Choco-stachio Cupcakes with Rich Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I stumbled upon a recipe sort of like this one on a blog that I occasionally visit for kicks. It's a pretty good blog but if I had to pick one thing that irkes me about it is that most of the recipes use boxed cake mix. And while that is okay (and sometimes necessary) I have taken to making my cupcakes from scratch. The one mix I don't mind using when I bake is Devil's Food. Not sure why I don't have an issue with this one but have trouble caving to the pressure of using others, but oh well. Not really too concerned.

So I found this recipe and thought "that's interesting". I've never had a pistachio prior to making this cupcake. In fact, my only known run in with pistachio's had been tasting a bite of a pistachio cheesecake when my sister, mom and I went out to lunch for Mother's Day. I was delighted with the smooth and slightly nutty taste of them. So when I saw this recipe I had a good feeling that the pistachio would be a nice compliment to a chocolate cake. Off to the store I went.....
(If I can offer a bit of advice, spend the extra dollar or two and go for the pistachio's that have been shelled. Trust me on this one)

Choco-stachio Cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream

Cake Ingredients:

1 box Devil's Food Mix
1 - 3.4 oz box of pistachio pudding mix

4 large eggs

1/3 C. oil

3/4 C. buttermilk

1/2 C. sour cream (I exclusively use Daisy Light)

1 tsp. almond extract

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 C. semi sweek chocolate chips

1-2 handfuls of finely crushed pistachio's

1) Set your oven at 350 Degrees F.

2) Combine cake mix and pudding mix in a bowl and set aside.

3) In mixer bowl, combine eggs, oil, buttermilk, sour cream and almond and vanilla extracts and combine until well incorporated.

4) Slowly add in the cake/pudding mix and mix until all the lumps are gone.

5) Fold in the chocolate chips and crushed pistachio's.

6) Pour into lined cupcakes (fill 2/3 full) and bake for 15-21 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out with moist crumbles (not liquid)

Frosting Ingredients:

1/2 C. unsalted butter, room temp

1/2 C. salter butter, room temp

3/4 C. Ghiradelli cocoa powder, sifted

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 T. heavy cream or whole milk

2 second quirt of Hershey's Chocolate Syrup (yes that's a measurement in my book lol)

3-4 C. powdered sugar

1) Beat butter in a mixing bowl for 2-3 minutes. You want the butter to be a pale color and have a visible whipped look to it.

2) Add in cocoa powder, vanilla extract, cream and chocolate syrup (really, just squeeze the bottle and count to two)

3) Slowly add in the powdered sugar until you've reached the desired consistency.

Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, pipe the frosting on top and garnish with crushed pistachio's.

(I used the Wilton large open star tip for this frosting)