chocolate cupcakes
Rich, moist chocolate cupcakes made from scratch featuring a deep chocolate flavor and topped with smooth chocolate buttercream frosting. Perfect for any occasion!
Prep
: 10
Total
: 25 minutes
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- 0.5 cup milk or buttermilk
- 0.5 cup vegetable oil
- 0.75 tsp vanilla extract
- 0.5 cup hot water
- 1.25 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
- 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
- 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp heavy cream plus up to 2 more tbsp as needed for consistency
Instructions
Preparation Steps
- Preheat oven to 300°F and line a cupcake pan with liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In another bowl, beat egg, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract until combined.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.
- Slowly add the hot water to the batter and stir until fully combined. Batter will be thin.
- Fill cupcake liners halfway and bake for 18-23 minutes until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Allow cupcakes to cool in the pan for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- For the frosting, beat butter until smooth. Add melted chocolate and cocoa powder, mixing well.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and 2 tbsp heavy cream, beat until creamy. Add remaining sugar and salt, mix again.
- Add remaining heavy cream as needed to achieve the desired frosting consistency.
- Pipe or spread frosting onto cooled cupcakes. Store cupcakes at room temperature up to 24 hours or refrigerate.
Notes
For best flavor, use high-quality cocoa powder and real vanilla extract. These cupcakes are best served at room temperature and can be stored up to 5 days in the fridge.