A Chocolate Fix

Since the entire family is on a diet and birthdays demand cake, I went on the hunt to find a recipe to make yesterday for Nene's birthday dinner. I found this allergen free recipe in Martha Stewart's Cupcake book. No eggs, butter, or milk. I was doubtful. . . They were actually very good! The recipe was passed to Martha by the owner of Divvies Bake Shop, who specializes in everything allergen free. I always use Hershey's Special Dark cocoa and this recipe really lets you taste that great chocolate flavor since there is less than a cup of sugar. I entered the recipe into a calorie calculator and each one is 162 calories and 25 carbohydrates. Not too bad when you need a fix. You get 6 grams of fat from the oil, but it's much better than some alternatives. For instance, I entered my normal brownie brownie recipe in the calculator and they are 340 calories, 18 grams of fat, and 43 carbs each. (my vanilla cupcakes are over 400 each - YIKES) Now for all of you attending Stella's party on Saturday, rest assured that the real stuff will be there. Sometimes we have to splurge. My problem is that I've been splurging 99.9% of the time. It's a daily battle, but I'm trying to tackle it once more. Let's hope it's for good this time.

Divvies Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder (remember to look for Hershey's Special Dark)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups water


Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together oil, vinegar, vanilla, and water until well combined. Add flour mixture to the mixer and mix until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary. Batter should look and feel more watery than normal cake batters.

Pour batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each cup 3/4 full. Transfer to oven and bake, rotating pan halfway through cooking, until a cake tester inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. (20 minutes was perfect in my oven)

Remove cupcakes from muffin tin and transfer to a wire rack.

Dust with powdered sugar if desired.