Happy Teachers’ Day – Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream

"Happy Teachers' Day" to all the teachers in the world........it's your day and we, as parents, could not find enough words to thank you for all that you have given and done to our children. Without you all, our children will not be what they are today. .....and for the children, I'm sure they would appreciate so much of what you as a teacher have given to them - the patience, the guidance, the knowledge and the teachings that have been showering upon them from Day 1 they enter the school till the day they graduate. 
My boys (all 3 of them) have been getting ready what to give to their teachers as a gift of 'Thank you" and selecting cards since a week ago. As their school is having a 'Happy Teachers' Day' party (on the 27^th) , all students are requested to bring a dish to contribute to the feast. This year, the twins (Daniel & Dylan) has requested me to bake 40 pieces of cupcakes and for Ian, he requested for his grandma to cook 'Curry Chicken' ^_^ . I have selected the 'Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cupcakes' and the frosting a 'Chocolate Buttercream' would goes really well with it........as I think Chocolate would be the favourite among many, hehe :P
I baked it on the 26^th and made the buttercream too on the same day. After cooling down all the cupcakes, I lightly frosted them with a simple 'star-tip' swirl and sprinkled some hundreds and thousands. I also made some gum paste lettering to be put on some of the cupcakes that read - "HAPPY TEACHERS' DAY". All packed and ready to be delivered to the school the next morning, I kept them in the fridge and hurry up to bed.....only to realize that I'm the only one in the kitchen, whereas all of them are in bed ....it's 12.40am.....*yawn*....good night everyone.....my mission accomplished!! I got the recipes from here (for the cupcake) and here (for the buttercream)...........Happy Cupcakes baking dudes ;)
p/s: By the way I doubled the recipe for the cupcakes and got about 42 cupcakes (standard size) and I also doubled the buttercream to frost all the 42 cupcakes. 

OLD-FASHIONED CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

Ingredients (Made 14-16 cupcakes)
115gm unsalted butter, room temperature
100gm castor sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
95gm plain flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
60gm unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup milk
1 teaspoons vanilla essence  

Method 
1. Preheat oven to 190~C. ( I had mine at 180~C)
2. Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Slowly add in the eggs, one at a time and beating it until well combined.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a small sized bowl and whisk to combine.
5. Measure out the milk and vanilla essence and stir to combine.
6. Add about 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture and beat to combine. Add about half of the milk/vanilla mixture and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry.
7. Scoop the batter into cupcake cups filling about 2/3 full. Don't be tempted to fill more to get a dome, as this recipe tends to result in a flat surface cupcake. Bake cupcakes at 180~C for about 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. 


CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM
(enough to lightly frost 24 cupcakes) 
Ingredients 
115gm butter
60gm cocoa powder
500gm icing/confectioner's sugar
¼ cup milk 

Method  
1. Beat the butter on high speed for about 30 seconds until soft.
2. Add the cocoa powder and a cup of sugar and beat until incorporated.
3. Add half of the milk and the remainder of sugar and beat until well incorporated.
4. Continue to add milk bit by bit until you get to the consistency you want. (I used up ¼ cup and the texture was just nice)