Quick and Easy Chocolate Cupcakes

This week marks my last week at the tutoring center where I have been working since October. It is definitely a bittersweet departure. I will greatly miss my co-workers and the students, but I am also greatly excited about my first full-time teaching job starting in the fall! I'm taking a few weeks off here in July to get ready for all I will be doing, which also means I get to do some things I love that have been placed on the back burner for the last few months, like spending time in the kitchen. 

Cupcakes are about the easiest dessert you can make. They also happened to be about the easiest treat to make for a bunch of students, other than cookies. No forks, no plates, and maybe a pile of napkins. 

My old work schedule at the tutoring center kept me out until 8:30 or 9:00 most nights, so when I got home, I'd whip up something quick for dinner, and then find myself ready to go to bed shortly after. It was during one of these busy weeks about a month ago that I promised two sisters at the center that I would make cupcakes. 

When I asked one of them what kind of cupcakes I should make, she thought a moment, then said to me, "Mmm, just make both." After clarifying a little, I discovered that there are only two kinds of cake in her mind: chocolate and vanilla. I thought I would try a marbled cupcake, but when 9:30 p.m. rolled around, with my energy quickly draining, I looked for a super easy chocolate cupcake. This is what I found. 

One of my first cookbooks was a small, spiral bound Hershey's cookbook. It covers just the basics. I've made the Deep Dark Chocolate cake countless times, but never tried the cupcake recipe that shares the page. I was thrilled with the "throw everything in the same bowl and mix" format. It was just what I needed that late at night. I frosted them with a basic buttercream frosting (half chocolate, half vanilla), and they turned out great. Marbled frosting is about as good as marbled cake, right?! It kind of made them look like a chocolate vanilla swirl ice cream cone. The perfect cupcake to celebrate summer.

Quick and Easy Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes about 24 cupcakes

2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup hot water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a cupcake pan with paper or foil liners and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, coca, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine. Add the shortening, eggs, milk, water, and vanilla. Beat on low speed with an electric mixer for about 1 minute, then beat on medium speed until the batter is smooth, about 3 more minutes.

3. Scoop the batter in the the cupcake liners, filling them about 1/2 to 3/4 full. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the center lightly springs back when touched. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Frost the cupcakes with your favorite icing and enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Hershey's Best-Lover Recipes, 1997.