Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes

There was no good chocolate cake recipe in Joy of Cooking, so I had to scrounge around and adapt one from my old standby, Clotilde Dusoulier's yogurt cake -- I wasn't at all sure about the ratio of cocoa powder to flour, but it worked out very well. The yogurt really adds a depth of flavor. They are very chocolatey! Plus they use oil rather than butter, which I actually prefer in a cake.

(The yellow one is a lemon cupcake, with cornmeal and a little rosemary, based on this one, only with less rosemary so that it will match well with raspberry-rose frosting and no sugar crust because of said frosting; note that the lemon recipe makes a quite dense, heavy cupcake, albeit with a great flavor.)

Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes

1/3 cup vegetable oil
6 oz plain nonfat Greek-style yogurt plus 2 oz water (or 1 cup regular yogurt)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, stir together yogurt, water, and sugar. Add eggs and stir well to blend . Add vanilla and oil; stir again. Add dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Spoon the batter into a paper-lined muffin tin, filling the cups about 3/4 full.

Bake 17-23 minutes, until a knife inserted comes out clean.

Makes 12-14 cupcakes.