Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Chocolate overload in the best possible way!
Texture: Moist and tender without being too delicate or crumbly, topped with a beautifully light and creamy frosting.
Ease: The cupcakes are super simple, and although the frosting may seem complicated, I promise it’s super straightforward.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: These are truly my favorite cupcakes EVER!
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These cupcakes are seriously the BEST Chocolate Cupcakes you’ll ever try!
I love to utilize Baking Science to tweak and test recipes until I think they’re the ULTIMATE version of that recipe.
I’ve done it with my ultra-fudgy Ultimate Brownies, my perfectly chewy Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies, and my heavenly Ultimate Classic Cheesecake. What better recipe to perfect next than Chocolate Cupcakes?!
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It took about 5 straight batches over a couple days, after previous casual tests over several months, to finally nail the recipe.
These cupcakes are perfectly moist and tender. They’re sturdy enough to hold up to plenty of frosting, with TONS of chocolate flavor. There are three kinds of chocolate in here in total!
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make the BEST Chocolate Cupcakes
The Chocolate
We can’t make stellar homemade Chocolate Cupcakes without first considering the chocolate! The cupcakes themselves use a whole 5 ounces of bittersweet chocolate AND Dutch-process cocoa powder, for as much chocolate flavor as possible.
Make sure to use freshly chopped baking chocolate and not chocolate chips, which don’t melt down as smoothly. Learn more about Chocolate in Baking here.
Do I Have to Use Dutch Process Cocoa Powder?
I recommend sticking with Dutch-process cocoa as it works differently on a chemical level compared to natural cocoa. You can find it at many gourmet food stores or online via Amazon.
Dutch Process Cocoa typically contains more cocoa butter (fat!) than your typical grocery store cocoa powder. This means more moisture, richness, and rich chocolate flavor! Learn more about cocoa powder’s fat content here.
Help! I Only Have Natural Cocoa Powder!
If you must use regular unsweetened cocoa powder in this recipe, then omit the vinegar – just note that your cupcakes may be a little more dry. Learn more about the differences between cocoa powders here.
The Secret to Super MOIST Chocolate Cupcakes
- This recipe calls for vegetable oil instead of butter. This creates an ultra-moist texture and an open, slightly spongy crumb. For more details on how these two fats work in baking, check out my Butter vs. Oil in Baking article.
- Since oil is liquid at room temperature, it leaves a sensation of moistness on the palate.
- Be sure to also use full-fat ingredients and don’t reduce the sugar in this recipe. Sugar actually helps contribute to moistness! Learn more about the role sugar plays in baking here.
- Be sure to measure your flour and cocoa powder correctly. Use a digital kitchen scale, or the spoon and level method if you don’t have a scale.
Hot Water and Espresso Powder in Chocolate Cupcakes
- If you bake chocolate cakes or cupcakes a lot, you’ve probably seen quite a few recipes that utilize hot water, or even hot coffee.
- This helps to dissolve and ‘bloom’ the cocoa powder to bring out as much flavor with as few cocoa lumps as possible.
- The espresso simply enhances the chocolate flavor without actually being perceptible.
Do I Have to Use Espresso Powder?
Feel free to use hot coffee in place of the hot water and espresso powder. Instant coffee and water will also work. If preferred, simply omit the espresso powder – no modifications needed.
The Eggs
The more whole eggs a cake recipe has, the richer it’ll be. I used one of my favorite baking tricks and added an extra egg yolk. This works beautifully for brownies and cookies, so why not chocolate cupcakes? It adds more richness, chewiness, and structure so the cupcake can stand up to a generous or heavy frosting.
Be sure to use large eggs – about 56 grams in shell. Don’t use eggs larger or smaller than this, as this will impact your cupcakes.
Egg Substitute For Chocolate Cupcakes?
I have yet to find an amazing egg substitute for this recipe. I recently experimented with egg substitutes in cookies, but I haven’t found any great substitutes in cupcakes yet. Let me know in the comments below if you experiment with that!
The Leavener
After much experimentation, I chose to use baking soda, so I had to add vinegar to the recipe. Why? Because without it, there wasn’t enough acid for the baking soda to react with. Dutch-process cocoa powder has been neutralized of its acid, so it was only the sour cream and the small amount of brown sugar.
For tall, tender, light cupcakes, we need the right amount of leavening, so baking soda + vinegar does the trick. This is why you omit the vinegar if you’re using natural cocoa powder.
The Flour
After testing all-purpose vs. bread flour, I found that all-purpose worked just as well. Since AP flour is more readily available, I stuck with that to make this recipe as simple as possible.
Sour Cream in Chocolate Cupcakes?
I find that sour cream adds such a lovely richness and balance of flavor to Chocolate Cupcakes. Full-fat plain yogurt makes a good alternative if needed.
The Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
When I originally published this recipe, it used a more complicated Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream as the frosting. Although delicious, it’s more advanced and requires more time and special equipment.
In the interest of making this recipe simpler but still delicious, I swapped in a special version of American-style chocolate buttercream.
The frosting contains cooled chocolate ganache for pure chocolate flavor and fudgy richness. I like to use semisweet chocolate, but feel free to use milk or bittersweet chocolate instead.
For an extra smooth, flavorful, rich frosting, opt for organic powdered sugar and high-fat cocoa powder.
My Favorite Cupcake Tools:
- Cupcake liners: These cupcake liners are my favorite for cupcakes that don’t stick to the liner.
- Piping tip: I used the Ateco #828 piping tip for swirling the chocolate frosting on these cupcakes – but any large open star tip will work.
- Piping bags: I love these disposable piping bags.
Can I Make a Layer Cake with This Recipe?
Check out my Best Chocolate Cake recipe for that! It’s very similar to this recipe. You can also check out my guide for How to Convert Cupcakes Into Cake (and vice versa!).
How to Store Chocolate Cupcakes
Complately cooled Chocolate Cupcakes can be stored inside an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day.
Can You Freeze Chocolate Cupcakes?
- If storing for longer than a week, wrap unfrosted cupcakes individually in plastic wrap, to prevent freezer burn and taste transference.
- Place cupcakes inside a freezer bag on a shelf in your freezer where they won’t get smashed.
- Freeze for up to 3 months.
- Unwrap the cupcakes and allow them to defrost at room temperature for about 1 to 2 hours.
More Cupcakes Recipes You’ll Love:
More Frosting Recipes:
Best Chocolate Cupcakes
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Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 5 ounces (142 grams) bittersweet baking chocolate, finely chopped
- 1/3 cup (28 grams) Dutch-process cocoa
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
- 1/2 cup (118 grams) boiling water
- 3/4 cup (95 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) sour cream (or plain full-fat yogurt), at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (56 grams) vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs plus one egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the frosting:
- 1/2 cup (119 grams) cold heavy whipping cream
- 4 ounces (113 grams) finely chopped semisweet chocolate (don't use chocolate chips)
- 3 sticks (340 grams) unsalted butter, at a cool room temperature
- 2 cups (250 grams) powdered sugar, sifted (preferably organic*)
- 1 cup (85 grams) Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
Make the cupcakes:
- In a medium heatproof bowl, combine the chocolate, cocoa powder, and espresso powder. Pour hot water over mixture. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk mixture gently until smooth, then set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, salt, and baking soda.
- Whisk sour cream, oil, eggs, egg yolk, vinegar, and vanilla into the cooled chocolate mixture until smooth, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as you mix. Stir in the flour mixture until smooth, being careful not to overmix.
- Using a spring-loaded scoop, divide the batter evenly among prepared muffin cups until 3/4 full. Bake until cupcakes are set and firm to the touch, about 17 to 18 minutes.
- Let cupcakes cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from pan to cool completely, about 1 hour. Cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day.
Make the frosting:
- In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let stand for a few minutes before stirring until smooth. Set aside and cool to approximately 75°F or until thickened but still pourable.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, powdered sugar, cocoa, vanilla, and salt. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase the speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes, or until very well blended, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Reduce speed to medium-low and add the cooled chocolate cream mixture. Continue beating until the frosting has lightened in color and texture, about 2 minutes more, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Frosting can be made 1 day ahead of time and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Warm frosting in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds and stir until creamy again before frosting cupcakes.
- Frosting can also be transferred to a ziptop bag and frozen for up to 1 month. Defrost in the fridge overnight then rewhip in the stand mixer until light and smooth.
Recipe Notes
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This recipe was originally published in 2016 and updated to make the cupcakes more moist and tender, with an easier frosting. New photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
the best recipe ever.
I love the texture, the taste everything was just amazing.
Thankyou so much Tessa for the amazing recipe 🙂
Wonderful!! I’m so happy to hear you love these cupcakes so much! 🙂
Made these last weekend for a small graduation celebration and they were AMAZING. So many compliments. Will 100% be making these again.
So happy you used these cupcakes to celebrate with! I’m happy to hear they were such a hit 🙂
I made these cupcakes with my Swiss meringue buttercream for a party and people flipped! So great! I followed the recipe exactly.
My question is, could this recipe be converted to make a cake? I have to make a cake for a birthday party, but I’m not sure if I’d need to increase ingredients or baking temp/time…
I’m so happy they were such a hit! Check out the pink box above the recipe for details on making a layer cake with this recipe! Good luck! 🙂
Made these twice.. Seriously the absolute best cupcakes I’ve ever tasted!
So happy to hear this!
Hey I want to make only 6 cupcakes and so in this case how many eggs should I use..
This recipe makes 12-15 cupcakes, so you would just halve each ingredient. Hope this helps 🙂
These look amazing. I’m in the UK and i’m trying to do the conversions but Google is telling me that 1/3 cup of cocoa would be 40g and not 28g. Do you have the recipe all in grams rather than cups?
I can’t wait to try them as i’m dying to find the perfect chocolate cupcake recipe, Most are either too dry or not chocolatey enough.
Thank You
Hi Darren! I actually don’t write entire recipes in grams — with liquid ingredients, it’s not necessary to use a scale because there’s no air inside those ingredients. It’s also not always accurate using a scale when it comes to smaller measurements, like 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda for example. Here is a link to my measuring cheatsheet that I use for all of my recipes. I hope this helps!
Hi dear,
Why i can small the baking soda in the cupcake? and what is the difference between sour cream and yogurt ?
I’m not sure why you can smell the baking soda, is your baking soda not fresh? I talk about how to check freshness in this article . Sour cream adds such a lovely richness and balance of flavor to cupcakes, but full fat plain yogurt also makes a fine alternative.
Hello Tessa, you have amazing recipes. Well done on that. Baking Chocolates is not within my reach , can I use normal chocolates with at least 70% cocoa. And also must it be bitter sweet?
Bittersweet chocolate chips should work fine, although they don’t melt down as smoothly. You can use the same amount of semisweet chocolate in place of the bittersweet — the cupcakes will just be slightly sweeter. Good luck!
These are tooooo good! I have made these into Easter nest cupcakes to take to work to sell. They are almost brownie like in their rich fudginess, and the frosting is delish and I might use it for other recipes too. A lot of good quality chocolate is required so these are not cheap to make but they are worth it and I will be charging a bit extra – the ‘Ultimate’ surcharge haha.
Your cupcakes sound so CUTE! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe and are able to share it with others 🙂
I made these for my niece’s birthday yesterday and they were truly fabulous. My mother and I subscribe to the belief that chocolate cake is not worth the calories unless it is a PROPER chocolate cake. This was a PROPER chocolate cupcake. The salt really made it next level (I used coarse kosher salt instead of fine salt, so I think it was saltier, but boy was it amazing – just perfect). My brother had two in a row, and then felt quite sick after as they were so rich, but he couldn’t resist. Thanking you from Antigua.
Wow, these really are amazing! So decadent and yummy, without being too rich. The cupcakes have the perfect texture and the frosting is silky smooth. 100 out of 10 <3
So happy to hear you love these cupcakes!
Hello!
Why must we use so much sugar in the recipe? I tried it and the cupcakes failed dropping in the center.
I have the feeling of the use of too much sugar in the recipe makes us feel awful after all the process have the cupcakes drop in the middle and the use of ingredients!
Thank you, I am anxious to know your point of view.
Alice
I’m sorry these didn’t turn out for you, and I want to help! This recipe underwent extensive testing to perfect, so I know the amount of sugar isn’t the problem — normally when cupcakes drop in the center, it actually means your oven temperature is too high. Do you have an oven thermometer? I’d highly recommend getting one if you don’t, and check to see what your temp is actually at! Oven temperatures can vary SO easily! If the oven temperature is too high, it will cause your cupcakes to rise too quickly, causing them to then fall flat later. I hope you give this recipe another try, and please let me know if I can help any more!