, and the cupcakes retained their nice domed shape. It really irks me when I bake a gorgeous cupcake (or cake), only to have it sink and form an ugly crater in the middle. These cupcakes did not fall!

I didn't have enough sour cream remaining to create a sour cream chocolate frosting, so I found another one that worked equally as well. I didn't want to make a frosting that I had tried before, so I found a fudgy chocolate frosting recipe on the Hershey's website.

The cupcakes were good, but they weren't as moist as the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake that I love.  I found that they were a bit denser than the Hershey's cake but the cake started to dry out a bit after a day. The Hershey's cake tends to maintain its moisture, even after a few days. The frosting, however, was out of this world! I could eat an entire bowl of it, and I actually had a bit left over after frosting the cupcakes. I had to double the frosting recipe below because the original recipe only yielded enough to frost about 6-8 cupcakes.

My husband absolutely adored these cupcakes and said that they were the "best chocolate cake ever" - even more so than the Hershey's version that I prefer. I say that you do a blind taste test and try it out for yourself!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon soda
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake wrappers. 

Combine the boiling water, butter, granulated sugar, and cocoa powder in the bowl of your stand mixer (or in a bowl if using a hand mixer). Beat on low until smooth and sugar is dissolved.

In separate bowl, sift the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg, sour cream, and vanilla together.

Alternate adding the dry ingredients and egg and sour cream mixture into the cocoa mixture.  Do not overmix.

Fill the cupcake liners about two-thirds full. Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. 

Cool in the pan for about 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool completely before adding your favorite frosting. The frosting I used is below - note that I had to double the recipe below to frost 12 cupcakes.

Frosting Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1/3 cup cocoa (I used Hershey's dark)
• 1-1/3 cups powdered sugar 
• 2 to 3 tablespoons milk (I used 2%)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting Directions
Melt the butter or margarine in small saucepan over low heat. Add cocoa, and stir constantly until mixture just begins to boil.

Pour mixture into medium bowl; cool completely.

Alternately add powdered sugar and milk to the cocoa mixture. Mix or beat well until it is thick enough (but not too runny) to spread. Stir in vanilla. 

Yield: 10-12 cupcakes (I got 12 cupcakes); frosting yields about 1 cup

Source: Cupcakes from About.com; frosting from Hershey's