Balance is Key: Healthy Lifestyle Tips

Okay, I know what you guys are thinking, “Cupcakes aren’t healthy!” I have to disagree with this notion though. I believe anything can be healthy in moderation. This is within reason obviously, don’t go smoking a cigarette once a week because, “moderation”. The truth is, life isn’t fun if you can’t enjoy the things you love and for me that includes chocolate and wine. Finding that balance between healthy and un-healthy is everything! It takes a life full of restrictions and turns it into a life full of options. So, you better believe when I try a great new recipe full of sugar, chocolate, carbs, or butter, I’m going to share it with all of you. It is your job to find a balance and my job to provide amazing food and tips on how to enjoy your food. A great tip for enjoying food like these cupcakes is the 80/20 rule. This is a good rule of thumb for when trying to decide on when to stop shoving cupcakes into your mouth. When eating healthy you should aim for about 80% of your food intake. The other 20% can be reserved for junk food. This rule is a great start to establishing balance into your lifestyle. So, enjoy these cupcakes and limit yourself to one or two!

If you want all the goods on weight loss, check out my blog that gives tons of tips.

I used my AMAZING KitchenAid mixer to make these cupcakes. I swear by their products and use them a lot, especially to bake. It makes my whole baking process easier and more enjoyable.

Makes 24 cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all- purpose flour

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup buttermilk (I just used regular milk)

3/4 cup warm water (I used warm coffee and I highly suggest you do the same! I use warm coffee with any of my chocolate cake recipes and it makes them super moist and rich)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Buttercream

• 1 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar

• First, you’re going to want to preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
• Mix all the dry ingredients together.
• Add eggs, milk, coffee, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Beat with a mixer on a medium speed until smooth. Make sure not to over mix the batter.
• Then pour the batter straight into your cupcake pans or into the liners you lined the pan with. I just poured my batter straight into the pan, because I didn’t have any liners on me. If you’re going to pour straight into the pan, make sure to spray the pan well with PAM or something of the sort. Fill up each cupcake 2/3 full.
• Bake for 20-22 minutes. Please watch your cupcakes though! I almost never go by time and check my baking regularly throughout the process. I would advise doing the same.
• When you think the cupcakes are finished, stick a toothpick in the middle of one. If the tooth pick comes out clean, it’s done!
• While the cupcakes are cooling, go ahead and get started on the buttercream icing.
• Beat the cutter until smooth.
• Add in the cocoa powder and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
• Pour in the powdered sugar one cup at a time and mix until combined.

So I love piping and piped the icing onto the cupcakes. You really don’t have to get that fancy. If you wanted to get somewhat of a piping look without going to buy a set, I have a trick. Take a large zip block bag and put all your icing inside. Make sure the icing is pushed into one corner of the bag. Once all your icing is in the bag, cut off the tip of the corner the icing is in. Just use that bag to pipe your icing on. Super simple!

I got this recipe from another wonderful blogger, The Stay at Home Chef. Go check out her stuff!

https://thestayathomechef.com/chocolate-cupcake-recipe/