Day 11 of the 12 Days of Cupcakes: Chocolate Gingerbread Cupcakes

I know I already did plain gingerbread cupcakes, but I wanted to try the chocolate gingerbread ones too since I thought the chocolate pumpkins were interesting in the fall. I really liked these cupcakes when they came out of the oven, they were perfectly domed and moist and filled with chocolate chips, what's not to like? I did, however, have a bite of a leftover one last night and found it to be super dry, which surprises me because the recipe takes almost a cup of water. I think if I repeat these I will lower the flour by 1/4c, increase the water by 1/4c and add a bit of oil. Here are the pics:




Recipe
Chocolate Gingerbread Cupcakes (original from Sugar Daze):

Cupcakes:
2 1/4c flour
3/4c cocoa
1 1/2t baking soda
1t espresso
2 1/2t ginger
1t cinnamon
1/2t cloves
1/8t nutmeg
1/4t salt
1 stick of butter, softened
1/2c brown sugar
1c molasses
2 lg eggs
3/4c boiling water
1/2c chocolate chips

Frosting:
2 (8oz) pkgs cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1t vanilla
1T milk
powdered sugar

Cupcakes:
Preheat to 325F. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, espresso, spices, and salt. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, and molasses until well mixed. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Alternate adding flour mixture and boiling water, starting and ending with flour. Stir in chocolate chips. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 18 minutes. Cool completely.

Frosting:
Beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in vanilla and milk. Add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached. Frost cooled cupcakes.

I also had a cupcake with chocolate frosting, which makes the chocolate flavor of the cupcake more dominant. The cream cheese frosting makes the gingerbread flavoring more dominant. Whichever you like better tastes equally yummy in my opinion. Enjoy!