Truly the Best Chocolate Cupcakes
User Reviews
4.9
1,524 reviews
Excellent
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Prep Time
15 mins
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Cook Time
15 mins
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Total Time
32 mins
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Servings
24 cupcakes
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Calories
96 kcal
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Course
Dessert, Baked Goods
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Cuisine
American
Truly the Best Chocolate Cupcakes
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These chocolate cupcakes are light, fluffy, and so much better than a box mix. Made quickly and easily in just one bowl, they can baked and frosted in less than an hour. Recipe includes a how-to video!
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Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ 1 ⅔ cups granulated sugar
- 1 ½ 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ⅔ ⅔ cup natural cocoa powder see note 1
- 1 1 Tablespoon cornstarch see note 2
- 1 ½ 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ¼ 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1 teaspoon table salt
- ½ ½ cup avocado, canola or vegetable oil
- 1 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk room temperature preferred
- 2 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅔ ⅔ cup whole milk room temperature preferred
- 1 1 cup hot coffee see note 3, may substitute hot water
- 1 1 batch Chocolate Buttercream or preferred frosting
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Instructions
- Arrange rack to center of oven and preheat oven to 350F (175C). Line two 12-count muffin tins with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt (I make this recipe with an electric mixer but it can be done by hand using a whisk and spatula instead).
- Add canola oil, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and stir until batter is combined (it will be a bit dry and crumbly but all of the flour mixture should be moistened before proceeding).
- Drizzle in milk while stirring and stir until batter is uniform and completely combined.
- Gradually add hot coffee or hot water (take care not to burn yourself!) and stir until liquid is completely incorporated into the batter and you have a smooth chocolate batter. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is well-combined. The batter will be very thin, this is normal!
- Evenly divide batter into prepared muffin tin, but take care to fill liners between ½ and not more than ⅔ of the way full, this is typically about 3 Tablespoons of batter or less per cupcake liner. Over-filled liners will result in cupcakes with flat tops and they may cave in on themselves. If you have excess batter, discard it (or make extra cupcakes!).
- Transfer one pan of cupcakes to 350F (175C) preheated oven and bake for 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs (or clean). Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes in baking pan before carefully removing to cooling rack to cool completely before frosting (I like to use a knife to gently pry up the cupcake from the bottom and then carefully lift it out to a cooling rack). Repeat with second pan of cupcakes
- Once cupcakes have cooled, frost with my chocolate frosting or your favorite frosting recipe.
Equipments used:
Notes
- I recommend using natural unsweetened cocoa powder for best results. However, in a pinch Dutch process cocoa powder can be used instead, but note that the flavor will be slightly different and the cupcakes will be darker.
- Cornstarch is my secret ingredient, it makes the cupcakes tender and fluffy and gives them the perfect, slight domed tops. However, if you do not have it on hand you may omit it, note that your cupcakes will likely be flatter though.
- A hot liquid is essential to properly blooming the cocoa powder (which gives the cake a pronounced, rich chocolate flavor). I like to use hot coffee because the coffee flavor enhances the chocolate, making the flavor even richer and deeper. However, you can just use hot water instead. The hotter the liquid the better; boiling is fine, just be careful! Please note I don’t recommend using other hot liquids such as hot chocolate which often have other additives and sugar added and could adversely affect the final outcome.
- I used my Ateco 848 tip to pipe the frosting on the cupcakes in the photos above and in the video. If you wish to frost all of your cupcakes this generously you will want to double the frosting called for in the recipe that I linked to, but honestly you don’t need to and a more modest amount (half the amount shown) works great and allows the cupcake flavor to really shine, it just didn’t look quite as nice in the pictures!
- You may bake these cupcakes in two 8” pans for 35-37 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with a few moist crumbs.
- In two 9” pans the cakes will take a bit less time, start checking at 30-32 minutes.
- This recipe should also work just fine in a 13x9” pan, but I would keep an eye on it as I haven’t tested it in this size pan yet.
- I've received a lot of requests for the original recipe. As I mentioned in my post, this current recipe is the one I recommend, it's simply scaled down from that one to make an even 24 cupcakes, to prevent the overflowing issue many people were having, and a bit of cornstarch has been added to improve structure. It's a slightly better cupcake recipe for the changes and I recommend using the recipe as seen here. However, since so many of you have asked, here is the original recipe. Please note that I am not accepting comments or questions on the original and recommend you use the recipe I have published here currently.
Nutrition Information
Show Details
Serving
1cupcake
Calories
96kcal
(5%)
Carbohydrates
22g
(7%)
Protein
2g
(4%)
Fat
1g
(2%)
Saturated Fat
1g
(5%)
Polyunsaturated Fat
1g
Monounsaturated Fat
1g
Cholesterol
9mg
(3%)
Sodium
178mg
(7%)
Potassium
61mg
(2%)
Fiber
1g
(4%)
Sugar
14g
(28%)
Vitamin A
22IU
(0%)
Calcium
32mg
(3%)
Iron
1mg
(6%)
Nutrition Facts
Serving: 24cupcakes
Amount Per Serving
Calories 96 kcal
% Daily Value*
| Serving | 1cupcake | |
| Calories | 96kcal | 5% |
| Carbohydrates | 22g | 7% |
| Protein | 2g | 4% |
| Fat | 1g | 2% |
| Saturated Fat | 1g | 5% |
| Polyunsaturated Fat | 1g | 6% |
| Monounsaturated Fat | 1g | 5% |
| Cholesterol | 9mg | 3% |
| Sodium | 178mg | 7% |
| Potassium | 61mg | 1% |
| Fiber | 1g | 4% |
| Sugar | 14g | 28% |
| Vitamin A | 22IU | 0% |
| Calcium | 32mg | 3% |
| Iron | 1mg | 6% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Genuine Reviews
User Reviews
Overall Rating
4.9
1,524 reviews
Excellent
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