Fastest Fudge Cake (or cupcakes!)

Eleven years ago last week the world became a better place with the much anticipated arrival of our daughter, Liv.  Liv made her entrance in San Diego early one morning and has been "Living Life" to the fullest ever since.  Her zest for life is contagious and I rarely see her without a smile spread across her face.

Yesterday we were lucky enough to have not just Liv's happy smile, but the smiles of 11 additional jubilant young ladies as we celebrated Liv's 11th birthday with a pool party that was so wonderful it actually brought out our elusive San Diego sun!  Swimming was the activity of the afternoon, topped off with pizza, fruit and some amazing Chocolate Cupcakes that Olivia frosted and decorated herself.  Specially chosen cupcake wrappers were used along with small, yet colorful sprinkles for a simple finish.

Living across the street from a cake baker has it's privileges.  One of those privileges being access to some really fantastic cake recipes and baking advice.  Claudine Jones, of Frosted, shared one of her successful recipes from Kathryn Kleinman's book Birthday Cakes: Recipes and Memories from Celebrated Bakers.  Last month Olivia made this cake for her grandmother's birthday all by herself with impressive result and she knew it would be the perfect recipe for her own birthday cupcakes as well.  Ms. Kleinman uses a Fast Fudge Frosting that is a bit more like glaze, not quite as thin as a glaze, but definitely not a thick as a nice butter cream.  As Liv likes to use her pasty bag and tips for pretty swirls and designs she chose her favorite butter cream type of frosting for this day.

Cupcakes took the place of a large cake for simplicity and... well because she really likes cupcakes!  The cupcakes bake into a beautiful, chocolaty color with a crumb that is tender and moist.  Personally, I favor the Fudge Frosting that is recommended with the recipe, but either frosting is a perfect complement.