Tessa's Recipe Rundown
Taste: Like red velvet, but way amped up. That chocolate in the center is just magnificent.
Texture: The cupcakes are moist and tender while the chocolate is rich and oozing.
Ease: Easy yet impressive.
Appearance: The chocolate is such a wonderful surprise. Plus you can’t beat that brilliant red color (thanks, food coloring).
Pros: In my humble chocoholic’s opinion, these are so much better than regular red velvet cupcakes.
Cons: None!!
Would I make this again? Absolutely yes.
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The very moment I saw this recipe in February’s Better Homes & Gardens, I ripped the page out of the magazine. Yum. It appealed to everything I like. Red velvet, chocolate, and cupcakes (only because they are easy, quick, and cute). Not to mention this recipe is perfect for Valentine’s Day (these cupcakes aren’t a hassle to transport). I kind of want to stuff anything and everything with a ball of chocolate ganache now.
More Recipes You’ll Love:
- Red Velvet Cupcakes – if you’re looking for Red Velvet Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and no filling!
- The BEST Cream Cheese Frosting – the perfect frosting for these cupcakes
- Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
- Red Velvet Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Red Velvet Cake
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Ingredients
For the chocolate stuffing:
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
For the cupcakes:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons red food coloring
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
Instructions
For the chocolate stuffing:
- In a small saucepan combine chocolate, cream, and butter. Stir over low heat until chocolate is melted. Transfer to a small bowl and let cool for 15 minutes. Cover and freeze about 1 hour, or until fudge-like consistency. Divide chocolate filling into 12 equal portions and roll into balls. Place in freezer.
For the cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a small bowl sift flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer beat butter and sugar on medium for 2-3 minutes, until light in color and well combined. Beat in egg, food coloring, and vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. In a small bowl combine baking soda and vinegar. Stir into batter.
- Divide half the batter among prepared cups. Place a ball of chocolate into center of each cup. Top evenly with remaining batter.
- Bake 15-17 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Serve warm or let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.
After reading all the reviews on how the chocolate melts to the bottom of the cupcake and in some cases exploding, I think I will try injecting them with a Wilton tip #230, once they are slightly cooled.
These look amazing and I will be taking them to a dinner party.
Thank you Tessa!
Do you think cream cheese icing would be too rich?
Hmm maybe, at least for some people it would be. If your friends and family like things rich and sweet I think it would be fine!
I made these for an office party and they were a hit. I wanted to serve a frosted cupcake, so I filled them with a dark chocolate ganache instead of milk chocolate, and I found that balanced out the extra sweetness from the cream cheese frosting quite well.
Perfect, Jenny! Love that you were able to make the recipe your own 🙂
hi, its hard to find heavy cream in my place, can i use all purpose cream instead? this looks really good and i want to make it for my children. thanks 🙂
can i do the cream cheese on top of this as icing … hope mix of all doesn’t make it sweet no idea .. do u think cream cheese can balance the cupcake .
Hi
Are these measurements uk or uk cups? i have only ever baked using grams and would want to convert over
Thanks
Helen
All my measurements are in American cups. On newer posts I try to give the weight measurement as well but I’ve written a guide to measuring that you might find helpful for American recipes: https://handletheheat.com/2014/07/ultimate-guide-measuring.html
this looks really good and i want to make it for my son who i am sure will love it, the red colour with choc inside! i hv a few ques: 1. can i just use plain frozen choc pieces for the centre? 2. would beetroot juice work for the colouring as my son is allowed no synthetic colours?
tks
You can use any kind of chocolate you want as long as it’s sweetened. I have no idea if beetroot juice would work as a coloring, I’ve never tried that.
I was super excited to make these today after I found the recipe. They looked absolutely amazing. However I was extremely disappointed as the chocolate melted and settled at the bottom instead of staying gooey and in the centre. I froze the chocolate balls for a good 3 hrs. What else could I be doing wrong? I seem to have the same problem with any stuffed cupcake I try. Really want to try and get these right! Thanks! 🙂
Love their gorgeous red glow!
I landed here after searching for red velvet cupcakes and i am so glad i did! The cupcakes look so soft and the gooey chocolate inside looks heavenly! Thanks for brightening up my day at work 🙂
Wow, you’re as beautiful as your recipes Tessa! I will try this one of these days. Thanks for sharing your gift of cooking and writing with us 😀
hey! powdered food colouring or liquid? what do you recommend?