The description of the cupcakes says in place of vanilla extract, a different extract can be added to change the flavor of your cupcakes. I thought "Well that sounds like fun!" and divided the batter into three separate bowls before adding a different extract to each. The recipe and results follow...
One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes (adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa powder (more if you want to make simple chocolate buttercream)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
3/4 teaspoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup warm water
(1 teaspoon vanilla extract, OR 1 1/2 teaspoon orange extract, peppermint extract, etc)
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Combine all dry ingredients. Add eggs, milk, lemon juice, water, oil and your choice of extract to mix. If you, like me, want to create three different cupcakes from this one recipe, do not add extract but first divide the batter into three (or two or more) bowls.
2. In one bowl, I added almond extract. Because the 1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract is for a full recipe and I had divided my recipe into thirds, I only added 1/2 teaspoon almond extract.
3. To my second bowl of batter I added 1/2 teaspoon orange extract, 1/3 cup of chocolate chips, orange zest and a dash of fresh squeezed orange juice and saved the orange to use for an orange glaze (recipe to follow).
4. Bowl number three gets plain old vanilla extract.
5. Bake until toothpick (it doesn't have to be a toothpick - you could have a legit cake tester) comes out clean. Around 20 minutes.
Yield: 18 scrumptious cupcakes.
After the blueberry pancake fiasco, I swore to follow this recipe exactly. I had gotten to the very end before I realized that the cocoa powder was still sitting on the counter in its measuring cup waiting to be added. I have learned from past experiences that order in which you add ingredients does matter. In this case, I chose to ignore my instincts and just stir the cocoa powder into the now moist batter. Surprisingly, the cupcakes were still very good and moist (or maybe that's not so surprising to you. I mean, it is chocolate for crying out loud. Where can you go wrong?).
I took these to Steven's for dessert and they we a huge success. Especially after the incredible Eggplant Parmesan he and I had whipped up! ;)
My personal favorite? The chocolate/almond cupcakes with cinnamon buttercream.
Orange Glaze "Recipe"
1/2-ish teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
Whisk together ingredients until smooth. For this recipe, I like it a little more runny than thick. It gets too sweet with too much confectioners sugar and I like the orange flavor to take center stage. Again, it's up to you.
