Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes

This is one of my favorite cupcake recipes.  The batter comes out smooth and chocolatey with a touch of cinnamon.  Also, it's dairy free.  Ultimately, it's a little lighter as far as cakes go, no butter, no eggs.  It uses a combination of vinegar and baking soda to get the fluffy bubbly consistency.  If I knew more about the science of baking I would try to substitute that into more recipes, because I'm convinced that is what makes it so smooth.  Though it could also be the shaved chocolate in the batter, kind of a melt in you mouth experience.  Either way, delicious!

I like to top them off with a cinnamon buttercream icing, and a sprinkle of cinnamon and shaved chocolate (for the pretty factor).   Today I made these for Evan to take to school.  I figured if his stress level was any indication of the overall department stress level, they needed something sweet.  I used my star tip on my fun icing bag to frost them.  I'm still figuring out how to get them pretty, but they are more pretty than the butter knife method, and more consistent than the ziploc bag method.  I'll get there!

 Pretty Little Cupcake

The Tower!  I love my little cupcake tower