Hershey's Dark Chocolate Minis w/ Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter Frosting

I also made mini cupcakes for my dad's birthday party. I used the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe. It was light, fluffy, and moist just like a box mix (and people say it cannot be done... pshh)! This recipe would've made about 100 minis, but after 96 I got sick of pouring the batter into the tiny cups... yeah yeah I'm that lazy. The reason I labeled them as "Dark Chocolate Minis" is because I used Hershey's Dark Chocolate cocoa powder in both the cupcakes and the chocolate frosting. It was deliciously chocolatey, but it's one of those things where some people loved it and others didn't really care for it. I frosted half of them with Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Frosting recipe. I frosted the other half with a peanut butter frosting recipe I found at Bake & Destroy. Her husband is totally right about wanting to eat this stuff with a spoon!

dark chocolate w/ dark chocolate dark chocolate w/ peanut butter

Cake and chocolate frosting recipe from Hersheys.com. Peanut butter frosting recipe from Bake & Destroy.

MY NOTES: Like I said, I used Hershey's Dark Chocolate cocoa powder. And as the recipe states, this IS a very thin batter. Don't freak out!

HERSHEY'S "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" Chocolate Cake
Makes 30 regular cupcakes OR 96 mini cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions:
1. Line muffin cups with paper baking cups. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Fill cups 2/3 full with batter.
3. Bake 22 to 25 minutes for regular cupcakes, 13-18 minutes for mini-cupcakes. Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" Chocolate Frosting
Makes about 2 1/2 - 3 cups

Ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.

PEANUT BUTTER BUTTERCREAM

2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
pinch salt
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 Tbs milk

Beat together sugar, butter and salt until creamy. Add peanut butter, beating well. Add milk and beat until smooth and creamy.