Heavenly Cake Bakers: Chocolate Cupcakes

Briefly, because this post is late. This is the second time I've made Rose's chocolate butter cupcakes (first was for a birthday in April), and I've found them to be moist, dense, and very reliable. I still prefer the Barts Chocolate Cake recipe because it is lighter and more durable (and full of coffee), but Rose's recipe shares convenience points with my favorite recipe by calling for only cocoa, which is in stock far more frequently than actual chocolate. Somehow the latter never lasts.

I did slip a few coffee grounds into this recipe, with no noticeable effects for good or ill. It was far too hot and humid in NYC to attempt a successful buttercream, so I frosted the cupcakes with leftover caramel ganache from my recent unsuccessful encounter with the Baked 'Sweet & Salty' cake. Then I packed the cupcakes up into a little tin, and took them camping, where they were great substitutes for the marshmallows that I'd forgotten to buy.

One recipe note: When Rose calls for cocoa in a batter, she usually instructs that the cocoa be mixed into boiling water, and then the mixture cooled to room temperature. I never feel inclined to do this extra step, and have had no trouble mixing the cocoa into slightly warm water and proceeding with the recipe. Any thoughts from anyone on what the logic here might be? Is it just to ensure that the cocoa is well and truly mixed, or does boiling water actually have some chemical effect on cocoa?