Brighten Up Your Day Chocolate Cupcakes With Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

For my dear friends Vadim and Artem's birthday, I decided to whip up some cupcakes. After digging around to come up with the right flavor profile, I thought the combination of rich chocolate cake and tangy raspberry frosting would certainly fit the bill. Nothing says happy birthday like some baked goods from the heart :).

Recipe
For the cake
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder (Dutch processed)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup brewed strong coffee
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 jumbo eggs


For the frosting
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 pint raspberries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
16 oz. package of powdered sugar
pinch of salt

We start by preheating to oven to 350º. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the vanilla, buttermilk, vegetable oil and eggs. Whisk until combine. With the mixer on the lowest speed, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients until just combined. Don't over mix!!

Wet ingredients

Dry ingredients

Add the brewed coffee to the mix and fold in the coffee with a spatula by hand. I find that mixing by hand is easier and less messy than an electric mixer. In the past, I've made quite the mess when the contents splattered to every hard to reach nook/cranny in the kitchen. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is combined. I poured the cake batter into a large mixing cup to make it easier to distribute amongst the cupcake tins. Put liners in each cup and pour the batter, 3/4 to 4/5 of the way full, depending on how big you want the cupcakes to be. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the tester comers out clean. When the puppies are done, let cool.

Before

After

Now, for the frosting. I choose a simple sugar frosting for the cupcakes. Combine 1 pint of the raspberries with the butter, vanilla and salt into the stand mixer. Start on low and gradually increasing the speed, whip the mixture until the raspberries are pulverized and the mixture is fluffy. You might need to stop the mixer and scrap the bottom with a spatula a few times to make sure everything is well-combined. 

Don't worry about the little seeds

With the whisk on low, gradually add in the powdered sugar in three batches. Be very careful because the sugar is so light, it'll jailbreak in a puff of smoke if you mix it too quickly. Between batches, scrape the bottom of the mixing bowl to make sure the butter doesn't stick to the bottom. After all the sugar are incorporated, whisk on high until the frosting is light and fluffy.

And we have frosting!

To decorate the cupcakes, I spooned the icing into a pastry bag fitted with a flat tip. I used a semi-wave motion to add two circles of icing and then placing a raspberry in the middle. I'm no cake decorating queen, but the design came out pretty well! 

Pastry bag

LIttle cuties

Reflection
I was a bit skeptical when I looked at the recipe at first. It didn't call for any butter and a cup of brewed coffee? Well, they turned out marvelously! The cake was super moist, even after sitting around for a few hours out in the open. The frosting wasn't very buttery or rich as a butter cream, but with the raspberries, had just the right balance between sweet and sour that lightened the decadent cake. I will try out this recipe in cake form next time. The bright pink and the brown creates such a striking contrast. A good looking and delicious combination, what's not to like?