POM Wonderful Chocolate Cupcakes

I know what you're thinking... "Ummm where are the cupcakes? All I see is this freakin bundt!" Well, SORRY! I made the cupcakes, but THEY ALL GOT EATEN! The wing-nighters went buck wild on 'em! I don't know if they were just curious about the pomegranate, or maybe they just really love all things chocolate, or maybe the cupcakes were just that good! I didn't stand a chance telling them to back off while I took 20 pictures just to pick 1 or 2 blogworthy shots. But I did snap a few quick photos of the small bundt cake I made with the leftover batter. My dad's description of the cake was given after a few beers, so I can't quote him word for word (or else I'd have to change my blog rating to "adult content" if you get what I'm saying!). Let's just say he felt very strongly that these cupcakes would fly off the bakery shelves if I ever got a place of my own! Lol ;D

I made these cupcakes because a few months ago I was contacted by POM Wonderful asking if I'd be interested in some pomegranate juice in exchange for saying a few things about it on my blog. I was already a long time fan of pomegranates and their juice, so of course I said yeah! I've had 8 little bottles of POM sitting in my fridge ever since then, just waiting to get put into one of their suggested recipes. So this week when you guys chose pomegranate cupcakes as the poll winner, I was super happy! I used POM's recipe for chocolate cupcakes. The cake itself was a little gummy because of all the water in the recipe, but none of the wing-nighters noticed. At first, the frosting was looking more like a glaze... that is until I bad-mouthed it into becoming spreadable. It only took a few minutes in the fridge and some "Come on, stupid frosting, whip!" pep talks, and that frosting became just as spreadable as it was edible! Then I melted it back down and poured it over the bundt cake. Yeah, I like to do things backwards. Ya wanna fight about it? Anyway, the pomegranate flavor was indistinguishable in the cake itself, but there was a distinct sour, slightly btiter aftertaste to the frosting. I think the POM was really there to accent the flavor of the chocolate. Overall I'd say this recipe is a 8.5, but all the wing-nighters gave it a 10!!
POM Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting (Click here for printable recipe)
Makes 24 cupcakes
Juice from 2-3 large POM Wonderful Pomegranates, or 1 cup POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water, heated to boiling
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vinegar (not wine vinegar)
1 tablespoon vanilla

Pomegranate Chocolate Frosting
Juice from 1 large POM Wonderful Pomegranate,* or 1/2 cup POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
6 tablespoons butter
1 6-oz. package chocolate chips (about 1 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
12 tablespoons whole milk (You definitely don't need this)

1. Preheat oven to 350F with rack in the center.
2. Place a paper baking cup in each of 24 regular sized muffin cups.
3. Whisk together the dry ingredients to combine well.
4. In a large measuring cup, combine pomegranate juice and boiling water.
5. Add oil, vinegar and vanilla to the pomegranate juice mixture.
6. Add to the flour mixture all at once and whisk to combine (batter will be lumpy).
7. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups (about half full).
8. Bake 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and free of crumbs (Mine were done around 16-18 minutes).
9. Let cool. Frost with pomegranate chocolate frosting and decorate with arils.

Frosting:
1. In a saucepan, bring pomegranate juice and butter to a boil.
2. Remove from heat; blend in chocolate chips.
3. Stir in vanilla and powdered sugar. Beat until frosting is of spreading consistency. If frosting is too stiff, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk to thin. (Mine never got thick. I stuck it in the fridge for 5 minutes, and then whipped the heck out of it until it lightened in color and became spreadable.)
(For the glaze, mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar with about 2 capfuls of POM. It should be thick. Drizzle it on top with a whisk or put it into a ziploc bag and cut the corner to use it as a piping bag.)