Ingredients
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3 cups all-purpose flour
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2 tsp baking powder
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1 tsp salt
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1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
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1 3/4 cups sugar
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3 large eggs, room temperature
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2 tsp vanilla extract
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1 1/4 cups milk, divided
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1/3 cup cocoa powder
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1 (16 oz) container vanilla frosting
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1 (16 oz) container dark chocolate fudge frosting
Steps
1
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners.
2
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, with hand or stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time until smooth. Beat in the vanilla. Beat in 1 cup milk (mixture may look curdled but that’s OK). Gradually mix in the flour mixture ⅓ at a time until combined.
3
Transfer half of batter to another bowl and set aside. To one half of batter, beat in remaining ¼ cup milk, then the cocoa powder until just combined.
4
Spoon dollop of vanilla batter into lined cups. Top with bigger dollop of chocolate batter. Add another dollop of vanilla batter. With toothpick or skewer, gently swirl chocolate and vanilla together. Bake 20–22 min., until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool 10 min. on wire rack, then remove cupcakes from pans and let cool completely.
5
Fit a large piping bag with round tip. Place piping bag in 2-cup measuring cup and fold edges back so bag stands up. Add the vanilla frosting to one half of bag and chocolate frosting to other half of bag. Twist bag closed and pipe onto cooled cupcakes.
Tips
When making cupcakes, be sure milk and eggs are at room temperature. If they’re cold, they can cause the butter to stiffen and make the batter look curdled when mixing. The cake will bake up OK but won’t necessarily have the fluffiest texture.
