Cocoa Pink Cuplets

I've never heard of cupcakes referred to as "cuplets" before. But I've also never considered cocoa to be pink. My cuplets did not turn out pink. I used the Hershey's Special Dark cocoa instead of normal cocoa, so I'm sure that has something to do with it. I'm also beginning to really enjoy all of this homemade cake. I may never make cake from a box again!

The chocolate flavor of the cuplets is light, even though I used dark cocoa, and the chocolate chips on top compliment the flavor very well. If you want a cupcake that has more of a rich flavor, you can probably try adding a bit more cocoa. Or you can just frost them with a chocolate frosting or ganache!

Cocoa Pink Cuplets (Printer-friendly PDF Version)
2 C flour
1 T cocoa
1 t salt
1 1/4 C sugar
3/4 C shortening
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 C cold water
1 t baking soda
1 C chocolate chips
1/2 C chopped nuts (optional)

Take the flour, cocoa, and salt and sift them together twice. Set this flour mixture aside.

In a mixer on a medium low speed, cream together the sugar and shortening.

Add the eggs and mix well on low speed. Add the vanilla at some point during this mixing process. I suggest scraping the sides of the bowl at least once.

Add the baking soda to the cold water and stir until the soda is dissolved.

With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and the water mixture. I did 3 additions of flour and 2 additions of water. Be sure to start and end with an addition of flour and to mix well between each addition. The batter will be very nice and fluffy when you are done!

Fill baking cups half full with the batter. Put some of the chocolate chips and optional nuts on top of each blob of batter. This recipe will make 20-24 cupcakes, so don't worry if you don't have enough batter for 24 cuplets. I only made 22.

Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes. Be sure to check at 20 minutes to see if they are done. Check this by stabbing a cuplet with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, they are done! If it comes out messy, you just killed a cuplet. You should be ashamed of yourself. Now continue to bake them for a few more minutes.

With the chocolate chips on top (and the optional nuts), I didn't see a need to add frosting to these cuplets. If you did, let me know how it turned out.

Enjoy!