On the search of THE perfect Chocolate Cupcake

I’m sure I’m not the only one on this (endless) search. What do I look in THE perfect Chocolate Cupcake?

Moisture.

Texture.

Flavor.

Yes, indeed those are what everyone seek in a good cupcake. But it’s not as easy as it seems. It’s not easy to get just the right amount of these three basic things. Sure you can get them all in most of the cupcake recipes out there, but balancing these three factors is far more difficult than I thought it would be.

So far I’ve tried quite a few numbers of recipe. And I’ve come to a few conclusions when it comes to making THE perfect Chocolate Cupcake:

1. Butter vs Oil - I personally prefer butter though I know nothings beats the moistness you’ll get from using oil. And as much as I’d like to take the short cut in making cupcakes, I realized that there in NO short cut to making a really nice chocolate cupcake other than the old fashioned creaming method. So yes, definitely butter.
2. Baking soda – Although I don’t like the soapy taste I get from using baking soda, not adding it to the batter makes it lacking of something for sure. I try not to add to much though – usually just 1/3 of the original recipe and add baking powder for the remaining amount if the recipe only calls for baking soda.
3. Milk, Buttermilk, Hot water - Out of the three I usually use whole milk. Buttermilk is hard to come by in Japan (though you can make it yourself by just adding vinegar to whole milk) so I always just resort to whole milk in recipes calling for buttermilk . I also read somewhere that hot water gives the batter a whole lot more moisture. I think probably so because the recipes that I tried using hot water did come out moist most of the time.
4. Cocoa powder or melted chocolate – I’m always the kind that prefers using cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate in my cupcakes. Why? Because being me, I’m at least sure that I don’t need it in my batter just to make them taste chocolaty. A good cocoa powder will do the job just fine.

The above cupcake was an oil-eggless version cupcake I got from AllRecipes.com. They were good and moist, but then I miss the fluffyness and the airyness I’d normally get from using butter. So yeah, they were ok, but still not perfect.

So the next one was an altered version of Fair Cake Cucpake recipe – which I find is SUPER DUPER easy but at the end, still lacking something – that I’m not really sure of. Perhaps some sort of liquid should be added to the batter.

I also tried Magnolia’s Chocolate Cupcake & Billy Reece’s Chocolate Cupcake (which both called for melted chocolate) and finding myself enjoying the cupcakes and still left feeling a little bit unsatisfied with the taste.

So it’s safe to say that I am still on the search for that perfect Chocolate Cupcake recipe and I probably won’t stop looking for one, not anytime soon.

Sometimes it feels like Chemistry Lab, all over again but A LOT MORE FUN!