From Joanne Fluke's Fudge Cupcake Murder
4 squares unsweetened baking chocolate (1 oz each)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup raspberry syrup (for pancakes)
1 2/3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, soft
1 1/2 cup white sugar (yes, this should be twice...you need it twice)
3 eggs
1/3 cup milk
For Frosting:
2 cups (12 oz pkg.) chocolate chips
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
Line a 12 cup muffin pan with double cupcake papers (ok, I did this, can't figure out why...didn't make a difference, so probably won't do again). This makes 18 cupcakes, so you can use one 12 muffin pan and one 6 muffin pan, or make a small cake (8 inch square pan) OR what I did was use two 12 muffin pans and just put some water in the empties, which then works fine.
Microwave chocolate, raspberry syrup, and 1/4 cup sugar in microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir and then microwave again for another minute. At this point, mostly melted and you can stir it the rest of the way. Stir until smooth and then let cool until lukewarm (so you won't cook the eggs when you mix it in the batter).
Measure flour, baking soda and salt and set aside. In mixer, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, beating each in separately. Add flour mixture and milk slowly and beat all in. The recipes recommends 1/3rds.
If your chocolate mixture has cooled, mix it in. Let batter sit of 5 minutes. Stir again by hand and then fill each cupcake paper 3/4ths full.
Bake cupcakes at 350 for 20-25 minutes (If you are making the little cake, it will need another 5 or so minutes).
Cupcakes frost best if you let them cool completely and sit for awhile. I left mine overnight.
Frosting:
A double boiler is recommended and makes this easier. Now if you don't own a double boiler (which I don't), making one is easy. If you have two pans that will sit on top of each other, that works, or you can take a bit pot and put a metal bowl that won't fall in over it. You are just creating a pan over another one with water in it so the top one isn't heated directly.
Fill bottom of double boiler with water, make sure it doesn't touch the top of the other pan. Put chocolate chips in top of double boiler and put it over the other other one and put both on stove and cook at medium heat. Stir occasionally until chocolate chips are melted. If you are just using one saucepan you will need to stir constantly to make sure this doesn't burn.
Once chocolate is melted, stir in can of condensed milk and cook about 2 more minutes while stirring constantly, until frosting is shiny and of spreading consistency. Spread on cupcakes.
Makes 18 cupcakes.