This cake is a stunner. The layered lines are gorgeous inside, but man, it takes some dedication. I used a freakin’ teaspoon to make each one. Do you know how many teaspoons are in a cupcake? TOO DAMN MANY. Worth it though. If you have free time that is.

Ingredients:
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. milk, at room temperature
1 c. oil
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. baking powder
2 c. all-purpose flour

2 heaping Tbsp. valrhona cocoa powder

In an electric mixer, combine eggs and sugar. Beat well.

Add milk and oil, and continue beating until well blended. Then add vanilla and baking powder. Gradually add flour and beat well.

Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions in two separate bowls. Keep one the way it is, and in the second bowl add the cocoa powder. The Valrhona not only tastes better, but has a lovely natural dark color.

Prep a cupcake pan with liners. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Here comes the tough part. If you want a lot of lines, a nice complex interior when you cut into it, then do what I do and use a teaspoon. It’s tedious as hell, but the payoff is worth it. Put one teaspoonful of plain batter in the middle of the cup. Then one teaspoonful of the cocoa batter right in the center on top of the plain batter. Don’t jiggle or tilt the pan, just let the batter spread by itself. Keep doing this until you get ¾ of the way full. Believe me, it’ll take a while.

Bake it in the oven for 20 minutes. Do a toothpick check, and let the cupcakes cool on a wire rack. I like to frost this with a mocha frosting. When you cut into the cake you should get nice stripey stripes, if all went well. It’s quite pretty, definitely takes more effort than your average cupcake, but so worth it!

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