Last weekend we had our best couple friends, Sonya and Sharron, over for a pulled pork dinner with delicious mini chocolate cupcakes for dessert. Duane started the slow cooked pork shoulder early that morning (recipe pending), and I waited until after work to make the cupcakes, that way I could have some help from my friend Sonya.

Now this scenario brings back memories of when we were in high school. Sonya and I spent many days at each others house, and one thing that we loved doing was baking. One weekend Sonya was staying over and I had a box of yellow cake mix in the cabinet so naturally we decided to bake it. Now this is very hard to believe, but somehow we messed up the cake. Yes we messed up a boxed cake. I’m going to blame it on the oven, time warp, aliens (I do not believe in aliens), something other than it was our fault. This did not sit well with us; we really wanted cake and when a girl wants cake… she should have cake. Being in high school we had a curfew and it was way past ours. Everyone in the house was asleep so we decided to sneak out to get cake mix from the 24 hour Kroger down the street. My main concern was waking up the parental units when starting and backing my old car out of the driveway. Sonya had a great idea; I would put the car in neutral and she would push it out of the driveway so we wouldn’t make too much noise. Then once to the road, I would put it in drive (and of course leave a note for mom, just in case!).

Great idea right? Yea…no. I didn’t understand fully what put the car in neutral and I’ll push it really meant. Sonya was standing in the front of the car and before I put it in neutral, I started the damn thing. Yes I started the engine. Know what I did next? I rolled down the window and asked Sonya, as she was walking to the passenger side door, “Why aren’t you pushing it?”. The answer was obvious; “you already started the car, no point in pushing now.” (while laughing hysterically). I honestly did not know that you could put a car in neutral with out starting the engine. So how did the story end… we bought our new cake mix, we made it back to the house before anyone waking, and the second cake was delicious. When we told mom the story the next morning; she laughed her head off while eating a massive piece of cake. True story.

On to these delicious mini chocolate cupcakes, I found the original recipe on Sallysbakingaddiction.com, I find so many great recipes on her site. I modified this one just a bit, by using dark brown sugar instead of the light like the original recipe called. What I really love about making mini cupcakes is that I don’t feel as guilty when I eat a few (okay more than a few) in a row, because they’re mini, great justification!

* No buttermilk (like me)? Easy, you can substitute milk and lemon juice (white vinegar also works). For every cup of milk add 1 tbs of lemon juice. For this recipe I used a 1/2 cup of 2% milk and 1 1/2 tsp of lemon juice.

 Due to a time constraint we did not use homemade frosting; but if you are looking for a frosting recipe, check out one of my faves:

https://www.muffinsandmeat.com/2013/10/22/chocolate-cupcakes-wthe-best-cookies-and-cream-icicng/

Tagged: buttermilk substitute, chocolate, cupcakes, dessert, Humor