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.
Monica
How many cupcakes does this recipe make?
Sam
24
Sarah
Do you by any chance have the old recipe posted in archives? I use that recipe weekly and really fell in love with it. Thanks so much!
Sam
Hi Sarah! As I mention in the post this is the same recipe only scaled down to 24 cupcakes, but if you want the exact original recipe you can find it here on my YouTube channel (if you don’t want to watch the video just check the description for the written recipe).
ace
hi which option is better adding hot water or hot water with instant coffee? please kindly help me decide which yields the greatest taste. is nescaffee instant will do?
and also the butter sticks what do you mean by this? how many grams of butter it would take?
please help me. sorry for the questions.
I thank you so much for the recipe and response.
Sam
Hi! I recommend using coffee, it really brings out the chocolate flavor without making the cupcakes taste like coffee themselves!
Two sticks of butter is equal to 226 grams of butter, I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions! 🙂
ace
Thank you so much Sam it really helps my doubt and im ready to to make the cupcakes under your recipe.
instant coffee like nescaffee right without sugar added?
Sam
Yes that would work just fine! 🙂
Kate
Hi Sam,
I just wanted to let you know that your cupcake recipe sucks.
After I tried your cupcakes, I wanted to cut my throat and gag. Go back to cooking school.
Sam
Hi Kate! Yikes! Sounds like you might have some other issues going on in your life, I am sorry to hear it! These cupcakes are tested and proven, so while I don’t feel the need for cooking school myself, I’m sure you could find one in Seattle that might help you out! Best wishes!
Julia
Wow! Looks like Katie has an attitude problem!! My daughter and I made these today and they were perfect. We will be making them again next weekend for a family party, thank you Sam for sharing your delicious recipes!!
Alvin Calledo
omg !! kate blame it yourself not the recipe.
Kristi
I am a baker, and own a bakery. I’ve tried many…..and I mean many chocolate cake recipes. I always go back to the simplicity of recipes similar to this one. One bowl, simple ingredients, consistent outcome. I have to say, anyone who critisizes this recipe, or you personally Sam, most definitely has issues. It may be a lack of baking skills, or mental health concerns….or a trolling habit. I don’t usually comment on these threads, but this one was “special”. Your recipe is superb! Beautiful cakes and cupcakes. Always praised around these parts. 😉
be a lack of baking skills, or defective taste buds, or a trolling habit.
Sam
You are so sweet, Kristi! Thank you for your kind comment, and I am so thrilled to hear that you enjoyed the recipe so much! <3
Kathy
Kate, you need to keep your “opinions” to yourself.
D
Hi ,
These look amazing.I need to bake cupcakes for my friends birthday. .I would appreciate if you could help me with my doubts..I need to make them for tomorrow. .please help
1.Can we add chocolate chips
2.will it taste good without icing
3.can we use medium size eggs
4. Will they taste good for two days..if I bake tonight..how can I carry it in the morning
5.do wr measure the flour as spoon and level method.
Please advise. .I need to make these.
Thanks.
D
Sam
1) The batter is very thin so the chocolate chips would probably all sink to the bottom, mini chocolate chips may work, or finely chopped chocolate.
2) I always prefer my cupcakes with icing, but they are good tasting cupcakes.
3) I haven’t tried with medium sized eggs but I think you would be OK
4) Once the cupcakes cool, store in an airtight container and they will bef ine for two days.
5) Yes, measure the flour with the spoon and level method.
Enjoy!! 🙂
Lilian
I bake the cupcake using your recipe just now. It turns out great! At first, I’m so afraid that it will be bad because the mixture is so very runny. BUT IT TURNS OUT GOURGIOUS! I can’t wait to let it cool! Thak you so much for the recipe!
Gillian Mahon
WOW! such an amazing easy recipe for chocolate cupcakes! super moist and full of flavour! Anyone who mixes the hot coffee water into the batter and then thinks “oh, oh, this is too thin” – do not worry. I could basically pour my mixture it was so thin and my cupcakes came out great!! Thank you Sam!!
Sam
I’m so glad that you enjoyed them, Gillian!! I just added a note to the recipe so that no one else panics when they see how thin the batter is 😉
Thank you for coming back and commenting!! 🙂
Val
Wow! These cupcakes are seriously the best! They rose a bit so next time I will fill liners less. So good and incredibly moist. Do you have a vanilla cupcake recipe?
Sam
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed them!! I do have a vanilla cupcake recipe, you can find it here: https://sugarspunrun.com/easy-vanilla-cupcakes/
Jodie Killen
I don’t have the oils needed for the cupcakes. I only have EVOO. Can I substitute this?
Sam
I wouldn’t recommend EVOO, vegetable oil or canola oil would be fine, but EVOO has a less neutral taste and could throw off the taste of these cupcakes, sorry!
Cynthia
I used this recipe for mini cupcakes. It worked out beautifully
Maria
I followed the recipe exactly and they came out great! I was worried because the batter was so thin, like chocolate pudding mix, but they puffed right up. I ended up with 18 regular sized cupcakes and 8 jumbo sized. The frosting made double what I needed (only used 1 Tbsp of milk) but I don’t put as much frosting as the pictures on here, so next time I will only make half a batch. With this recipe as a base I will try to make variations with whole wheat flour, less sugar/substitutions, different flavors and like someone else posted peanut butter frosting.
Sam
I’m so glad that you enjoyed, Maria!
Keren
I made them yesterday and they were so delicious! They were super moist and not too heavy so I ended up eating 3 in a row (oops). I didn’t have butter so I didn’t make the frosting, but I did melt some chocolate with milk so they would look nicer. Thank you so much! Will definitely be making this recipe again!
Sarah
Hi there. I am making these for my daughters 3rd birthday this weekend. She is a big chocolate fan. A few questions.
1) I usually sub cows milk for almond milk, will that be a problem with this recipe?
2) Can I make these 1-2 days ahead and freeze them? I was thinking of doing a trial run tomorrow and then freezing the rest, would that be an issue with these?
3) can you make and store frosting 1 day before? If so whats the best way to store.
Thanks.
Sam
I haven’t tried with almond milk so I’m sorry but I can’t say for sure, I don’t think making them ahead will be a problem, and yes you can make the frosting 1 day before — store covered in an airtight container in the refrigerator, and then allow the frosting to set out to room temperature for about an hour and stir well before piping on the cupcakes. I hope that helps!
Vidhu
I have been making cupcakes using a similar recipe for years. I always felt my cakes turned out a bit sticky. I saw this recipe and tried it out. I was a bit apprehensive about the hot water but added it anyway and voila the cakes turned out fabulous and a hint of coffee just added to its flavor. Thanks for the lovely recipe.
Sam
I’m so glad that you enjoyed the recipe, Vidhu! Thank you coming back and commenting to let me know how they turned out for you!!
Blythe
Hi! My son is turning 5 soon, and I needed a super easy chocolate cupcake recipe, and yours came out first when I Googled! I am a baking newbie, and I have a question on the milk in the ingredients list. What sort of milk should I use?
Sam
Hi Blythe! I would use regular full fat milk. Hope that helps, and I hope you enjoy!
Joann
Hi, is there any way I can make any frosting without butter, margarine, or shortening? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Joann! The frosting recipe that I use here doesn’t use any butter, margarine, or shortening. I hope that helps!
https://sugarspunrun.com/double-chocolate-chip-frappuccino-cupcakes/
Shawna
Can they be refrigerated? It is already hot where I live and worry about leaving them out.
Sam
Yes you can refrigerate!