Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache

Prepare cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake pans with liners (or not)- your choice.

Whisk together boiling water and cocoa; cover and set aside.

With a mixer, cream together butter, sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Add eggs, one at a time, and continue creaming until light and fluffy.

Sift together flour, baking soda, & baking powder and add this mixture, alternately with the buttermilk. Add cocoa/water mixture and mix until thoroughly combined. Scoop into cupcake pans and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Let cupcakes cool completely before adding ganache.

When cupcakes are cooled, prepare ganache: Place chocolate in stainless steel or glass bowl and set aside. Bring cream & sugar just to a boil in a small saucepan (or microwave) then pour over chocolate. Whisk together until smooth, and then stir in butter until melted.

Dip tops of cupcakes into ganache. Set on rack to dry. When the remaining ganache sits for a while (or refrigerate for a few minutes), it will get thicker. At this point, you can spoon it into a piping bag and then pipe more ganache on top for decoration.