robot spaceship birthday cupcakes

odin had a very belated friend birthday party this year. but, it was a lovely little affair, and felt more like a family party than anything, with just 2 little families joining us on a sunday evening. i made these delightful cupcakes:

the recipe is for a cake that factors in often for thompson birthdays. it's a chocolate sour cream cake with chocolate sour cream frosting. the recipe came from my great aunt, and it's super moist delicious cake, with frosting that tastes almost like fudge, especially if it's just come out of the fridge.

my mom, generous and clever, gave odin these adorable robot and spaceship toppers and papers as one of his birthday gifts. he was so excited to help decorate them. he went for a more-is-more look, and i had to limit the toppers to 2 so we had enough to go around.

and, because he can't help himself, he directed the singing of happy birthday, and joined in:

sour cream chocolate cake:

2 c sugar

2 eggs

2 heaping c flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

5 Tbsp cocoa

1/2 c butter, softened

1 c sour cream

2 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 c boiling water

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

combine all ingredients and beat 2 min with electric mixer until well combined.

those are all the instructions i have from the recipe. this is a very un-fussy cake.

bake at 350 until toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs attached. for a 9x9 or 9x13, about 40-55 min. for cupcakes, i did 12-15 min (made 24 cupcakes).

frosting:

1 c bittersweet chocolate chips

3 Tbsp butter

1/2 c sour cream

3 c powdered sugar

melt chips and butter. mix in remaining ingredients until smooth.

this makes a lot of frosting! i made a half batch, and it was enough to frost about 20 cupcakes. if you're really fond of frosting, go for the whole thing! it's amazing.