Flawless Chocolate Cupcakes with Russian Buttercream

Lately these days I’m finding I have less and less and less time in a day. I mean c’mon, where the heck does it all go?!  I swear, one minute I’m groggily trying to drag my night owl rear end up for the day and the next I’m back in bed for the night wondering how that happened.

I’m not truly complaining, don’t get me wrong.  I suck at sitting still.  I will pull a project out of thin air if need be as I very much prefer to be busily moving about accomplishing something. 

Granted, too busy is too busy sometimes; when projects aggravatingly linger in half-finished states or things needing to get done just don’t get done, that’s too busy for me.  But, such some days are. 

I’m finding the need and desire to bake more often is growing, like an itch that can’t be scratched.  I’m certainly not complaining about that either.  It becomes frustrating when the itch outweighs the day’s time allotment and there’s zero I can do about it.  

Recently I’ve heh, been finding ways to efficiently manipulate a day’s schedule so I can bake between working or whatever project is afoot, heh aka “break times,” timing things around each other so I can at least attempt a scratch at that itchy itchy itch. 

Or, my day was one of those where things just would not get done plus we’re out of sweet treats but more importantly it’s your neighbor Anne’s birthday and you want to bring her something happy. 

Thankfully on days when Mike is off and all we do is glue our butts to the couch with Finn the dog, I get a chance to heh, either do what work I can using my phone (I know, it’s pathetic but hey, Mike’s choices in television leaves a lot to be desired so I keep busy while not being busy) or do some recipe searching, sort of pre-planning future bakes without planning. 

So thankfully, one day I came across this cupcake recipe via Scharffen Berger’s website and *mwah,* they turned out to be truly perfect lil’ chocolate cupcakes.  Added bonus?  They’re a one-bowl wonder stir-n-bake.  You don’t even need a mixer to make them!

Too, I am on a frosting quest.  Far too many are far too tooth-rottingly sweet.  Why, please tell me why, there needs to be four, five, eight!! cups or more!, of powdered sugar in a frosting recipe?!?  Omg, No. 

No, no thank you. 

I’m also finding lately I’m having issues with, ok, this is gonna sound wrong in every which way, too much butter.  When a frosting has lost its initial fluff after a day or two or re-forms into a solid block of butter again, especially after being stored in the fridge, meh, nope, not appealing. 

Too, knowing I’m eating like multiple tablespoons of butter in one slice of cake, I struggle with that.  To start, I know cake is not the healthiest which is fine because an indulgence makes for a healthy brain/mind/life balance and I love butter but, I guess, hm, just not all the butter at once.   Sacrilege, sure.

So needless to say, I’m having a major existential frosting crisis. 

Is it too much to ask for not too sweet, not too leaden, not so artery-clogging but a fluffy, soft, smooth, grandly whipped and complementary crown?  Seems so but I’m on the case. 

A good start is this eye-blinkingly simple Russian Buttercream I found at Let the Baking Begin.

So that one fine moment in time when my day was stupidly stupid, I put these two recipes together, Chocolate Cupcakes with Russian Buttercream, to celebrate Anne and have a few for us as well.  Winner winner chicken dinner.

Happy happy!  It’s such a struggle to share all these photos of things I’ve baked after they’re long gone….

And really, the combo was shockingly superb.  I definitely couldn’t have planned it better if I had more time as I would have certainly overthought it.  Very revelatory noted to self there.  Ahem.

So really, you pretty much dump nearly all the ingredients in your mixer * bowl, start mixing, then add the water to pull the whole batter together.

Get yourself set up and ready to go, this goes quick!

(Though I did not test it, I imagine you can replace the all-purpose flour with a gluten-free version one for one.)

I’m always astounded when an easy recipe turns out so ridiculously well.  Honestly, I merely skimmed the recipe first (bad), I had no idea how effortless it was going to be.  How do they do that?!

Here’s everything whipped together before the last ingredient, water.  Looks tasty already, yeah!

And then post water blending, voila, chocolate cupcake batter!

 

I have to say, I am quite shocked, shocked I tell you, at how well this pan* works.  I have yet to experience any sticking.

And then all you do for the buttercream, seriously, the hardest part is washing out the mixing bowl of the cake batter to make the frosting….another dump and mix.

Whipped butter, mmm.

Do note if you’re making just the twelve cupcakes as the recipe outlines, you’ll have a bunch of extra frosting leftover.  Or, be extra generous with the frosting.  Which is quite soft by the way and FYI.  You can give it a ten minute or so chill in the fridge post-whipping to firm it up a bit if you’d prefer.  I froze my leftovers so I’ll see how it survives that and let you know.

At first I panicked, sweetened condensed milk, butter, and vanilla, is this gonna work out?!  Then tasting it directly out of the bowl, I feared it was still too sweet but nope, it balanced befittingly with the chocolate cupcake.  Spot on perfect.  Yuummm. Mee.

I just want to go swimming in that.

The frosting finished so light and fluffy and stayed that way, I didn’t feel over-butter-whelmed either.

Look how soft and fluffy and pretty!

If you’re concerned that vanilla will alter the frosting color, you can try clear vanilla.*  Do note it is artificial, imitation vanilla, if that bothers you more than a slightly tan frosting. 

I found some at my Menards store, such a weird store, I love it, and as it was on sale for two bucks, out of curiosity thought I’d try it just to see as I had never prior.  It is a bit of a different vanilla flavor but it’s not terrible. Or so I felt.

Yes, I’m out of photo order, sorry.  There’s my lil’ bottle of clear vanilla.

Anywhooo…

Here they are, all baked up and cooling.  So flippin’ tasty they were.

Voila, Chocolate Cupcakes with Russian Buttercream!

However you opt to use these recipes, please, at some point, put these together as I have no doubt you’ll be thrilled with the results.  

Note:  This content originally appeared on Flaky Bakers.

Flawless Chocolate Cupcakes

Yield

12 cupcakes

Prep time

10 Min

Cook time

22 Min

Total time

32 Min

These little tender Chocolate Cupcakes with Russian Buttercream are a heavenly one-bowl wonder that bake up in a flash!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (57 g, 1 stick, 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted, warm
• 1/2 cup (118 ml) hot water
• 1 cup (120 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (223 g) granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons (39 g) cocoa powder natural, unsweetened
• 1/2 teaspoon (3 g) baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon (1.5 g) fine sea salt
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon (5 g) vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Place a rack on the lower third position in the oven and begin preheating to 350° F (176° C). Line or grease a 12 well muffin pan.
2. Melt the butter in the microwave, about 30-45 seconds, and heat up the water, about 30 seconds.
3. In a mixer bowl or large bowl if mixing by hand, add the dry ingredients and stir to combine or fluff with a fork.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla then beat together for about 1 minute on medium speed.
5. Pour in half of the water and beat for about 20-30 seconds then scrape down the bowl. Add the rest of the water and beat until smooth or about another 20-20 seconds.
6. Split the batter evenly between the twelve wells and bake for 18-22 minutes, spinning the pan about halfway through baking so back is front, front is back. Check for doneness with a toothpick; a few crumbs attached but clean is perfect.
7. Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes then remove the cupcakes to a cooling rack. They are ready to frost when cooled completely.
8. Though untested here, you can likely swap in GF flour 1 for 1 for a gluten free cupcake.

Notes:

Adapted from Scharffen Berger.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

251.10

Fat (grams)

8.65

Sat. Fat (grams)

5.05

Carbs (grams)

41.89

Fiber (grams)

0.45

Net carbs

41.44

Sugar (grams)

33.38

Protein (grams)

2.37

Sodium (milligrams)

110.34

Cholesterol (grams)

51.34

Please see the "info" section for nutrition and gram weight details.

chocolate, cupcakes

recipes

American

Russian Buttercream

Yield

18 cupcakes

Prep time

10 Min

Cook time

10 Min

Total time

20 Min

Not your typical frosting — this one is a soft, fluffy, less sweet version that stays creamy and smooth with no additional sugar.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (226 g, 2 sticks, 16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 14 oz (414 ml) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp (5 g) vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Put the whisk attachment on your mixer and in the bowl, add the butter, whipping it for approximately 5-7 minutes, until it’s airy and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl as necessary.
2. Add the vanilla and combine.
3. Turn off the mixer and add a third of the condensed milk, turn the mixer back on and slowly ramp up the speed to whip for about 10-15 seconds. Add another third, repeat, then add the remaining third and whip the contents for about 2-5 minutes or until the consistency is frosting-like.
4. Spread immediately or chill for about 10-15 minutes to firm the frosting as it will be quite soft.
5. This recipe makes more than needed for 12 cupcakes, probably more like 18.

Notes:

Adapted from Let the Baking Begin.

As an added bonus, you can turn the condensed milk into dulce de leche for a caramely version! If you try an unopened can version, keep an eye on it to prevent the can from exploding.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

186.47

Fat (grams)

12.81

Sat. Fat (grams)

8.00

Carbs (grams)

16.20

Fiber (grams)

0.00

Net carbs

16.20

Sugar (grams)

16.20

Protein (grams)

2.46

Sodium (milligrams)

39.14

Cholesterol (grams)

37.22

Please see the "info" section for nutrition and gram weight details.

frosting, buttercream

recipes

International

*The stand mixers, USA muffin tin, and clear vanilla are Amazon affiliate links.  Happy baking, thanks!  Please see the "info" tab for more, well, info.