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.
Ashley
Do you think that I could substitute the flour for Coconut flour?
Sam
Unfortunately I have no experience baking with coconut flour so I don’t know, I’m sorry!
Vanessa
My daughter and I made these yesterday and they came out amazing! Thank you for taking the time to give specific easy to follow instructions.
Sam
I’m so glad you and your daughter enjoyed them, Vanessa! 🙂
Rose
I made these cupcakes and they were delicious! I made a few minor tweaks– I used espresso power instead of coffee/instant coffee and sweetened cocoa powder instead of unsweetened. I also used safflower oil. They came out so perfect! Thanks for sharing. ❤
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes, Rose! Thanks so much for coming back and letting me know how they turned out for you 🙂
Daphne
I made these cupcakes for my husband’s staff BBQ today and topped them with an espresso frosting and chocolate curls. His coworkers thought they were bought cupcakes 🙂 three thumbs up to you!! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! It’s been a hit over and over and over again!
Sam
I am SO happy to hear this! 🙂 Thank you so much for letting me know how they turned out, Daphne! 🙂 🙂
Susan
I am planning on making these for my daughters birthday so I did a trial run with them today. The recipe made 30 instead of 24. I also filled a few of the cups a little more than I should have so they spread over the top of the pan. I am waiting for them to cool so I have not tasted them yet, but they look very moist and they smell incredible. The frosting turned out wonderful. I am glad I did a trial run today so that when I make them for her birthday I will know to fill the cups about half way instead (or more?).
I’ll let you know how the actual birthday cupcakes turn out.
Thanks
Sam
Hi Susan! Always smart to do a trial run. I am glad you enjoyed the cupcakes, and I hope the actual birthday cupcakes turn out just as well! 🙂
Su
Absolutely loved them!! Topped them with a peanut butter buttercream instead. Totally easy to make and to die for delicious!!
Sam
I’m so glad you liked them! Thank you so much for coming back and commenting how they turned out! Love the sound of that peanut butter buttercream — yum!
Ana
Omg! Hands down, these are the best chocolate cupcakes I have ever baked/eaten! I had to have two in a row. Followed the recipe to the T. Would you happen to have a recipe for yellow cupcakes?
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! I am actually currently in the process of developing a yellow cupcake recipe, I’ll let you know once it’s done! 🙂
Jocelyn
Made these cupcakes (not the icing) with two toddlers as a valentine’s day treat. Lots of little steps which is great for the kiddos. Lots of opportunities to take turns pouring and mixing. The cupcakes came out light and delicious! Not too sweet which was great. I will definitely be making these in the future!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes, Jocelyn! Thank you for commenting 🙂
Carla
My 13yo son is an aspiring baker. This is the first recipe he’s been let loose in the kitchen to bake completely on his own from scratch. I peeked at the batter after the water was added and was shocked at how thin it was. I thought certainly he’d mismeasured, but let him bake it anyway.
But I was wrong! They turned out fabulous! The tops are a pretty flat, but without any cracks, plus they’re are delicious AND fluffy. This recipe helped build my son’s confidence and is definitely a keeper, thanks!
Sam
This makes me so happy to hear! Not to mention I’m honored that this was his choice for his first independent recipe! Thanks so much for reporting back on how the recipe turned out, Carla! 🙂
Heena
I just made the cupcakes and they are wonderful! I reduced the amount of water in half out of fear that cupcakes would not come out right. Cupcakes baked well, are moist and perfect! Recipe is definitely a keeper!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Heena!! 🙂
Martha P.
Just made these with my 6-year-old niece and they were absolutely delicious — and absolutely easy. Definitely found my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe.
Note to those who are making this for the first time: the batter will be *very* thin – about the consistency of a cream soup. Don’t be afraid, it’ll thicken right up when you bake it. The batter was enough for 12 cupcakes plus a 9-inch cake. (It might’ve been enough for 24 cupcakes, but I only have the one muffin tin.) Also, if you use a stand mixer like I did, make sure you pause and scrape the bowl at least once.
Another note: I used dutch-process cocoa instead of the regular cocoa the recipe calls for, and it worked just fine.
Sam
I’m so glad you and your niece enjoyed them, Martha! And thank you for sharing your tips! 🙂
Daphne
I have made this recipe numerous times and each time it is a HUGE success! It is officially my go-to recipe for chocolate cupcakes – the best that I’ve tried! And just as a side note, I’ve even been asked to make these for a school bake sale so that just goes to show how good these really are 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing!
Sam
Daphne, this comment completely made my day. I’m so glad that you have enjoyed these cupcakes so much and am honored that you’ve made them for bake sales, even! Thank you so much for commenting!! 🙂 <3
Nellie
These look absolutely perfect!
Sam
Thank you, Nellie! 🙂
Melanie @ Gather for Bread
THese are so pretty. Your pictures are gorgeous. Makes me want to bite right into one!
Sam
Thank you so much, Melanie! 🙂 <3
Megan @ MegUnprocessed
These are pretty! Great photography too
Sam
Thank you! 🙂