Marbled cupcakes

For almost the entire month of April, my home has been a construction zone. Mr. Incredible and I had been planning on installing hardwood floors in our living room the first week of April, but it was delayed a week due to shipping issues. I found a DYI wainscoting project to do in the upstairs reading room while we waited for the flooring to arrive. Surprisingly, Mr. Incredible was willing to take it on. It was to be a short and easy project...3 days maximum. It took a little longer than that, but I think it came out well.

My favorite part is the wainscoting underneath the windows.

Our floors arrived a few days before we finished the wainscoting.

I heard Yoshi's Corgi grumblings, so I went downstairs to investigate. Mr. Incredible took up part of the carpet in the living room to lay the boxes of flooring down on the concrete. The planks needed to acclimate before we could install them.

Notice the look of concern on Yoshi's face.

Laying the flooring was tedious, but we were able to finish installing them in 2 days. We chose Brazilian Koa or tigerwood which is known for it's bold and varied wood grain. Okoye seems to approve!

Now that everything is back in its place and our home is back to normal I can finally bake again! These marbled cupcakes remind of the unique markings throughout our flooring. Layered alternately with chocolate and vanilla, these cupcakes are even more indulgent when spread with Nutella.

Marbled Cupcakes
adapted from Bakers Royale

Ingredients

3 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 ½ cups granulated sugar, divided
½ cup dark cocoa powder
6 tablespoons water
1 ½ cups unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
5 large eggs
½ cup whole milk

Nutella, optional

Sift flour baking powder and salt into a bowl; set aside.

In a separate medium size bowl add in ½ cup of sugar, the cocoa powder, and water then whisk until mixture is smooth; set aside.


Place melted butter and sugar in a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium high until mixture is blended, about 1 minute. Add in vanilla and beat until combined. Add and beat eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition. Once all eggs are added, beat mixture until it becomes light and fluffy (it will resemble pancake batter, but slightly thinner).

Turn mixer speed down to low and add the flour in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions and mixing just until blended.

Add 2 cups of the batter to the cocoa mixture and stir until blended.

Using a spoon , scoop 1 spoonful of vanilla mixture into a greased and floured cupcake pan. Now alternate and pour one spoonful of chocolate mixture on top of vanilla mixture. Continue to alternate between vanilla and chocolate layers until 3/4 of the way full. Continue to fill the remaining cupcake cavities.

Bake the cupcakes for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees F or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely.

Then spread on Nutella.