Hey there.. ♡ So now I will be sharing with you how to make the most delicious and decadent chocolate cupcakes, they’re a classic and after trying so many different recipes I promise you this is the one you want to use.
To get started in a medium sized mixing bowl measure out 1 cup of white granulated sugar. If you would like the full recipe for these chohhcolate cupcakes it will be on my website as well as the full measurements listed in the description box below. I also have so many other cupcake recipes on my channel so if chocolate isn’t your thing salted caramel or the classic vanilla might be.
To the sugar we’re going to crack in 2 medium sized eggs. If you store your eggs in the fridge like I do just take them out 30 minutes before you start baking so they have a chance to come up to room temperature. Measure out half a cup of a neutral oil like vegetable or canola and pour into the bowl. One of the reasons I love this recipe is it uses oil instead of butter so there is no need for any creaming.
Chocolate cake and chocolate cupcakes usually always use oil instead of butter as butter has a stronger flavour so when your making something like chocolate flavoured cupcakes or cake you don’t want anything competing with the flavour from the cocoa powder. Lastly add about half a teaspoon of vanilla, always add vanilla to chocolate baked goods as it really brings out flavour. Use a whisk to mix everything together until well combined. Set the wet ingredients to the side while we work on the dry. In a larger mixing bowl sieve in the dry ingredients, the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
You’ll need one and a half cups of all purpose flour or cake flour. Cake flour has a lower protein content than all purpose flour which basically means it yields slightly softer and delicate cakes. If you do a lot of baking I would recommend trying to find cake flour but if you just bake once in a while all purpose works perfectly fine so don’t worry. Next add half a cup of cocoa powder, whichever kind you have, just make sure its unsweetened. You can use a whisk instead of a sieve here but I always find cocoa powder is full of lumps so sieving usually works a lot better. These chocolate cupcakes pair perfectly with chocolate buttercream which I’ll share with you the recipe for once the cupcakes are out of the oven. If you’re wanting something a little different than just chocolate buttercream, salted caramel would be decadent and delicious or even cream cheese frosting. Next we’ll need half a teaspoon of both baking powder and baking soda.
The difference? Baking powder contains baking soda as well as an acid to activate it. The buttermilk and cocoa powder in the cupcakes is an acid which activates the half teaspoon of baking soda meaning the cupcakes are super light and fluffy. As there is not a huge amount of acid in these cupcakes we’re also using baking powder to get some extra lift. Finally add a pinch of salt to round off the flavours and sieve the ingredients into the large mixing bowl, removing any of a small lumps left behind. Next, mix all the ingredients together to make the chocolate cupcake batter. Add half of the wet ingredients as well as half of the buttermilk, you’ll need one cup of buttermilk in total. Use a wooden to fold the batter together until the wet ingredients and buttermilk have been incorporated. Follow with the remaining and fold together until just combined. Adding the wet ingredients in half at a time helps to reduce the amount of lumps in the batter as well makes sure everything is mixed well while not being over mixed. Be careful not to over mix, just enough so there is no longer any dry flour, or the cupcakes can quickly turn dry and tough. Line a 12 pan cupcake tin with paper liners and use a 1/4 cup cookie scoop to divide the batter and fill the tins. You only want to fill them 2/3 of the way and I’ve found a quarter cup works best so if you don’t have a cookie scoop try using a measuring cup instead.
Bake the cupcakes in a 180 C | 350 F oven for about 15-20 minutes or until the cupcakes spring back when pressed lightly in the centre. Cool the cupcakes completely before decorating. Chocolate buttercream is my preference on chocolate cupcakes but there are also so many other flavours if you decide to do something different. To make the chocolate buttercream you'll need one cup or 2 stick of room temperature butter. It’s very important that your butter is at room temperature, if it’s straight out of the fridge there is no way you’ll be able to cream it so just remove it about an hour or so before your ready to get started. Place your butter in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl if you are using a hand mixer. Mix on medium speed first, before increasing it to high speed for about 5 minutes or until the butter is pale, and has almost doubled in volume. When your butter is incredibly light a fluffy it’s time for the sugar.
You need to use icing sugar for this recipe, it is also known as powdered sugar or confectioners sugar depending on where you live in the world. They are all the same ingredient, just make sure your not using regular granulated sugar as this won’t work. It’s easiest to add your sugar in thirds, so it incorporates faster and you don’t end up losing half of it outside the bowl. Mix on low speed first until it is mostly incorporated before turning the mixer up higher. When you are ready to add the last lot of sugar to the bowl also add the half cup of cocoa powder. Just regular unsweetened works best here. Mix the last of the sugar and cocoa powder on low speed until it is mostly incorporated. It should be extremely thick and not resemble much like buttercream but we’ve still got another ingredient to add. Turn your mixer on to low and stream in about half a cup of milk. You may need more than this but just start off with half a cup first and check the consistency.
As the milk is incorporated your buttercream should loosen up and start to look light and fluffy. Add more milk if it’s still too thick but just a dash at a time. You might be wondering why we’re not using real chocolate in this recipe. The simple reason for this is I’ve tried both ways and you don’t get much of a difference using real chocolate. The cocoa powder carries so much flavour and this buttercream already has the perfect texture so there really is no need for real chocolate. Give the bowl another scrape down to get all of sugar and butter that has stuck to the sides and add touch of vanilla essence, and mix it on medium speed for another few minutes.
Pipe the chocolate buttercream over your cupcakes and sprinkle with chocolate hail. Let me know what you’re favourite flavour cupcakes are, chocolate, vanilla, slated caramel, red velvet? So many different flavours to choose from. Hope you enjoyed this recipe! Ciao for now! ♡
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