Best Frosting and Cupcake Ever!

I know I am on a bit of a cupcake kick these days and I would like to kindly ask for forgiveness for my lack of variety. I actually was swearing off cupcakes until I came across the two gems below. Any cake or frosting that boldly proclaims to be the "best ever", begs to be tested. Well I tested and wow! Seriously, wow!

Let me give some serious credit to that Pioneer Woman. Out of all of the amazing recipes that are submitted to her Tasty Kitchen blog, she singled this one out and with good reason. I know the ingredients do not look like they could produce such a divine taste but trust me, they come together beautifully. This frosting was so good that I have to admit, they barely made it on to the cupcakes. I actually had to make another batch because I, ahem, "ran out" and not so much from just putting the icing on the cake.

So, without further ado, here are the recipes. Please, go make them immediately! xoxo - AJ

Cupcake recipe adapted from Pioneer Woman's Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
¼ teaspoons Kosher salt
4 tablespoons (heaping) Dutch Process Cocoa
2 sticks butter (Irish Kerry Gold)
1 cup boiling water
½ cup shaken buttermilk
2 whole beaten eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.

Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 of the way up and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean from a center of the pan cupcake.

Cool cupcakes completely before piping or spreading on the frosting.

Frosting recipe adapted from Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk
5 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup salted butter
1 cup granulated sugar (not powdered sugar!)

Method:

In a saucepan, whisk flour into milk over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (Do not skip this step as I did the first time, it will make piping/spreading difficult and runny) Stir in vanilla.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then add the cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.