Because…

When life is crazy…sometimes the only sane thing to do is eat chocolate.

And when hurricanes battle down an entire side of the country, when earthquakes have taken the ground from underneath us, and when there is no way to right the wrongs across the globe that mount in my head, sometimes I just need a diversion.

Specifically, a devil’s food cupcake diversion which has been topped with whipped peanut butter frosting and then dipped in melted bittersweet chocolate. 

Because biting into it makes the perfect chocolatey crunch and numbs my mind, blurs the negative and for a few brief seconds creates cupcake euphoria.

Because it’s impossible to think of anything bad when eating something this good.

I have only started this blog a little over a year ago and as I peruse my posts today, I note the several times where I link to the Red Cross, to ask my readers to donate because of a recent disaster. From tornadoes to tsunamis, to earthquakes that take down entire cities and to these latest hurricanes this weekend— this year has been an unearthly mess.

So today, when I can’t seem to make sense of the big things, I have decided to focus only on chocolate and that I can handle.

Chocolate Cake
From My own family recipe for Devil’s Food Cake
Makes about 18 cupcakes.
7 oz (just less than a cup) vegetable oil
1 c. buttermilk
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
2 c. granulated sugar
2 c. all purpose flour
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa
1 T. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1 c. boiling water

Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting (I would make 1.5 times the recipe to ensure the you have enough frosting)
Taken from A Farm Girl’s Dabbles. Please click on the link for the recipe.

Chocolate Coating
2 c. of good quality chocolate chips or chopped bittersweet chocolate.

Cake: Prepare pan by placing cupcake liners in muffin pan.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a  stand mixer or mixing bowl, combine oil, buttermilk, yolks, and vanilla.  Beat 2 minutes with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer at medium speed.  In another bowl, sift together (or use a wire whisk like I do to avoid sifting) sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

With mixer on LOW speed, add one third of the sifted dry ingredients to oil mixture and beat until blended.  Then add one third of the hot water and slowly combine these (you don’t want the hot water to splatter on you…ouch!).  Continue this process, scraping down the bowl often until all ingredients have been add and mixed.

Scoop batter into liners and fill only 2/3 full.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the cake is spongy to the touch.  It should bounce back when touched lightly and look firm.  Cool completely.

To frost: Use a large circle tip with a big opening to pipe the peanut butter frosting in the shape of a chocolate kiss on top of each cupcake. Freeze the frosted cupcakes for an hour. After the hour, take the cupcakes out of the freezer and melt your chocolate.  Melt your chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl for one minute and then stir.  Then microwave for one minute more. It should be just barely melted and once you stir it up it should be smooth. If it’s not, then heat it up for another 20 seconds or so. You don’t want to melt your chocolate too long because it will end up getting lumpy.

Dip each cupcake upside down into the chocolate, holding onto the wrapper portion.  Twist the cupcake gently in the melted chocolate and stand back up on a plate.  Refrigerate your cupcakes for at least an hour before serving. Store cupcakes in the refrigerator since they are coated in chocolate.