Birthday Cupcakes!

Lavina was turning "24" so I decided to make (egg-less) cupcakes for the occasion.

Look at these lovely cupcake wrappers!

Mixing up the batter...

Ready to go in the oven

Lavina loves coffee flavored treats. What better than a mocha flavored frosting for these birthday cupcakes!

Foamy, airy frosting courtesy of whipping cream...

There's no instant coffee? Everything is RUINED!

Coffee & whipping cream dissolving to create the ultimate frosting

Whipped deliciousness

Happy Birthday Lavina!

Allergen-Free Chocolate Cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. chocolate extract* *or, you can just include 1 tsp. vanilla extract instead of 1/2 and 1/2
• 1 1/4 cup water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with cute polka dot paper liners.

Sift together the cake flour, granulated sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

With an electric mixer on medium speed, mix together oil, vinegar, vanilla, and the water until well combined. Add flour mixture and mix until smooth. You will probably need to scrape down the bowl as needed.

Divide the batter evenly among the cute polka dot paper liners, filling each three-quarters full.

Bake, rotating the muffin tin halfway through, until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean, roughly 20-25 minutes.

Turn the cupcakes onto a wire cooking rack and let them cool completely.

These cupcakes can be stored for up to 3 days (as though they'd actually last that long, hahaha.hahahaha) in an air tight container.

Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled
• 3 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp instant espresso powder
• Chocolate coffee beans for decoration

Put cream, sugar, cocoa and coffee powder in a large bowl. Stir, cover, and let sit in the refrigerator for about an hour, until the chocolate and coffee have dissolved.

Remove from the refrigerator and beat with an electric beater until stiff.

Frost the cupcakes right before serving (so, I went Deb, Lavina and Marissa's apartment with my cupcakes and frosting in tow so the cupcakes wouldn't get messed up).

To frost, I used a zip-lock bag, and snipped off a small portion of the end of a bag to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.