My husband says these cupcakes make him feel as though he is five years old again. They have an amazing deep chocolate flavour and they freeze well. For an old-fashioned effect, swirl the icing on top of the cupcakes; for a more modern look, pipe it.

You can bake the batter in two deep 9-inch (23 cm) pans and make an old-fashioned layer cake. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cake springs back when pressed in the centre. We sometimes also make mini cupcakes (you should have about 70); bake them for 10 to 12 minutes.

Ingredients
1/2 cup (125 mL) cocoa, sifted
2/3 cup (150 mL) chopped unsweetened chocolate (about 4 oz/125 g)
1 cup (250 mL) boiling water
1 cup (250 mL) butter
1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar
1 cup (250 mL) brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tbsp (15 mL) vanilla
2 1/2 cups (625 mL) all-purpose flour
2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
1 cup (250 mL) milk
    
Chocolate icing
3/4 cup (175 mL) butter, cut in small pieces
12 oz (375 g) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1/3 cup (75 mL) cocoa, sifted
1 tbsp (15 mL) vanilla
3 cups (750 mL) icing sugar, sifted
1/2 cup (125 mL) milk, approximately
Preparation
1 Combine the cocoa and unsweetened chocolate in a bowl. Pour boiling water over chocolate and let sit for 2 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Cool.

2 In a large bowl or bowl of electric mixer, cream butter with both sugars until very light. Add eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla and cooled chocolate mixture.

3 In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add flour to butter mixture alternately with milk in three or four additions, beginning and ending with flour.

4 Fill 24 well-buttered or paper-lined muffin cups. (Fill muffin cups three quarters full; cupcakes will not rise as much as muffins.) Bake in a preheated 350ºF (180ºC) oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack before icing.

5 For icing, in a large bowl or food processor, beaut butter until light. Beat in cooled melted chocolate, cocoa and vanilla. Beat in icing sugar. Add milk and beat until very cool and creamy. (Add milk if necessary for a creamy texture.) If mixture is too warm and thin to spread, set over a bowl of ice; it should thicken very quickly as you beat with a wooden spoon.

6 Swirl or pipe icing on top of cupcakes.

Excerpted from Bonnie Stern's Essentials of Home Cooking by Bonnie Stern. Copyright 2003 by Bonnie Stern. Excerpted by permission of Random House of Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.