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1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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2. Sift together cocoa, flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.
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3. In bowl of a standing mixer, beat butter and sugar for about 5 minutes (until relatively smooth). Add eggs and beat until incorporated.
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4. Slowly add half of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture; once that is incorporated, pour in the coffee and milk and mix until incorporated. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients and raspberry extract and beat until uniform.
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5. Fill about 24 lined cupcake pans about 3/4 of the way full and bake for about 25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.
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FROSTING:
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The frosting I use is so easy that I am not even going to give it its own post. It is the definition of 'semi-homemade.' All you need to do is grab a carton of Chocolate Fudge Frosting and mix in several drops of the raspberry extract before spreading. It turns out delicious and is so easy, it is CRAZY.
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Notes:
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You can either add less or more raspberry extract to the cupcake batter and frosting according to your tastes. Just taste each until you find the perfect amount.
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I generally add chocolate chips or chunks to this recipe (I love chocolate too much for my own good). I just mix them in after the dry ingredients.
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I have also found Raspberry-Filled Chocolate Chunks in the baking section at my grocery and those were just MADE for these cupcakes. Just press a couple of those chunks into the filled cupcake tins and each cupcake will have a nice surprise in its center.
