we celebrated my little sister’s birthday this weekend so now i have more cupcakes to share with you! she requested chocolate with cream cheese frosting. her fave.

there’s really no better way to spruce up simple cupcakes than with pink coloring and lots of sprinkles! these were a lot of fun for me and i purposely went heavy on the sprinkles. just looking at them made me giddy :)

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

For the cake: 
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk or whole milk
1/2 cupvegetable oil (i used pure olive oil, not extra virgin)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 boiling water

For the frosting:
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
12 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 muffins cups with liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.  Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla into a mixer and beat on medium speed, 2 minutes. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until blended. Stir in the water. Pour the batter into the prepared cupcake liners (about 3/4 full). Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in the pan. Remove the cupcakes from the tins and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter until it is completely smooth. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined. Add the sugar and the vanilla and beat until smooth. Be careful not to over beat the frosting or it will lose structure. You can frost with a pastry bag and the largest tip you can find or your preferred method.