You can also make cupcakes and color your icing and swirl it on the cupcakes.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup HERSHEY’S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
• 2 cups sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Vanilla cooked icing (recipe follows)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water boiling
• 2 eggs
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• Cooked icing recipe listed below

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans or one 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. (If you just do a square baking pan, cut your icing recipe in half).

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely

COOKED ICING:

NOTE:  This recipe is doubled so if you want less icing, reduce it by 1/3 or 1/2.  In our family, we love lots of delicious icing and this icing is unbeatable!  You can also add in 1/2 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa or HERSHEY’S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa if you want chocolate icing or 1/2 to 3/4 cup peanut butter.  If you are icing cupcakes, you will having icing left.

ICING INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/8^th + 1/8^th tsp kosher salt
• 2 sticks butter
• 16 Tbsp Crisco shortening
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbsp milk

ICING DIRECTIONS:

In a sauce pot, whisk the milk, flour and salt together constantly on medium-low heat until the mixture thickens.  You want it to be a very thick gravy.

Remove from the pan and let cool completely. (Put plastic wrap right down on top of it or you will get a film).

In mixer bowl, beat the butter, Crisco and sugar for a very long time until there is no grainy taste.  Add in the cooled flour mixture and vanilla.  Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping sides of bowl, adding 1 tbsp of milk, up to 2, until it’s light and fluffy.

To make different colors from the white icing, just separate some icing into separate bowls with a separate spoon for each bowl.  For this cupcake, I was trying to go for the fall colors but I couldn’t get my red deep enough even after 50 drops of red food coloring….maybe I should have added 2-3 drops of yellow? I’m not sure.  Anyhow, follow the directions on your food coloring or gel boxes for coloring.  Then using a large piping bag and a large closed tip star, put one color down one side of bag, then next color aside that, and so on.  This is the very first time I colored icing and piped it and all I did was watch a few You Tube videos and wallah! Not to shabby for my first time, huh?