Valentine's Chocolates by Hello! Cupcake

I made these mini cupcakes after finding Hello! Cupcake at a local store. I was infatuated with the book, and thought that this looked like the easiest project to begin honing my decorating skills. It was difficult to find some of the items the book recommended for decorating, but after raiding my local gourmet store, I found some items that worked well for this project.

Recipe adapted from Hello, Cupcake!

It's really cupcakes!

Devil's Food Cake Recipe

2 cups organic all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup hot, strong coffee

1 cup fat-free organic milk OR 1 cup reduced fat coconut milk

2 large organic eggs

1 teaspoon organic vanilla

**If adding coconut milk and you want it to taste a little more coconutty, add 1-2 tsp coconut extract.

Using coconut milk makes the cake even more moist than it already is, and doesn't produce a real noticeable coconut flavor, for those of you who do not care for coconut.

Baking Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, sift together dry indredients. Add oil, coffee and milk and mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat 2 more minutes. Expect batter to be thin.

Pour into a 9" x 13" greased and floured pan or 2- 9" round pans. Bake 9 x 13 pan for about 45 minutes or 9" pans for about 30 minutes. Cool in pans for about 15 minutes and then cool completely on racks.

I used mini muffin pans and liners, and they took about 8-9 minutes to bake through. Just keep an eye on them and when the cupcakes start to look firm and set up, test with a toothpick for doneness! These also cooled quickly, and I used a nice buttercream frosting that I dyed darker with brown food coloring to get a more "chocolatey" look without a hugely intense chocolate taste. Then decorate with various Valentine's Day shaped/colored candies, or whatever season it is, to achieve your look! The "chocolates" were made by dipping jumbo marshmallows that were cut into circles and cut into roundish rectangles into milk chocolate. I stuck them in the freezer to set up, placed on top the cupcake, drizzled with white chocolate, and there you have it! Simple. I tried to make one look like a "turtle" by adding some hazelnuts to the top and painting on additional chocolate.

All in all, I am happy with the result, and the perfect serving size for delicious cake!

Nom.

Jordan almond dusted with cocoa powder, conversation

hearts arranged on dark chocolate frosting

rimmed with pink nonpareils.