Doctored cake mix chocolate cupcakes

Tonight I had to make some cupcakes for my son's school carnival that takes place tomorrow night. Well, such short notice calls for a cake mix!! I just can't bring myself to simply use a cake mix AND follow the directions on the back of the box. I had to find a "doctored" cake mix recipe. I don't feel like such a loser that way. I came across this recipe on allrecipes.com and I am very impressed with it. Of course it's easy to put together and it's extremely moist and chocolately. I used a chocolate fudge flavored cake mix so my cupcakes turned out extra dark chocoalte. I love the addition of chocolate chips in chocolate cupcakes. It adds a bit of texture and of course, a bigger chocolate bang. So if you need to quickly pump out a chocolate cake for some occasion, you should try this one. You will love it! The exciting part of these cupcakes was the icing. I made a simple buttercream icing but I flavored it with my new Sonoma Vanilla Bean Syrup that I purchased in NYC at Dean & Deluca. Oooo, that syrup is gooood! I sprinkled the top of the iced cupcakes with flower sprinkles then placed some molded sugar decorations on top. Cute! Then I packaged them up in my pink cupcake boxes and they are ready to go!

This syrup has a wonderful flavor. It can be used in coffee, brushed on cake layers, to flavor milkshakes or to flavor icing, oh and it's great to add to heavy whipping cream as you whip it. The bottle says you can pour it onto ice cream as well but I just can't imagine that.

I used 2 sticks of unsalted butter but also some shortening in my icing. I must admit, I like the texture that a bit of shortening gives icing. I tinted this buttercream a nice light minty green color.

Each cupcake was topped with a different sugar decoration. I purchase these decorations online from a company called cakedeco.com
You can purchase many bulk decorations used in baking from this website.
You can save a LOT of money by purchasing through them, especially if you use these sort of decorations often. I have about 15 boxes of either molded sugar decorations or royal icing decorations from cakedeco and each box has hundreds of pieces. I have boxes of ladybugs, bees, cherubs, all kinds of flowers, eyes, butterflies, animals, hearts......I also have some boxes of gum paste flowers. Those are amazing. I use them on my cakes. What a presentation. The little molded sugar ones & royal icing decorations are also beautiful on decorated sugar cookies. I also purchase all different kinds of sprinkles in large bulk quantities from cakedeco. Check out the cakedeco website. I bet you find something you can use!

Got to pipe a big blob of icing on top! No skimping here!

I also purchased these pink bakery boxes online. I use them mainly for cupcakes but you can also remove the cupcake cardboard insert and use the box by itself. They came in a box of 100 and I use them often. These were a good investment. They make my presentation of my baked goods look really professional. I will supply the link below. They offer so many size boxes and the boxes are very good and sturdy quality.

http://www.brpboxshop.com/pink_cake_boxes.html

Too Much Chocolate Cake
from allrecipes.com

1 (18.25 oz) package devils food cake mix
1 (5.9 oz) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 warm water (I dissolved a bit of instant coffee granules in mine)
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In large bowl, mix together cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, oil, eggs and water. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into lined cupcake tins ,12 cup bundt pan or two 9 inch pans.

Bake until top springs back when lightly touched or use wooden toothpick test.

Ice as desired or dust with powdered sugar.