Chocolate Velvet Cupcakes and Perfect Chocolate Frosting

A good cupcake making day... I derived this from a Red Velvet cupcake recipe.  i have made these twice and they are (not to brag) pretty much some of the best I've tasted.  So try out this recipe next time you bake!

The key with this is whipping each ingredient to perfection.  The first time I made these, the batter resembled frosting.  The baked result's texture was amazing, nice and moist :)
Here is the recipe and some pictures :)

This makes about 30 cupcakes:
2 1\2 cups of flour
1\2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1\2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of softened butter
2 cups of sugar
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1\2 cup milk
2 teaspoons Vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. For the Cupcakes, mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.  
   
2. Beat butter until smooth.  Then add sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk and vanilla, one ingredient at a time, blending it all together well until resembles cream colored batter which will be very watery. 

1.  Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed. Then beat until fluffy or at least thick and kind of stiff. Spoon batter into 30 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup about 1\2 to 2\3 full.

1. Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Remove from pans; cool completely.  
   
2. You're all done with the cupcakes!  Now, if you so choose to make frosting, you can try out the recipe below:
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1\2 - 3 cups powdered sugar depending on desired sweetness
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup Sour Cream
4. Beat butter on high speed until creamy.  Add cocoa powder and vanilla.  Beat again.  Scrape the bowl often.  When combined, add powdered sugar, one cup at a time.  Mixture will be very dry.  Add milk slowly and keep mixing.  Then do the same with the sour cream.  Scrape bowl often and whip until medium brown colored and very fluffy :)

Enjoy!!

Quick hair tip - Dutch braid

Before a few months ago, I found myself wondering what a 'Dutch braid' was.  I thought it was a super fancy braid... its not!  Obviously there are lots of ways to style it like twisting it around your head or whatever.  But from what I've learned its just a normal braid but instead of putting the sections of hair over each other, you put them under.  For some reason 'Dutch braids' hold my hair better than a normal braid.  And you'll notice how the braid seems to be going 'up' instead of the normal braid looks like its going 'down'.
Just thought I'd share that quick if any of you didn't know!!

Hair tutorial #1 - no heat curls

There are many ways to create 'no heat curls'.  This is my way of doing it. And it works in my hair :)  My hair is thick, long, naturally wavy and of a course texture.  My hair straightens with a flat iron, however curling my hair DOES NOT WORK.  Which is a bummer :\  My hair is naturally beachy-waves.  It doesn't look very nice without a few squirts of hairspray though.

First things first! Wash and conditioner your hair.  Dry with a towel.  Get your hair to the spot in between dripping wet and almost damp.  Then do a fishtail braid while it's still 'wet'.  If you don't know how to do the fishtail: Fishtail braid tutorial
2 choices: Leave braid in all day and sleep with it over night, or shower at night and take out the braid in the morning.  I usually shower before bed and then sleep with the braid in.  Hope this works if you ever try it :)