Dark Chocolate Red Wine Cupcakes with Mascarpone Icing

The last time Hubs and I went to my parent's house for dinner, we were supposed to bring a dessert... to be honest it didn't seem like it was mandatory, but when we decided we had eaten enough crap over the holidays and we didn't think we needed dessert... let's just say we haven't heard the end of it.

For Super Bowl were told to bring an appetizer and a dessert. I wanted to make something fabulous, to hopefully, make up for the last time. I thought I'd seen a recipe in my reader for something with mascarpone icing, but it turned out to be for Italian meringue icing... Oops. I had my heart set on making something with mascarpone icing and thought for sure there had to be a way to make mascarpone into icing... I mean, you can do it with cream cheese, right? So, I Googled and found this recipe by Silvana Nardone on Rachel Ray's website.

Dark Chocolate Red Wine Cupcakes w/ Mascarpone Icing

very, very, very slightly adapted from this recipe by Silvana Nardone on Rachel Ray's website

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 ounces dark chocolate, broken into pieces
1/2 cup boiling water
2 sticks (8 ounces) butter, at room temperature
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1-1/4 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup medium- to full-bodied red wine
Two 8-ounce containers mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners' sugar
Red grapes, halved, for garnish

DIRECTIONS:
1- Preheat the oven to 350°. Line 2 muffin pans with baking liners.

2 - In a medium, metal bowl, combine the cocoa powder and chocolate pieces. Whisk in the boiling water until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is combined.

3 - In a large bowl, cream the butter and granulated sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until blended.

4 - Mix flour, baking powder and salt in separate bowl.

5 - Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until just combined.

6 - Alternating, add the chocolate mixture and wine in batches, mixing well between each addition, until the batter is smooth.

7 - Divide among the muffin cups, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in the pan.

8 - Lightly beat the mascarpone, then add the confectioners' sugar and beat until creamy. Remove the cooled cupcakes from the pan, spread each with icing and top with a grape half.

P.S. This is DELISH!! The icing is the perfect light mascarpone topping to the rich chocolaty cakes.