A little bit sweeter, a little bit fatter, a little bit harmful for me

Do you ever take a bite out of a really sweet, really chocolatey, really decadent dessert and then only eat a few bites because it’s “too rich?” I don’t.

Those two words do not go together in my vocabulary. Desserts can never, ever be too rich for me. Sometimes when I’m eating the same thing as a person who proclaims it “too rich” I agree with him or her…you know, just so I don’t look like a cow. But secretly I am thinking that I could easily polish it off. That maybe I could even finish my portion and the portion of the person who has proclaimed this “too rich.”

So, due to my propensity for loving sweets and things that aren’t terribly good for me a little too much, for this installment of Eat to the Beat I decided to go with Rufus Wainwright’s “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk” which is really all about wanting things that are bad for you…and maybe overindulging in them, too. I absolutely love Rufus Wainwright and in fact, almost picked this song for EttB #1, but saved it for this time around. If you want to participate in Eat to the Beat, the event that pairs music and food, please check out the details here. The deadline is June 30.

You can listen to “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk” below, but here is a snippet of the lyrics.

Cigarettes and chocolate milk
These are just a couple of my cravings
Everything it seems I like’s a little bit stronger, a little bit thicker, a little bit harmful for me

If I should buy jellybeans
I have to eat them all in just one sitting
Everything it seems I like’s a little bit sweeter, a little bit fatter, a little bit harmful for me

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6N0sNMKFO4]

You will be happy to know that these cupcakes do not contain nicotine or ashes. But, given the mention of chocolate milk, I decided to make a milk cake with chocolate milk instead of regular milk. Talk about a little bit sweeter and fatter. And then I used chocolate milk in the chocolate frosting. And THEN, I topped these with sugary jelly beans. Too rich? No, no, no. You should have your cupcakes and your chocolate milk, too!

I could have handled the same amount of sugar the original cake recipe called for, despite the swap of chocolate milk for regular. But for the sake of “normal” people, I reduced the amount of sugar in the cupcakes (and use less sugar than I normally would in the frosting).

And while we are on the subject of rock and food, everyone should check out Cooking with Rockstars, which features videos by some great singers making/talking about some great food. Rufus is actually included, too.

Chocolate Milk Cupcakes (hold the cigarettes)
Makes 12 cupcakes
adapted from Nigella Lawson

1-1/4 cup flour
3 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2/3 cup chocolate milk
1 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
3 eggs
2/3 cup superfine sugar (just pulse granulated a few times in your food processor if you don’t have superfine)

Preheat the oven to 325 and grease a muffin tin.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda. Warm the milk and butter in a saucepan over low heat or in the microwave, just until the butter melts. Stir in the vanilla.

In another bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until light and fluffy and then beat in the milk mixture. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture with a spatula. Pour the batter into your muffin cups and bake about 14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Chocolate Frosting

I didn’t really measure ingredients for this, so this is my best guess. the thing about frosting is that you can always add things to it as you are mixing to make it taste better, give it a different consistency, etc. I actually ended up using too much milk in this so it was a little runny, but I already had a little too much frosting so I didn’t feel like wasting more sugar. 🙂

6 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1.5 cups powdered sugar
chocolate milk (probably around 3T)

Stir the cocoa powder into the melted butter and then add the vanilla. Alternately add the powdered sugar and a tablespoon or so of the milk at a time until you reach your desired consistency.