The Best EASY Chocolate Cupcakes are moist, have a tender crumb, are deeply chocolatey and made without an electric beater. No waiting for butter to soften, no creaming, the batter is simple and quick to make. Excellent emergency cupcakes!
After Vanilla Cupcakes? Here they are!
Chocolate Cupakes
Using the term “BEST” is not something I do lightly.
I do feel a bit uncomfortable saying that these are the BEST Easy Chocolate Cupcakes. But in the cupcake world, I truly do believe these to be the best that can be for a simple no-standmixer, no creaming butter recipe.
I was back and forth about which cupcake recipe to share. I was tempted to go for a “100% perfect” version which requires a stand mixer / electric beater to cream butter. And I wanted to be able to talk to you about how perfect they are.
But you know what? The Perfect version is not the one I make the most. This Easy version is. It’s my “go to”, the one I can make right now, without waiting for butter to soften, without pulling out my hand beater. And the difference between this Easy version and the Perfect version is so insignificant, I don’t care.
And so it was settled. I went for the Easy version. 🙂
These Chocolate Cupcakes are…
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Soft and tender, not crumbly. Like Red Velvet Cake – it should be “velvety”;
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Moist;
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Actually taste of chocolate (unfortunate many lack this!);
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Delicate, but still be sturdy enough to support a generous pile of frosting; and
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Have a sweet dome, shaped such that it looks nice enough if you just dust with icing sugar / powdered sugar, but flat enough to pipe on tall swirls of frosting.
Being the quick and easy version these are, you’ll notice that the surface of the dome does have some small cracks on it. But for the easy of this recipe, it is a very small price to pay.
Besides, no cupcake ever leaves my kitchen without frosting!!!
Best frosting for Chocolate Cupcakes
Hard to go past chocolate-on-chocolate, but I will put forward some non chocolate options too!
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Chocolate Buttercream – I realise how ironic it is that I’d feature these cupcakes with tall swirls of buttercream frosting which calls for both softened butter and and stand mixer! 😂 But hey, frosting is worth the effort. 😇 Pipe on swirls, or spread on with a knife;
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Speedy Chocolate Fudge Frosting (pictured below, in recipe card) – made with cocoa powder mixed with melted butter, then thickened with icing sugar/frosting until it’s a spreadable consistency, this frosting is quite rich so I’d recommend just spreading onto the cupcakes rather than piping tall swirls;
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Decadent Chocolate Ganache Frosting – made with melted chocolate and cream, this is a deluxe chocolate frosting that I use for my sinfully decadent Chocolate Fudge Cake. Once melted, it’s cooled until it thicken into a spreadable consistency. I don’t recommend piping this on in tall swirls, it would be overly rich I feel!
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Vanilla Buttercream – White frosting on chocolate cupcakes looks striking and makes for a lovely flavour combination! Use the recipe in my Vanilla Cake recipe – it will frost 12 cupcakes generously (tall swirls) though if you just want to smear it on then you can halve the batch; and
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My Secret Less-Sweet Fluffy Vanilla Frosting – this frosting is magical! It’s like a cross between whipped cream and buttercream. Far less sweet and fluffier than buttercream, and it’s also 100% silky smooth (buttercream will always have a faint grit to it, the icing sugar/powdered sugar never fully dissolves). Dense than whipped cream, and unlike whipped cream, it holds its form for days.
I’ve shared the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting in a separate post because I think it’s worthy of being a separate recipe. 🙂 Also because I’ve done a video for that too – I didn’t want to cram it into the cupcake recipe video.
The weekend is here!! Do I hear chocolate cupcakes calling your name?? I think I do….. 😉 – Nagi xx
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Best Easy Chocolate Cupcakes recipe video!
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Best Easy Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
Dry:
- 3/4 cup plain/all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup caster sugar (super fine sugar, or sub with normal white sugar)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda / bi carbonate soda (Note 1)
- Pinch of salt
Wet:
- 120g / 8 tbsp unsalted butter , cut into 1" / 2cm pieces (1 US stick / 1/2 cup)
- 60g / 2 oz dark chocolate , preferably 70%+ cocoa, broken into pieces (Note 2)
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder , preferably Dutch processed (Note 3)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil (or other neutral flavour oil)
- 2 large eggs (55 - 60g / 2 oz each)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp white vinegar
Chocolate Fudge Frosting:
- 120g / 8 tbsp unsalted butter , cut into 1" / 2cm pieces (1 US stick / 1/2 cup)
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder , preferably Dutch processed
- 2 1/2 cups soft icing sugar / powdered sugar (NOT pure icing sugar)
- 3 - 4 tbsp milk (any)
- Sprinkles and other decorations, if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan). Put oven rack in the middle of the oven.
- Place 12 cupcake liners in a cupcake tin.
- Sift Dry ingredients into a bowl. Whisk briefly.
- Place butter and chocolate in a separate, large heatproof bowl. Microwave for 45 seconds, mix, then microwave for another 30 seconds. Mix until chocolate is melted and smooth (keep microwaving in 20 sec bursts if chocolate not melted).
- Add cocoa powder and mix.
- Add milk and oil, then eggs, vanilla and vinegar. Whisk until smooth.
- Add flour mixture and whisk until lump free.
- Divide mixture between cupcake liners. I use a ice cream scoop for this. They should be just over 3/4 full.
- Bake for 18 - 20 minutes, or until skewer inserted into the cupcake in the middle of the tray comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and immediately transfer to cooling rack (spoon or knife helps).
- Once cool, spread with frosting and decorate with sprinkles if desired. Alternatively, use Chocolate Buttercream Frosting!
Speedy Chocolate Fudge Frosting:
- Melt butter then mix in cocoa powder until smooth.
- Add icing sugar and milk. Mix until smooth. Use milk to adjust consistency if required - it should be a soft spreadable consistency (like peanut butter).
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
No chocolate cupcake for Dozer. Bad for you! How about a giant bone instead? (Mind you, it’s a dry aged one from a fancy butcher. Got it for free! 💪🏻)
Absolutely incredible!! By far the best cupcake recipe I’ve ever used, thank you so much for sharing 🙂
Thank you Nagi, for this easy and delicious Chocolate Cupcake Recipe. I so much appreciate you. God bless you.
i find it frustrating that i have no answer to my comment and my comment is not shown on this page.
Left a comment over a week ago,not posted and no reply ?what is the reason for this ,I asked a pertinent question re the recipe .
no answer as yet to my comment
Hi Nagi, love the mixture and taste of the cakes. i had a lot of mixture, could easily have made 15. i am an Aussie and i am wondering if your cup cakes are what we would call muffins here. my cakes looked like joined mushrooms and needed at least 10 mins more cooking. i tidied them up and they were eaten in no time when iced. . would appreciate your views. ta.
My cupcakes came out perfect and I got exactly 12. However I did buy the Multix Large Party Pans which are deeper than the standard patty pans but not as wide as muffin ones. And therefore the time suggested was also perfect. Hope that helps 😊
Nagi is a very busy lady, she can’t personally reply to everyone’s comments!!
Sounds to me like you either mismeasured something or just filled the cup too much. Should be about 3/4 full.
I made them yesterday and they came out perfect- I did get a couple of extras from the mixture too so must be generous.
Thank you .i still think almost a month is too long for a reply. I will try again as the mix was good and only fill to 3/4.
These are so easy and delicious!
I don’t particularly like chocolate cakes on their own but my son does so we’ve made these a few times and they always turn out great. So easy and freeze really well. I’ve added 3/4 to 1 cup of frozen fruit (raspberries or cherries are my favorite) which makes them infinitely better in my opinion. They just need an extra 10-15 min in the oven. Love the ermine frosting – which can also be fruited up with some puree added towards the end 🙂
Thanks for an awesome recipe!
I’ve made these a few times with my preschooler daughter – perfect every time! The fudgey frosting is my go to for everything icing now and easy to adapt. Thanks Nagi x
They turned out gorgeous 💕🍦💕
I have just made these. They look amazing, and quite domed like others have said. But mine are very hard and crunchy on top, like all the sugar has risen and formed a crust. What would have caused this? I’m hoping when I put the buttercream on it will soften/moisten them up a bit. Any advice?
My 5th? I think time making these absolutely stunningly moist cupcakes. I normally don’t go for chocolate cakes as they are quite dry but these are an absolute dream! I often hollow out the middle, add salted caramel sauce in the centre, top with chocolate buttercream and drizzle more caramel on top. Amazing!!
I made this and forgot to add the chocolate and chocolate powder! Guess what, they turned out as amazing vanilla flavoured cupcakes!
And so easy to make as no mixer needed.
Its a keeper, thank you!!
Hi Nagi,
May I ask, if I can substitute the caster sugar with brown sugar? Will there be any impact or I need to reduce the amount as brown sugar tend to be moist than caster sugar?
Hear from you. Thanks!
Can you use milk chocolate in the recipe?
so light and yummy, the best cupcakes ever!
Seriously amazing, I had extra mix and made minis and they were the perfect bite size ( I cooked these for 10mins).
I love these so much if I was to make a cake instead of cupcakes would you cook this for around 40 mins at 160 fan.
Absolutely the best cup cakes I have ever made! Moist, chocolaty goodness!! Thanks Nagi for all your gorgeous recipes and doing the hard work in your test kitchen 🥰❤️
I made these gluten free by using Aldi GF flour. They were AMAZING! So soft. The effort to make the buttercream icing was worth it.
Amazing! I am yet to find a recipe of yours that isn’t a 10/10. ❤