Second Adventure in Choco Chai Cupcakes

Today is the day! My Choco Chai Cupcakes débuted at the Motley exactly 46 minutes ago! I am nervous that nobody will buy them. If you bought one and then came on this blog to comment about it, please let me know what you think!

Here's a blurry : ( picture of the cupcakes in their display case.


One of the managers made this fabulous sign:


I altered the recipe a bit from my first "adventure," using a variation on the Magnolia chocolate cupcake recipe instead of Ina Garten's. The Magnolia recipe is richer and yummier, I think because it uses melted chocolate instead of cocoa powder. I also added more eggs.

Here's the recipe I came up with:

Julia's Choco Chai Cupcakes

2 C all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 C sugar
1 C packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs, at room temp
6 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 C buttermilk
1 t vanilla extract
2 t chai spice mix* (see the post below)

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins with cupcake papers. Melt chocolate (I just did this on a burner). In a small bowl, sift flour, baking soda, and chai spice mix. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth. Add the two sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition (I tried to beat for 30 seconds between each egg, but I usually got lazy and stopped after, like, 15 seconds). Add the chocolate, mixing well until incorporated. Then the recipe said to "add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat." As usual, I just sort of threw all that stuff in. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full (I use an ice-cream scoop for this). Bake for 20-25 minutes (since I was using an oven from, like, 1955, I had to bake for closer to 28 minutes), or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Let cool and frost with chai frosting, the recipe for which is in the post below. This recipe makes 24 cupcakes. The recipe for the frosting only makes 12, so double it.