So last week I posted about the Purple Quilt for a friend going through something horrible, and I also mentioned that she asked me to bake her something. So I made these dark chocolate cupcakes, which are from the same recipe as the Pac Man cupcakes. And I also made vanilla buttercream, from a different recipe than my usual vanilla frosting.

My favorite thing about this batch of cupcakes (aside from the purple frosting, just add food coloring) is that I didn’t realize I had no sour cream until the minute I needed to add it to the batter. Which should have been a baking crisis, BUT I happened to have some Greek yogurt left over from another recipe I made last week. So I just threw that in instead, same quantity, and…I may be making these with Greek yogurt from now on. It just gave them the slightest little tang that was really yummy and hard to put your finger on. So maybe that will be my new secret ingredient (Shhh…don’t spill the beans).

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream (from America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book)
Makes: 24 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
2 sticks (16 Tbsp) unsalted butter
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used semi-sweet; I had no bittersweet on hand)
1 cup (3 ounces) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1.5 cups (7.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 cups (10.5 ounces) sugar
1 cup sour cream (or yogurt!)
4 cups frosting (recipe for buttercream at the bottom)

Read more on Recipe-A-Day Week Vol. III, Day 4: Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream…