the only chocolate cupcake recipe you'll ever need (chocolate truffle frosting!) (2024)

Chocolate Cupcakes often disappoint – but, I’ve tried dozens of chocolate cake recipes over the years, and I promise you that these are as far from disappointing as you can get! Rich & moist, these one-bowl Chocolate Cupcakes stay that way for days. Top them in a luscious Chocolate Truffle Frosting that tastes as decadent as a chocolate truffle – without being too sweet!

Why you’ll love these Chocolate Cupcakes:

• One-Bowl – This is an easy one-bowl recipe that takes almost no time to mix up!
• Moist & Rich – These cupcakes are perfectly moist (never dry – I promise!) and full of rich chocolate flavor.
• Creamy Chocolate Truffle Frosting – A few simple additions take this from a basic chocolate frosting to something that tastes like a decadent chocolate truffle (but not too sweet!). We’re talking melted milk chocolate, plenty of cocoa powder, and some cream cheese (even though this isn’t a true cream cheese frosting).

Ingredient Overview:

• Cake Flour – Cake flour produces a lighter crumb in cakes, and I highly recommend using it! Spoon & level your flour for best results, or use a scale. Scooping the measuring cup directly in will lead to too much flour. 1 cup of cake flour weighs 110 grams, whereas 1 cup all-purpose flour weighs 130 grams. (Some people standardize at 120, 125, or 130 – I’ve chosen 130.)
• Sugar – A mix of granulated sugar and brown sugar keep these cupcakes flavorful & moist!
• Cocoa powder – Adding the cocoa powder to very hot water, called blooming the cocoa, enhances the chocolate flavor & helps make very moist chocolate cupcakes.
• Espresso powder – Espresso powder enhances chocolate flavor, and won’t make these taste like coffee – never fear, my fellow coffee haters!
• Salt – Every baked good needs a bit of salt to balance the sweetness. If you’ve ever left it out by mistake, you understand this!
• Sour Cream – Use full fat sour cream, at room temperature.
• Vegetable Oil – Vegetable oil is the best fat (as opposed to butter) for chocolate cake, as cocoa can dry things out, and vegetable oil is a liquid at room temperature (whereas butter is a solid at room temperature). This means the cupcakes will stay tender & moist even after they’ve cooled, and for a few days!
• Milk – Use room temperature milk. 2%, skim, or whole milk are all fine. I usually use lactose-free 2%.
• Eggs – Use large eggs, at room temperature.
• Vanilla extract – Vanilla helps enhance the chocolate flavor!

Ingredient Substitutions:

• Dairy-free – Use your favorite, trusted, dairy-free products to make this recipe dairy-free.
• Gluten-free – I have not tested a gluten-free version of this recipe.
• Butter – I am sometimes asked if melted butter can be substituted in place of the vegetable oil, and I don’t recommend it in this recipe. Vegetable oil provides the amount of moisture needed for these cupcakes, and since vegetable oil is a type of fat that’s liquid at room temperature, it keeps the cupcakes moist and light even after they’ve baked & cooled. Butter is a solid fat at room temperature, so it’s not always the best option in cakes. Something like my Vanilla Cake relies on a mix of butter and vegetable oil, for the perfect marriage of flavor & texture. Here, the cocoa powder carries the chocolate flavor so we don’t need to rely on the butter as we would in a vanilla or white cake.
• Sour Cream – Full fat yogurt (greek or plain) works in a pinch. Make sure it’s at room temperature.
• Hot Coffee – You can use hot coffee in place of the hot water, in the same quantity. Add the cocoa powder and follow the rest of the directions in the same way. This will make an extra chocolatey flavor and may give a hint of coffee flavor.

How to Make the Best Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe Step-by-Step:

Step 1: Bloom the Cocoa Powder. Heat your water in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, until it’s almost boiling. Whisk in the cocoa powder and set aside to cool down a bit while you make the rest of the batter. Once it’s room temperature, whisk in the milk.

Step 2: Mix Dry Ingredients. Whisk together the cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugars, espresso powder, and salt.

Step 3: Add Wet Ingredients. Gently fold in the beaten eggs, milk & cocoa mixture, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. The batter will be thin.

Step 4: Bake Cupcakes. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full and bake as directed in the recipe card below.

Step 5: Make Frosting & Decorate Cupcakes. Melt milk chocolate in a large mixing bowl, then beat in the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, salt, cocoa powder, and cream cheese. It’s the most luscious frosting you’ll ever taste! Tip: Start beating on low speed when you add the powdered sugar and cocoa to avoid a mess! Add frosting to a piping bag fitted with your desired tip (See tools below for the exact items I used) and pipe frosting onto the cooled cupcakes. Add a chocolate heart for garnish, and add a light sprinkle of flaky sea salt if desired.

Serving + Storing this Recipe:

Store unfrosted, cooled, cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 24 hours before frosting. Store frosted cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. Since the frosting has cream cheese, these must be refrigerated – cream cheese can only stay out for up to 2 hours, per the FDA.

Expert Success Tips:

• Oven Thermometer– An oven thermometer will tell you if your oven is actually running at the temperature you set it to. Your oven may not be accurate. Accurate oven temperature is crucial for most bakes, so I leave an oven thermometer in at all times to keep an eye on my oven’s calibration.
• Kitchen Scale –Afood scaleis the best way to make sure your flour is at the proper weight, since amounts will vary SO widely based on how you measure it, as well as the measuring cup you use, as they are not standardized.
• Not-too-sweet Frosting – I have a little trick to keep frosting from being too sweet (you know, that annoying tooth-ache that often comes from frosting?). I always add cream cheese to my frostings – this doesn’t make all my frostings true cream cheese frostings, since the quantity of butter still surpasses the amount of cream cheese.

FAQs:

Recipe Variations:

• Fillings – If you want a filled chocolate cupcake, core the cooled cupcakes with a teaspoon or a cupcake corer, and try adding 1-2 tsp of my Orange Curd, Raspberry Coulis, 10-Minute Salted Caramel Sauce, or use the chocolate ganache (the chocolate drip) from my Raspberry Cake recipe. You can also make my Strawberry Compote, Blueberry Compote, or Cherry Compote to use as a filling. Since these have larger pieces of fruit, I recommend blitzing the compote with an immersion blender to make more of a smooth jam/puree for the filling.
• Frosting – If you don’t want chocolate frosting, try the Salted Caramel Frosting from my Samoa Cupcakes recipe (you’ll need twice the amount for this batch of chocolate cupcakes), or the Raspberry Frosting from my Raspberry Chocolate Cake recipe. You can also use a classic cream cheese frosting, like the one from my Pineapple Carrot Cake. Omit the cinnamon. If you want a vanilla frosting, try this one from my White Forest Cake.
• Cake Mix – In a pinch, make your favorite boxed chocolate cake mix and use this frosting recipe! There are very good boxed mixes on the market, but no canned frosting can compare to homemade.

• Offset Spatula–Offset spatulasmake cake assembly so easy! They can also be used for spreading cake and brownie batters evenly.
• Cupcake Pan –
• Piping Bags – Use a reusable piping bag (this set has piping tips included!) or these large disposable piping bags.
• Piping Tip – I used an Ateco 849 tip for the large swirls of frosting pictured here. You can certainly use a smaller tip if you want less frosting.
• Dove Hearts – I used the swirled Dove hearts found in stores at Valentine’s Day as a garnish on these cupcakes, but any small piece of dark (or milk!) chocolate will work. Here’s a bag of Dove Promises in dark, milk, and caramel chocolate.

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More Cupcake Recipes to Love:

• Orange Creamsicle Cupcakes
• Maple Bacon Cupcakes with Candied Bacon
• Peach Pie Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
• Mini Vanilla Cupcakes with Brown Butter Frosting
• Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

More Recipes for Chocolate Lovers:

• Mini Chocolate Cake
• Easy Chocolate Pudding Cake
• Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes for Two
• Tuxedo Cake
• Chocolate Truffle Cake

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