Decadent dark chocolate cupcakes with a fresh raspberry frosting
We had a very dark and stormy Saturday.
It wasn’t your typical summer storm — one with staggered rounds of rain and thunder sharply punctuated by sunshiny breaks in the clouds, but instead a good full day of unrelenting sheets of rain, slashes of lightning, and thunder that shook the house.
I did what I do best in stormy weather — I went to the kitchen.
I made a stormy summer dessert to match the atmosphere. Deliberately deep, dark chocolate — even blacker than the skies — with a distinctly dark chocolate, nearly bitter aftertaste on your tongue. Dark chocolate, and dark cocoa powder both went into the mix (I’d made these cupcakes miniature before, here). Rich, but not dense, these cupcakes are full-bodied but fluffy, sweet but not too sweet.
I poured the batter into shimmering purple foil liners and set about to make the frosting.
It’s a very summer-y frosting, with fresh, ripe raspberries reduced to a simple syrup and beaten with butter, vanilla, sugar, and a hint of cream cheese for a silky buttercream frosting. Paired with the dark chocolate cupcake base it is sheer perfection — never have two flavors played so well off each other (not even here).
My only regret is that I didn’t stick to frosting them with an icing tip that I’m more used to, so the tops came out looking a little… unkempt.
A little storm-swept.
Enjoy.
Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Fresh Raspberry Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup +3 Tbsp milk divided
- 3.5 oz quality dark chocolate chopped into small pieces (I always use a bar of Ghirardelli 72% dark chocolate)
- ½ cup dark cocoa powder
- ½ cup canola oil
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 egg preferably room temperature
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup All-purpose flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
Fresh Raspberry Frosting
- 1 cup raspberries fresh or frozen
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- ½ cup butter softened, 1 stick
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and prepare cupcake trays by lining with cupcake liners.
- In small saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 cup milk and dark chocolate, stirring until chocolate is completely melted.
- Increase heat to medium-high, stir constantly until mixture begins to bubble and stir in cocoa powder. Remove from heat and whisk until smooth. Set aside.
- In KitchenAid, combine canola oil and sugars, beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds, scrape sides of bowl, and stir again on medium-high speed for another 30 seconds -- until ingredients are well-combined (mixture will be very thick and grainy).
- Add egg and vanilla, beat well.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- With mixer on low-medium speed, gradually stir in flour mixture to butter/sugar mixture, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally.
- Pour the cocoa/dark chocolate liquid into the mixer and beat on medium speed until combined.
- Scrape down sides of bowl and add 3 Tbsp milk, stir on medium speed again so all ingredients are combined.
- Pour batter into cupcake liners, filling cupcake liners ⅔ of the way full.
- Bake on 350F for 18 minutes (toothpick inserted into middle of cupcake should come out clean).
- Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
- First, prepare a raspberry reduction by combining raspberry and 2 Tbsp sugar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.
- Once berries begin to release their juices, increase heat to medium-high and stir constantly, mashing the berries with the back of your spoon as you go. Bring to a boil (still stirring constantly) and cook 6-8 minutes until mixture has reduced.
- Run through a strainer to remove seeds and pulp (I add 1 Tbsp of seeds back in to the juices for a little bit of texture, this is optional) and allow to cool completely before using in frosting. Discard leftover seeds/pulp.
- Once raspberry juices have cooled completely, prepare the frosting by creaming together butter and cream cheese.
- Gradually add 1 cup of powdered sugar and stir until combined.
- Add in raspberry juices and vanilla extract and stir well.
- Add remaining sugar and beat until combined.
- Spread or pipe frosting on top of cooled cupcakes.
- Keep uneaten cupcakes stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
Nutrition
I felt it was appropriate to photograph these cupcakes during the storm, but I did get a few brighter pictures of these cupcakes when the sun came out on Sunday:
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Marie
Hi! Any special adjustments for high altitude baking? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Marie! Unfortunately I am not very familiar with high altitude baking so I can’t say for sure if there are any alterations needed. 🙁
Ji-Ha
These are absolutely delicious!!!!! I made them on Sunday, and they are all gone already!! Heheheh To be honest, I wasn’t convinced with the raspberry frosting when I tasted it after just making it. But I hoped that I would be surprised once it chilled and… I was!!!!! What a lovely surprise!! I absolutely love this raspberry frosting! And the chocolate cake is so moist and fudgy! If you chill it it gets fudgier, too! They are delicious either way!! Thank you for sharing, Sam!!:)
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Deirdre
Hi Sam
I am using your beautiful frosting on a German Chocolate cake for a friend’s birthday this weekend
( I don’t think the children will enjoy the traditional pecan and coconut frosting) I think the raspberry will be amazing
thank you so much I can’t wait to see how it turns out!
Sam
I bet this will be amazing on that cake! I hope everyone loves it, Dierdre! 🙂
Cindy
Another winner! My daughter and I were craving for chocolate cupcakes and decided to make this recipe. It was so delicious! Rich, chocolatey and moist. I changed out the frosting with a strawberry but followed the same steps as your raspberry frosting. It was really good. Definitely will make again!
Sam
I’m so happy to hear this, Cindy! Thank you so much for commenting and letting me know how they turned out!
Alina
Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing…
Sugar Spun Run
Absolutely! Thanks for following my blog. 🙂
C. Hanson
Dark cocoa powder? Is this different from regular cocoa powder?
Sam
Yes dark cocoa powder is different than regular cocoa powder. 🙂
Honor
I can’t wait to try this recipe – it looks absolutely delicious, like everything on your site! Do you think I could substitute raspberry jam for the raspberry sauce? Would you recommend thinning it out with water or some other modification, or are my efforts doomed? 😉
Thank you so much!
Sam
I would be worried the jam would be a little too thick, but it’s definitely worth trying. If it’s too thick add a little bit more cream to thin it out. 🙂
Mariel
Great recipe! My only suggestion to anyone making it is to DOUBLE THE FROSTING! I tried putting swirls on each of my cupcakes and was only able to cover 8 and that was with restraining how much I put on each of those 8! I ended up just spreading a medium-thick layer of frosting on each one instead of making them look nice like the pictures in this recipe imply can be done.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the cupcakes and the raspberry frosting, Mariel! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Lara
For the frosting, do you use unsalted or salted butter? Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Lara! I use unsalted butter. 🙂
Hope
Hello! I am 14 years old and I always loved to bake and this year I am going to make earthier cupcakes or a cake once a month. I was looking for a good recipe for chocolate raspberry cupcakes, I saw this and it looks great! But I do not care for cream cheese….. so I was wondering if the flavor of it really sticks out? Otherwise it’s looks mouthwatering and I can’t wait to try it!
Janine
These look amazing! I am making the frosting for my grandsons BD party and this will go on his favorite white cake. How many cupcakes will one batch frost?
Sam
Hi Janine! This frosting will cover about 15 cupcakes, unless you put a very thin layer on them then it will go further. 🙂
Janine
The recipe says to mix the berries with 1 tbsp sugar but the directions say 2 tbsp. Can you clarify?
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Janine! Thanks for catching that. You will want to use 1 tbsp, I will update the recipe accordingly! I hope that you enjoy your dark chocolate cupcakes and berry frosting. 🙂
Saras
Thanks a lot for sharing the frosting recipe! I adapted it for strawberry frosting to my strawberry cake. I used freeze dried strawberries(15g) (powdered) instead of the berries reduction. Also I reduced the powdered sugar to 150 g. So the frosting was not thick as in the picture. But the taste was delicious! I have tried another cream cheese frosting which was good. But this one was mouthwatering!
Sam
Thank you so much! I am so glad you enjoyed the frosting recipe. I love the sound of a strawberry version. 🙂
Marina
This was the best cupcakes I did!!!!!!!
Sam
So glad you enjoyed, Marina!! 🙂
Lindsey
If I did this in pans how many 6” would it make?
Sam
Hi Lindsey, unfortunately I’m not sure how many 6″ pans, I’ve only made this as cupcakes and it makes 15 that way.
Jenny
I made the frosting OMG it was amazing. Everyone loved it. Try it on lemon cake it’s so good.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the frosting Jenny! I bet it would be awesome on a lemon cake. 🙂