the best chocolate cupcakes

i'm a little late posting this, but i made these cupcakes a couple weeks ago. they are seriously the best chocolate cupcakes i have ever eaten. they are extremely m-word and fluffy, and the icing is rich, buttery, and light all at the same time. i made this recipe once before as a 3-layer cake, and it was delicious as well.

sticking with my barefoot contessa theme from this morning's post, the recipe comes from this book, but you can access it online through the food network. i followed the recipe exactly, except i used milk chocolate instead of semi-sweet in the icing. also, it makes a lot more than 8 servings, which is a good thing!