Honda Cupcakes: Because Nothing Says "Thank You" like Copyright Infringement

A few weeks ago the boyfriend got an awesome deal on a new (to us!) civic over at Carter Honda. Wanting to give them a thank-you gift a bit more personal (and tasty) than flowers or wine, I decided cupcakes with little Honda emblems were perfect. So I started this morning like I often dream of doing: by baking at 8am. It was lovely.

But then the unimaginable struck. Something so horrible it doesn't even grace my nightmares: my oven wouldn't work. For whatever reason, it seems to think the oven door is open so it refuses to heat. Despite all my best efforts (including but not limited to: poking the latch, prodding the latch, staring blankly at the manual, and slamming the door) I was stuck with freshly made batter and was on the verge of tears. What do you do when your stress relief is baking, but you can't bake?! It was like giving a heroin addict a syringe full of drugs, then taking it back seconds before they inject.  I was going to scratch somebody's eyes out.  Fortunately, my mom lives a few minutes away and boyfriend took the batter over there and she baked them for me while I worked on the icing and the gumpaste emblems. The rest of the morning went much more smoothly.

In the end, the cupcakes turned out great despite of my oven's attempts to sabotage them. They're chocolate with a rich buttercream icing, and are moist, flavourful, and delicious. This cupcake recipe is amazing and will seriously turn out no matter what I do, and this buttercream is one of the best of the non-cooked variety. Highly recommend trying both.  Half were decorated with blue icing and the emblems, and the other half with white icing and sprinkles.

If you could all please pray for my oven I would really appreciate it. It is the only appliance I actually care about. Yes, arguably the fridge is more useful -- but the oven holds my heart and soul.

Cupcake recipe:

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup warm water

3/4 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons safflower oil

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper

liners; set aside.

Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl.

Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed.

Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Buttercream recipe:

1 cup butter, softened

5-6 cups icing sugar, sifted

1/3 cup milk or cream

1 tsp vanilla

Cream the butter in large bowl

In a measuring cup, mix together the milk and vanilla

Alternating in thirds, add icing sugar and milk to butter, stopping when desired consistency is reached.