Nom Nom Nom... Chocolate Cupcakes with Italian Meringue Buttercream Icing

During my quest for a moist cake (who ever wants dry cake?) I came across a chocolate recipe that looked promising.  It's for cupcakes, but I'm sure it would be OK in cake-form with a few adjustments. 

To pair it up, I wanted to try my hand at Italian meringue buttercream.  I've always made Wilton's buttercream icing, but I found that it always came out grainy (research says that the main culprit could be underbeating) and too sweet.

It took a long time to make (probably close to 25 minutes for prep and cook time) but it was so worth it!  The cake was super moist and quite filling; the IMBC was so smooth and not overly sweet.  These two recipes will be going into my collection, for sure. :)

I coloured the icing for St Patrick's Day and decided not to do little fondant details (but for orders, that could be done).