Panda Chocolate Cupcakes (Bakerella.com)

By LDenvir

Ingredients

• Chocolate Cupcakes
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2/3 cup hot water
• Easy Buttercream Frosting
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter (room temperature)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 b. 10X powdered sugar
• 1-3 teaspoons milk, half and half or cream
• Using a mixer, cream softened butter and vanilla until smooth.
• Add sugar gradually, allowing butter and sugar to cream together before adding more.
• If you want your frosting a little creamier, add a teaspoon of milk at a time and beat on high until you get the right texture.
• Then, just use icing colorsto tint the frosting the color of your choice.
• This is usually just enough for a 2-layer cake, so I would recommend doubling this for a three-layer. But, I like a lot of frosting.

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Fill mini cupcake tray with cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients together with a wire whisk.
Add eggs, oil, vanilla and milk and mix until combined.
Add hot water and mix.
Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Cool and decorate.
To decorate, you’ll need:

Frosting (I used the one from this post)
Decorator bag and Ateco tip 807 (or just use a ziploc bac and cut an end off)
White sanding sugar
Chocolate Chips (I used Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips for their size)
Jimmies (Chocolate or black and you could also just leave them off)
Pastel confetti sprinkles (just the white ones)
Black edible ink pen