Death by Chocolate Cupcakes

So this weekend I piled all the cookbooks on the ground that I have yet to bake from and picked one off the top. I couldn't believe I've yet to make one from the Hungry Girl cookbook. I love her recipes--though I must admit that lately I've been moving away from using as many pre-packaged foods and mixes. I figure when you are trying to learn to cook you need to practice the long ways and not the shortcuts. That said, this was a pretty awesome shortcut to delicious and low calorie yumminess!

I have been craving chocolate since I finished off the last of my chewy chocolate cookies--I loved the carrot cake, but it had no chocolate in it! So this recipe hit the spot. I even had half a cake mix sitting on the shelf waiting to be used!

Ingredients:
2 cups moist style chocolate cake mix
2 diet chocolate hot chocolate mix packets
1/2 cup egg substitute
2 tbs semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
1 tbs stevia baking mix
1/8 tsp salt

So this is a pretty simple cake--but I swear I was all butterfingers the whole time, so it didn't turn out perfect. Step one is to boil about a cup and a half of water (12 oz) and pour that over the chocolate chips and cocoa mix. That is stirred until the chocolate is melted and dissolved, then that is put in the freezer. Sadly at that point I tripped and spilled part of it all over the wall and fridge. Yeah, so I didn't pour all of it everywhere, just about a half cup. So I added some more drink mix, more chocolate, and more boiling water and added it to the mix. The proportions might have been a little off--and the calorie count went up because I added more chocolate. Still yum!

Anyways, chocolate in the freezer. I headed over to play with my sister's dog I'm dogsitting. I borrowed a handful of hazelnuts from her (she told me to make myself at home!), and after my pups and her dog were tired of the rain, I headed back. The cake mix, salt, and sugar substitute were whisked together. I toasted the hazelnuts and chopped them finely and tossed them in the dry ingredients.

By this time the cocoa had cooled and could be added with the egg substitute to the dry ingredients. This was whisked with my beater for at least 2 minutes. The recipe warns this is a very thin batter, and they were not lying. It was VERY thin---probably because I messed up the proportions after I spilled the cocoa. I poured it into a cupcake tin with cupcake liners. It was supposed to make 12, but I had enough batter for 14.






They go into a 350 degree oven for 15-18 minutes. The directions warn they will be glossy on top when done--and they will--but they are so runny you have to watch to make sure they are set. I saw them deflate a little when I opened the oven to check on them at 15 minutes. They came out puffy and do deflate a little bit as they cool.




The Verdict: This is an incredible moist drenched cake--with a sodden texture and a deep chocolate taste. I think the hazelnuts are really good because they offer a much needed contrast to the intense chocolately moistness. I really enjoyed this nice and warm out of the oven, and I suspect it would be incredible topped with some vanilla ice cream or even some caramel or peanut butter. This is definitely one for chocolate lovers and those looking for a quick and relatively healthy treat.