This is the most amazing chocolate cupcake recipe. These chocolate cupcakes are moist, fluffy, full of rich chocolate flavor, and come together in one bowl.
These cupcakes are going to be your new favorite. Everyone who tastes these cupcakes says it’s the most amazing cupcakes they ever had. We have one secret ingredient that makes these cupcakes moist and flavorful.
If you like chocolate recipes as we do, you should check out our double chocolate banana bread, chewy and fudgy brownies, best ever chocolate cake, chewy double chocolate cookies, and our chocolate pound cake!
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Why this recipe works
- Made in one bowl cupcakes!
- Extra moist cupcakes that stay moist for 3 days!
- Made with simple ingredients.
- Perfect to make when you are craving chocolate!
Ingredients
For the chocolate cupcake:
Flour– we used all-purpose flour for this recipe, self-rising flour, and cake flour will work great as well.
Dutch cocoa powder– we like to use Dutch-process cocoa powder for our chocolate cake because we like the deep and rich chocolate taste, but the natural cocoa powder will work great as well!
Baking powder and baking soda – to help the cake rise.
Granulated sugar– we like to use granulated sugar, also it the most common sugar used in baking. Caster sugar will work great as well.
Vegetable oil – we used vegetable oil for this recipe. canola oil will work great for this recipe.
Eggs– To give the cake a good structure. Make sure you’re using room-temperature eggs.
Hot coffee– our secret ingredient. Gives the cupcake an amazing chocolate flavor. Don’t worry, you can’t taste the coffee at all! Make a strong hot coffee, you can use espresso or instant coffee, both will work.
Vanilla extract– Vanilla extract Is an essential ingredient for chocolate cake.
Salt– We used kosher salt for this recipe. Salt doesn’t give the cake a salty taste, it helps to enhance the chocolate flavor.
For the chocolate frosting:
Butter- make sure you are using room temperate butter.
Powder sugar- is known as confectioners sugar. For a smoother buttercream, sift it before adding it to the butter.
Cocoa powder- we used Dutch cocoa powder. You can use natural cocoa powder as well.
Dark chocolate- melt the dark chocolate in the microwave or on the stovetop (bain-marie) and let it cool completely so it won’t melt the butter.
Pinch of salt- to balance the sweetness.
Instructions
Preheat an oven to 350f (180c) and prep a cupcake pan with liners.
In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar and mix with a whisk until well combined.
Add the hot coffee, oil, vanilla, and eggs. Mix well until combined and smooth.
Use an ice cream scoop to fill out the cupcake ⅔ full (do not overfill) and bake in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes and transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely (don’t frost warm cupcakes)
For the chocolate cream cheese frosting:
Make the chocolate frosting: into a large bowl add room temperature butter and mix with a hand mixer or a stand mixer until the butter is light and fluffy.
Add the cream cheese and mix until smooth.
Add the powder sugar, cocoa powder, pinch of salt, and vanilla extract and mix well until smooth.
Transfer the buttercream or the cream cheese frosting to a piping bag with a star tip and pipe the cupcakes with the frosting.
Expert tips
- Don’t skip the coffee in the chocolate cupcake, you can’t taste the coffee, it simply enhances the chocolate flavor.
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and butter. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have moist cupcakes and not dense and dry cupcakes.
- Make sure that your butter is at room temperature. An hour or two before making these cupcakes, take the butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. The butter should be soft to the touch. If your butter is too cold, it will be harder to mix and there will be lumps of butter in the dough.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Before you start to make this recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and easily.
- Be patient! I know it’s extremely tempting to eat and frost these cupcakes as they are pulled out of the oven, but let these cupcakes cool for at least 30 minutes so they will be more firm and won’t crumble up. We suggest letting these cupcakes cool for 5 minutes and then transferring them to a wire rack to cool for at least 20 more minutes. This step ensures that the frosting won't melt off the cupcakes. You never want to frost warm cupcakes or cakes.
- Cool the melted chocolate before adding it to the chocolate frosting! This step is a must, if the melted chocolate will be hot, it will melt the butter and the chocolate frosting will be ruined.
Faq's
No! you can’t taste the coffee. Adding the coffee simply enhances the chocolate flavor. So, don’t skip the coffee in the cupcake!
We like to serve the cupcakes with a drizzle of homemade salted caramel, or chocolate sauce, topped with sprinkles, or by themselves.
We like to use Dutch prosses cocoa powder, because it gives the cupcake a deeper rich chocolate taste, and natural cocoa powder will work! It’s just a personal preference.
Storage
These cupcakes will last up to 5 days in the fridge (dairy needs to be stored in the fridge). Cover them with plastic wrap or foil to prevent them from drying out. They stay moist for at least 3 days!
Variations
Frosting- You can use any kind of your favorite frosting on these cupcakes, these are very versatile so you can turn it into whatever you want! You can use dark chocolate frosting, vanilla frosting, caramel frosting, etc.
Freezing
Freeze these cupcakes after they cooled completely in an airtight freezer-friendly container for up to 3 months, some people find the cupcake tastes better after freezing it.
our tip is not to freeze it decorated or covered with frosting, because it can ruin the decorating on the cake, we suggest freezing the cupcake and decorating it when you defrost it.
If you’re not looking to impress anyone with your decorating skills, it’s absolutely okay to freeze the cake with the frosting on.
Substitutions
Gluten-free - if you want to make this recipe gluten-free, simply replace the flour with gluten-free flour.
Dairy-free- you can make this cake dairy-free by replacing the butter with vegan butter or using your favorite dairy-free chocolate ganache.
Equipment
- Mixing bowls- best glass mixing bowls.
- Whisk set- our favorite copper whisk set.
- Cupcakes tins- our favorite Wilton cupcake tins.
- Open star piping tip- our favorite Wilton piping tip for cupcake decoration.
More chocolate recipes
Small chocolate cake- This small chocolate cake is perfect when you're craving a chocolate cake but don't want to make a big chocolate cake. We made this chocolate cake in an 8x8 inch baking pan.
Triple chocolate brownie mousse cake- This triple chocolate brownie mousse cake is made with a brownie bottom, topped with a creamy eggless chocolate mousse, and topped with silky chocolate ganache.
Double chocolate banana bread- This double chocolate banana bread is filled and topped with chocolate chips, extra moist, and melt in your mouth delicious.
If you tried this recipe, don’t forget to leave a rating and a comment below. We love hearing from you.
If you liked this recipe:
📖 Recipe
Easy Chocolate Cupcake
Ingredients
- 2 Eggs
- 1 cups Granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups Flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon Baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking soda
- ⅓ cups Cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ⅓ cups Vegetable oil
- 1 cups Hot coffee
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Chocolate buttercream
- 340 g Butter
- 2 cups Powder sugar
- ½ cup Cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1 Pinch of salt
- 150 g Dark chocolate
Or Make Chocolate cream cheese frosting
- 230 g Cream cheese softened
- 115 g Butter softened
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 3 ½ cups Powder sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Instructions
For the cupcakes:
- Preheat an oven to 350f (180c) and prep a cupcake pan with liners.
- In a big mixing bowl, add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and mix with a whisk until well combined.
- Add the hot coffee, oil, vanilla, and eggs. Mix well until combined and smooth.
- Use an ice cream scoop to fill out the cupcake ⅔ full (do not overfill) and bake in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes and transfer them into a cooling rack to cool completely (don’t frost warm cupcake).
For the chocolate buttercream frosting:
- Make the chocolate frosting: into a large bowl add room temperature butter and mix with a hand mixer or a stand mixer until the butter is light and fluffy.
- Add half of the powder sugar and the cocoa powder and carefully mix until combined.
- Add the other half of the powder sugar and mix until smooth.
- Melt dark chocolate or semisweet chocolate and let it cool completely to room temperature.
- Add the melted chocolate to the mixture and mix until well combined and smooth.
For the cream cheese chocolate frosting:
- Make the chocolate frosting: into a large bowl add room temperature butter and mix with a hand mixer or a stand mixer until the butter is light and fluffy.
- Add the cream cheese and mix until smooth.
- Add the powder sugar, cocoa powder, pinch of salt, and vanilla extract and mix well until smooth.
Norma says
Super moist and chocolaty! I made what my adult daughter called in grade school “my dirt” cupcakes for Halloween with this recipe. Big hit with nurses that I made them for. I would say that the only thing is, you list instructions in the cupcake and buttercream frosting (‘cause that’s the frosting I made) but you omit 1 in each in the instructions. Salt and vanilla. And the 2x made 35 not 24. Oh well more for me 😁
Bea FM says
Have made these a few times now! Always perfect. So moist and delicious! My go to chocolate cupcake recipe now!!
Frances says
OMG!!! These are the best cupcakes I have ever. I made these last and they were so delicious and moist! I will make these from on! On some of the cupcakes I filled with blackberry jam and the others I filled with the chocolate frosting! I also sprinkled some salt and chocolate sprinkled on top of them! Very delicious and a big hit!❤️
Pamela says
Amazing and yummy cupcakes. Came out perfectly. We are coffee lovers, so we made coffee cream cheese frosting… instead of chocolate, we added 1 TBSP of instant espresso
RichandDelish says
That sounds so delicious! I'm so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you for the review 🙂
John Robert Small says
Is the frosting an either/or?
I'm lost..is the recipe calling to make BOTH frostings?
Thanks
RichandDelish says
Either!
Thanuja says
I tried this recipe as soon I watched video. I didn't do the frosting, as ingredients were not available in time. I prepared muffins n small cake. It's delicious. Not too sweet. As I like less sweetness. The ingredients u have given for muffins r perfect including oven temperature n time. Thank u so much for sharing.
doris says
Well I will be leaving the coffee out cuz I dont drink the stuff and dont like the taste of the stuff in any cakes or cupcakes
Olivia says
While I am a coffee addict, as a basic baker I was nervous about the coffee. I added it as instructed and they were absolutely amazing! My boyfriend who doesn’t like coffee couldn’t even tell. You should give it a try.
Melanie Vértiz says
Great recipe! The cupcakes taste and look amazing ? I used a little bit less sugar because I wanted to fill them with Nutella, and I didn't want to be overly sweet. They were just perfect! Thanks for your work!
Bea FM says
Fabulous recipe. Easy to follow.
Backed perfectly with beautiful domed tops!
Lovey rich chocolate flavour and no you really can’t taste the coffee!
Sarah says
The best chocolate cupcake recipe ever! Highly recommend.
june says
Hi. Can you please add the amount of buttermilk for the cupcake? It is not included. Thanks.
RichandDelish says
Hi, you don't need buttermilk for these chocolate cupcakes.