Photo Credit: Leanne Gallaway

Valentine’s Day is the unofficial holiday for a co-ed to celebrate chocolate. Therefore, it is only fitting to treat oneself to a classic, sweet chocolate cupcake.  This fabulous Hershey’s recipe for rich “Perfectly Chocolate” chocolate cupcakes has been used in my family for all occasions; it can be modified for one-pan cakes, Bundt cakes and layer cakes as well. For Valentine’s Day, take a hint from Spoonful and create heart-shaped cupcakes by putting a small marble or ball of foil between each liner and one side of the tin. This will push the paper into the batter to mold the notch in the heart.

Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ cups flour

• ¾ cup HERSHEY’S cocoa

• 2 cups sugar

• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup milk

• ½ cup vegetable oil

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 cup boiling water

Directions:

1. First, line muffin tin with paper bake cups and heat oven to 350°F.
2. While oven is preheating, mix flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and beat with electric mixer for two minutes.
3. Then, stir in boiling water and pour batter into muffin cups, making sure each is about 2/3 full. Don’t worry, the batter is supposed to be thin.
4. Bake 22-25 minutes and cool completely before frosting.

Photo Credit: Leanne Gallaway

Once cool, try frosting with CakeJournal’s Angel Feather Icing.

Ingredients:

• 2 large egg whites

• ¾ cup white sugar

• ^1/3 cup corn syrup

• 2 tablespoons cold water

• ¼ teaspoon fresh lemon juice

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. First, add all ingredients except vanilla into the top of a double boiler with boiling water below and beat with an electric mixer until icing forms stiff peaks.
2. Remove double boiler from heat and add vanilla extract. Continue beating until thick.
3. Finally, spread onto cooled cupcakes with spatula or piping bag with a large tip. In a pinch, a plastic baggie with a corner snipped off can allow for fairly precise designs.

Photo Credit: Leanne Gallaway

For variety, add food coloring to the icing, sprinkle with colored sugar or decorate with stylish chocolate hearts. If you want to step it up a notch, Made With Love by Me has easy-to-follow instructions for baking a contrasting colored heart shape right into the center of your cupcake. My favorite is a chocolate cupcake with a strawberry heart center. What’s yours?

Photo Credit: Leanne Gallaway