Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line your cupcake pans with liners (this makes 36, so if you have three pans, use them. Otherwise, they'll have to take turns.)

Place chopped chocolate in a bowl and pour hot coffee over it. Stir and allow to sit until melted, stirring occasionally.

In a large bowl sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, soda, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs until they're thickened slightly and pale yellow (about 3 minutes). With the mixture on low speed, slowly pour in oil, buttermilk, then vanilla, then melted chocolate mixture. Turn the speed up slightly, beating until well combined.

Add the flour mixture in three separate additions, beating well after each addition.

Divide cupcake batter evenly, being sure to fill no more than 2/3 full. I have a terrible habit of overfilling cupcakes and these raised a lot so all of mine overflowed. (It's so painful to have to tear off the overflow edges and eat them...it's the price the baker has to pay).

Bake cupcakes for 25-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans then remove. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Place the chopped chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on half power until melted, stirring every 45 seconds. Set aside to cool.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and salt together until light and fluffy. Add about half of the powdered sugar and beat on low speed until well blended, turning the speed up once you're out of the "giant puff of sugar" zone. Add the vanilla and half the milk and beat well. Slowly pour in the cooled melted chocolate and beat until thoroughly blended, scraping the sides as needed. Add the remaining sugar and milk alternately until both are thoroughly blended. Beat the frosting until light and fluffy.

For these cupcakes, you won't be piping the frosting so it doesn't need to be as thick as normal. I thinned mine out with extra milk to make it easy to spread across the cupcake. Try spreading a little bit on the cupcake. If it pulls or tears at the surface of the cupcake at all, add another Tablespoon or two of milk until the frosting spreads easily.

Place your sprinkles of choice in shallow bowl. Using a knife or offset spatula, spread a good sized dollop of frosting over the top of the cupcake. Don't worry about how it looks. Dip the cupcake into the frosting turning it 90 degrees to make sure it's well coated. Repeat with remaining cupcakes. These stay nice and moist for up to 4 days in an air tight container.