Yesterday I went out to do some shopping. I was definitely in the minority because I was not wearing my Seahawks "Blue Friday" attire....it was everywhere! As I passed by a team store on my way to Nordstrom, people were pouring in and out and the same was true for the team logo section at Sports Authority...crazy Seahawks fever on this Superbowl weekend!

We are headed to a friend's house for a Superbowl party on Sunday afternoon so I wanted to bring something fun and festive to share. I know there will be tons of good food there so I thought, "What could be better than some delicious deep chocolate cupcakes to round out the day?" If you've been following along with me on this blog, you know that I love cake...good cake, that is! By "good cake" I mean, cake that has some texture and is full of flavor...not the grocery store bakery variety!

Several years ago I was searching for a good rich chocolate cake recipe online and found this one from the Barefoot Contessa's cookbook, At Home: Every day recipes you'll make over and over again.

Barefoot Contessa At Home

By Ina Garten

Now, I don't know about you, but I have rarely gone wrong making one of Ina Garten's recipes. So, I decided to give it a try and I was not disappointed. The cake was rich in chocolate flavor and had a good texture...simply delicious. Do you know what the surprising ingredient is? Yep, one of my favorites, coffee! Once the cake is baked, you really don't taste the coffee in it, but Ina says coffee enhances the chocolate flavor...no argument here!

Here's the recipe:

Beatty's Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

Butter, for greasing the pans

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pans

2 cups sugar

3/4 good cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup buttermilk, shaken

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup freshly brewed coffee, cooled

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scarping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 - 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pans for 30 minutes, then turn out onto cooling rack and cool completely.

Since I was making cupcakes, I used cute football cupcake liners instead and only baked them for about 20-25 minutes.

I decided to try something new for me...using two colors at one time to make a colorful swirl. The colors? Seahawks blue and green, of course! It took a little trial and error to get the two colors to come out fairly evenly, but I watched a little youtube video by Wilton so that helped!

I have a green cake stand that I've been wanting to use for a while, a gift from my friend, Pam, who knows I have a slight obsession with cake stands...uh, yeah...just slight! So, my little treat is ready to go for Sunday...they are safely stored in a container in the refrigerator (throw away roaster tinfoil pans (9 X13) with the raised lid work well for storing cupcakes). I'll most likely bring an appetizer as well, but it will be something easy that I can whip up after church on Sunday.

Can hardly believe Superbowl weekend is finally here! Soon all the video clips of interviews on facebook will be over...it's been a little over the top! As I said in an earlier post, may the best team...the one that plays their heart out...WIN! Go SEA HAWKS!!!