Chocolate Cupcakes

One of my best friends was throwing a birthday party for her son a few weeks ago and told me that she was looking for a cupcake recipe that didn't use shortening and that would be moist without being greasy. Although I have never made homemade cupcakes before, I thought I would do a little research for her. I found a recipe that looked good on my favorite cooking blog For the Love of Cooking. It seemed to meet all of the criteria, and I have never found a bad recipe on that blog, so I went ahead and sent it to her, even though I had never tried it. She ended up using that one for the party and said it turned out well. Ever since then I have been just waiting for a good time to try it. That time came just last night, when I decided to take Christmas cupcakes over to a neighbor. 

These were definitely very moist and tasted good. I felt like the chocolate taste was a little bit too rich when I ate them alone, but with frosting, they were just perfect. The one mistake I made was to fill the cups too much so they overflowed and the top part stuck to the pan a little. 

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup canola oil

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350° and place 24 cupcake liners in muffin pans. Sift together dry ingredients, then beat in eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla with a hand mixer. Add boiling water and stir until blended. The mixture will seem watery. Using a ladle or measuring cup, pour batter into muffin liners, filling approximately 2/3 full. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting and decorating.