Mini Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

A tea party is not complete without little mini cakes and treats, and my sister absolutely adores cupcakes.  She originally wanted her wedding cake to be entirely cupcakes, but my mom wouldn't allow it since she'd have nothing for a cake topper.  So of course I brought the cupcakes to her bridal shower!  I made two different kinds of mini cupcakes, vanilla chai with cinnamon buttercream frosting and chocolate with chocolate frosting (the chai will come in the next post).  The chocolate on chocolate was mostly because I love all things chocolate, and I assume that most other people do too.

I originally was going to double the recipe for these, completely forgetting I was making mini cupcakes, so it would be like I was doubling it anyway.  Thank goodness I didn't; I ended up with about 120 mini cupcakes.  We had plenty of leftovers!

 These cupcakes are so perfect; the frosting is absolutely amazing.  It's extremely rich and chocolatey, just what I love.  I'm usually not a big fan of frosting on cupcakes, so I was SO pleased with the results of this - I would eat the frosting alone!  I loved the use of applesauce in the batter; it really added some extra moistness!  Because they're so moist, you have to be careful if you're freezing them (unfrosted); some of mine just fell out of their liners after defrosting!  It hardly mattered, they're so delicious; I just took the few that fell out and plated them without the liners!

How I served them up..you'll notice a few in the front without liners!  I especially love these cupcakes after they've been in the fridge for a while; the frosting tastes almost like a ganache..to die for!

Here's me in action setting up the dessert table; my aunt Jacki captured the entire bridal shower! :)

Both of the cupcake recipes, I found on Bakingdom - one of my favorite food blogs!  I was so excited to be able to use recipes from a lot of favorite bloggers!

Mini Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

yields 10 dozen mini cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

2 cups boiling water

1 cup cocoa powder

2 3/4 cups flour

2 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

2 sticks butter, softened

2 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 1/2 t vanilla

Line a mini muffin tin with liners and preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Whisk together the boiling water and the cocoa powder in a medium bowl until the cocoa is completely dissolved.  In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the applesauce and vanilla; stir until well combined.  Add the flour mixture and the chocolate mixture alternately until all has been added and are well combined.  Using a small cookie scoop, place one scoop of batter into each cupcake liner (to ensure even cupcakes).  Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it.
Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

For the frosting:
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup milk
1 t vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

Whisk together the cocoa and butter until well combined.  Add the milk and vanilla; stir until smooth.  Beat in the powdered sugar until you reach the desired consistency.  You can add more milk (to soften) or more sugar (to stiffen) until you reach what you like.