Made these as cupcakes despite the problems described by the cupcake reviewer. Used stand mixer for all ingredients except the cocoa, brown sugar, choc chips and hot water (used part water part 1/2 & 1/2). They rose nicely and even crowned a little with a nice 'pudding' on the bottom. The cake had an excellent texture--I was surprised by the moistness and nice crumb though they contained no eggs. I docked one star for flavor, but it's a personal preference: the taste was a bit cocoa powder-floury, and I prefer my cake a bit more chocolatey.

Reviewed On: Jun. 27, 2009

Best.

Reviewed On: Jun. 3, 2009

Great tasting recipe. I followed a tip left in another review and made the frosting the day before then refrigerated it overnight. Because I didn't mix in the butter at the hot stage, I had trouble incorporating it into the mix and had butter lumps; no problem: after a lot of mixing (stand mixer with paddle on high) the lumps whipped out. Shiny, fluffy frosting. However, I didn't use it right away and a couple of hours later (at room temp), when I piped it, the frosting didn't hold it's shape well. Not sure how it would have held up if I'd used it immediately; used this recipe for a decorate-your-own-cupcake party.

Reviewed On: Mar. 15, 2009