Chocolate Cupcake/Lava Cake???

I believe that everyone knows how important it is to measure accurately and 'follow' the recipe when baking.  This has always been a challenge for me.  So when I started tinkering with a very reliable cake recipe I was not surprised when my cupcakes after cooling were so fragile I almost couldn't frost them.  They tasted great but crumbled at my touch and were near impossible to remove the paper cupcake mold.  Then an inspiration that turned 2 dozen potentially crumbling cupcakes into a wonderful dessert.  By the way I took them to work to get an independent read on the final product and 'they were a hit'.  The inspiration was to turn them into Lava Cakes.  The tinkering consisted of adding a lot more chocolate so that the cake whenit formed did not have enough structure to support itself.  So with a sunken middle I popped the cupcake into the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds and presto chango I had a deliciously warm Lava Cake.  The original cupcake recipe came from Cupcakerecipe.com but I would like to think my changes make it a bit more uniquely mine.  Please enjoy.

Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 8 ounces melted unsweetened baking chocolate

Chocolate Cupcake Recipe Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

Combine all ingredients into large mixing bowl. Mix at low speed for 30 seconds, and scrape bowl. Mix at high speed for 3 minutes.

Fill liners 1/2 to 2/3 full of batter. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes in pans then remove from pan, and place on wire racks to cool completely.

Frost when chocolate cupcakes are completely cool.

Chocolate Port Frosting

Ingredients:

· 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips

· ½ cup butter, softened

· 2 cups confectioners’ sugar

· ½ tsp vanilla

· Approximately ¼ cup port chocolate infused rum (NOTE: almost any rum will do, you might want to try coconut)

Preparation:

Melt Chocolate chips over water bath.

Whip butter and gradually add powdered sugar. Add the chocolate, vanilla, and port until fluffy. If too soft or runny add more sugar 1 Tblsp at a time (especially if you use too much rum, but I don’t see how that is possible.

Put into pastry bag (or not) and pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

I then heated the upcakes individually in the microwave for 20 - 30 seconds, topped with some freshly whipped cream, mint leaves and blackberries