My easy chocolate cupcake recipe yields two-dozen light, fluffy, and chocolatey cupcakes that are better than a box-mix (and just as easy!). Made quickly and easily in one bowl, they can be baked and frosted in less than an hour. Recipe includes a how-to video!
The Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes
You’re going to be so happy you found this recipe. After all, who doesn’t love a perfectly balanced chocolate cupcake (preferably topped with a generous swirl of chocolate buttercream). My recipe is incredibly moist, so soft, and so perfectly fluffy. Taste wise, they’re sweet without being too sweet and have a pronounced chocolate flavor (I’ll share a few tricks to pull this off). Plus, they’re incredibly quick and easy to make in just one bowl!
I first published this recipe six years ago and it’s been a huge hit with my readers and my own faithful go-to chocolate cupcake recipe (I prefer my slightly heavier chocolate cake recipe for cakes). However, the original recipe made a large, awkward number of cupcakes, so I’ve scaled down the recipe to now make a neat 24 cupcakes with subtly domed tops.
What You Need
Making chocolate cupcakes from scratch is just as easy as using a box mix, but they taste so much better. Here are a few of the ingredients you’ll be using today:
- Cocoa powder. I recommend using natural, regular cocoa powder in your chocolate cupcakes. Dutch process will change the flavor and could impact the texture (if the baking soda isn’t fully neutralized), so I’d recommend sticking with the recipe as written.
- Hot water/coffee. It is very important that you use a hot liquid (the hotter the better, but be careful not to splash yourself with it while mixing) as this reacts with the cocoa powder, causing it to “bloom” and fully develop the rich flavor of the cocoa.
- Oil. Don’t be tempted to replace the oil with melted butter, please! Using oil makes these chocolate cupcakes super moist without weighing them down. The cocoa powder (when bloomed by the hot liquid) provides plenty of flavor, so butter is unnecessary (never would have thought I would type those words!) and actually yields a less-desirable cupcake.
- Cornstarch. I’ve updated this recipe to include a tablespoon of cornstarch. One of my favorite secret ingredients (you may recognize it from my best chocolate chip cookies), this simple addition keeps them tender, soft, and fluffy and it also gives these formerly completely flat cupcakes a slight rounded dome.
SAM’S TIP: If you choose to use coffee, your chocolate cupcakes will not taste mocha-esque; rather the coffee helps to enhance the rich chocolate flavors of the cocoa powder. I recommend you use it!
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make My Favorite Chocolate Cupcake Recipe
Make the Batter
- Whisk all of the dry ingredients and sugar together.
- Add the oil, egg, and vanilla and mix to combine. It’ll seem a bit stiff, dry and crumbly, but just keep mixing and go until all of the dry ingredients are moistened. Feel free to use your electric mixer for this step, but I usually just use a spatula.
- Slowly drizzle in the milk and continue stirring until the batter looks uniform.
- Gradually and carefully add the hot liquid and mix until everything is completely combined.
SAM’S TIP: While you might be able to get away with using buttermilk straight from the fridge, room temp eggs are key here! If your eggs are cold, straight from the fridge, they will not incorporate well into your dry ingredients, leaving you with a batter that’s clumpy, clunky, and not uniform. This can lead to sunken or otherwise wonky cupcakes.
Divide the Batter & Bake
It’s very important to not fill your cupcake liners higher than ⅔ full. If you do, the batter will spread out over the tops and the resulting cupcakes will have flat tops that are likely to sink in on themselves. Opt for under-filling rather than over-filling, and if you do happen to have leftover batter, make extra cupcakes or discard it.
- Evenly divide the batter among a lined cupcake pan and bake for 17-19 minutes.
- Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
SAM’S TIP: I recommend baking one pan of chocolate cupcakes at a time, just in case your oven bakes unevenly or does something funky while baking, or even just in case you accidentally leave the first batch in too long. The batter will be fine to wait on the counter while the first batch bakes!
While you can always stick with chocolate buttercream (shown here), my chocolate cupcake recipe tastes lovely with just about any topping. Some of my top recommendations are brown butter frosting (my husband’s favorite pairing), marshmallow frosting, cream cheese frosting, peanut butter frosting (perfect for peanut butter & chocolate lovers!), Swiss meringue buttercream, or vanilla frosting.
Frequently Asked Questions
This chocolate cupcake batter will be very, very thin–much different from the thick batter of my vanilla cake. It’ll seem almost watery/soupy. This is normal and means you’ve done everything right!
While I do have a great chocolate cake recipe, you can use this recipe to make a two layer 8″ or 9″ cake. I provide instructions on how to do this in the recipe notes.
I don’t recommend it. This batter was carefully developed and the inclusion of the cocoa is critical for the proper texture. Even if you swapped an equal amount of flour, it’s not likely to turn out nearly as well as a recipe that was actually designed to be a vanilla cupcake. I suggest you make my easy vanilla cupcake recipe instead!
With only 15 minutes to prep and only one bowl to dirty, what are you waiting for!?
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Truly the Best Chocolate Cupcake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ cups (333 g) granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups (188 g) all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup (65 g) natural cocoa powder see note 1
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch see note 2
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- ½ cup (118 ml) avocado, canola or vegetable oil
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk room temperature preferred
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup (157 ml) whole milk room temperature preferred
- 1 cup (236 ml) hot coffee see note 3, may substitute hot water
- 1 batch chocolate buttercream or preferred frosting
Recommended Equipment
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).1 ⅔ cups (333 g) granulated sugar, 1 ½ cups (188 g) all-purpose flour, ⅔ cup (65 g) natural cocoa powder, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon table salt
- 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).½ cup (118 ml) avocado, canola or vegetable oil, 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Drizzle in milk while stirring and stir until batter is uniform and completely combined.⅔ cup (157 ml) whole milk
- 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!1 cup (236 ml) hot coffee
- 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.1 batch chocolate buttercream
Notes
Cocoa powder
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
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.Hot coffee/hot water
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.Frosting
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!Baking chocolate cupcake batter in different sized pans
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 13×9” pan, but I would keep an eye on it as I haven’t tested it in this size pan yet.Original recipe
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
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Related Recipes
My chocolate cupcake recipe was originally published in March of 2016. A few small modifications were made to scale the recipe down to 24 even cupcakes without changing the texture, and the post has been updated to be more informative and a how-to video has been added.
Yiping
Hi sam can i use 2 eggs instead of using 1 egg and 1 yolk?
Sam Merritt
I would not recommend it.
Isabel
I may have missed it in the recipe. How long are the cupcakes able to sit? Could it sit out unfrosted on the counter covered for 2 days?
Sam Merritt
Hi Isabel! Once they cool completely I would move them to an air tight container. They can stay at room temperature, but you don’t want them to dry out. 🙂
Jen
Can I use caca powder instead or no?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We haven’t tried this recipe with cacao powder, so we aren’t sure how it would go 😞
Violet
This recipe was awesome and I’d %100 use it again! Normally my mom has something negative to day about my baking, but this recipe had her jaw on the floor! I’m so excited to make more!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy our recipe was a winner for you, Violet! 💜
Erna
this recipe is a disaster. How can almost 2 cups of liquid plus oil not drown out a mere
1 2/3 cups of flour? Well, I decided to take a chance and believe your formula and and have just cleaned our 24 muffin cups of expensive chocolate gunk. Your list of ingredients must have a typo.
Sam
Hi Erna! I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy these! This is a thin batter. It’s designed to be. 🙁 Did you make any substitutions or alterations to the recipe? What happened that they didn’t turn out?
Jamie L Rogers
Can you use 2% milk instead of whole milk?
Sam
Hi Jamie! That should work here. The cupcakes may have slightly less moisture, but should still be good. 🙂
Emilia
These were the BEST cupcakes ever!!!!!! They were ultimately delicious.
Thanks so much Sam
Nelle
I have been tasked with making cupcakes for my cousin’s baby shower and this was recipe I liked the most . I will say these are honestly the best cupcakes I have ever made/had . I filled them with homemade caramel and a dark chocolate whipped ganache for frosting. It was perfect the cupcakes are to sweet which coordinated perfectly with the other flavours . I will be keeping this recipe for the future in a plastic sleeve because I think it will become a family favourite. Thank you for this a million times over.
Sam
I’m so glad they were such a hit, Nelle! 🙂
Gillian K
I made this for the first time (with the chocolate frosting) – WOW they were amazing! Super light and airy but FULL of flavour. My 5 year old was my assistant and he was SO proud of how these turned out. Will def make again, best ever!
Blessings
Hi!
I have a question can I use buttermilk instead of milk? Thanks.
Sam
I haven’t tried it, but I think buttermilk could work in these cupcakes. 🙂
Blessings
Great thank you God Bless, I can’t wait to bake them. Thanks!!
Katie C
I made these for the my kids school and had extra’s and both my husband and my youngest said this is how a chocolate cupcake is supposed to taste like!
My youngest usually just eats the frosting but there wasn’t a crumb left this time.
I used plant based butter and fairlife milk to keep them lactose free.
Also, thank you for saying this makes more than the 12 that’s on the top of the recipe. I’m always afraid I’ve messed up something when the servings mentioned and what I get are different.
ava
These had no flavor, and they were super bland! I would not recommend at all just because the lack of flavor and taste! DO NOT MAKE!!!!!
Sam
Hi Ava! That’s really strange. Did you make any substitutions or alterations to the recipe?
Amber
Outstanding! These were quite possibly the BEST chocolate cupcakes that I have EVER eaten, or made for that matter. They are super moist and full of flavor. Excellent recipe! I just have a quick question. I made the same frosting as you did, so where do I store these? Thank you in advance for your response. 😊
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy you enjoyed them so much, Amber! Your cupcakes can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for two days, or in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to seven days 😊
Kierra
Hey Sam,
I’ve made these cupcakes once for a coworkers birthday and received rave reviews. My son has his third birthday coming up next weekend and I plan to make these cupcakes for him. He has a cows milk protein intolerance. Do you think oat milk would be a decent substitute for the whole milk? I often use it when making buttermilk substitutes for your other recipes. Thanks!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Kierra! Oat milk should work just fine here. We hope your son loves his cupcakes 💜
Mary Moore
I made these for a birthday party tomorrow and they are perfect! Do you have any tips on storing them overnight so they will be ready for the party tomorrow? They are currently unfrosted in airtight containers in my fridge. I’m not sure when I should frost them!
Sam
Hi Mary! You can frost them now if you want. You can frost them in the morning, whatever you are comfortable with doing. You are close enough to the date that they will be fine. If they aren’t frosted with any sort of frosting they could be left at room temperature in an air tight container. 🙂
Steve
Funny, I have made them several times and I always come back with an empty plate. Far frim bland. It must be the way you made them.
Marie O
Hi Sam.
Your cupcakes are “Truly” the best chocolate cupcakes! I love the way you added the ingredient amounts after each direction, so I don’t have to scroll up and down to read the amount of each ingredient. I think the cornstarch really did the trick in helping the cupcakes to rise better. These turned out very moist and chocolately! Thanks!
Marie
Mark
I haven’t tasted them yet but these came out looking really nice!! Only needed half the recipe and I ended up with a perfect even 15 cupcakes, I weighed out each cupcake and the batter came around 35g per cupcake! Definitely helps to transfer the batter to a liquid measuring cup for easy pouring!
Kris Marie
Hi Sam, I’m going to make this in a quarter sheet size pan, 9 x 13. I saw your note about different size pans as optional baking styles. I’ll check it at 15 minutes and see if I need to add time. I’ll let you know how it goes. Thank you.