Double Chocolate Cupcakes
Rich, tender, fluffy chocolate cupcakes topped with a creamy chocolate buttercream that’s a perfect balance of sweet and rich. Simple to make, these cupcakes are the quintessential chocolate-on-chocolate dessert and are a must for your next birthday, picnic, or just a Friday night in.
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What’s your favorite birthday dessert? Mine will always and forever be chocolate cake. And while I’ve made fancy versions of all kinds and will continue to do so, there will always be a special place in my heart for simple chocolate on chocolate cake and cupcakes.
It’s my signature combo for a reason.
These cupcakes are light and fluffy and tender and suuuuper moist. They have a nicely rich chocolate flavor that I can’t get enough of. And the buttercream is so simple but so good. It’s a little sweet, a little rich, a lot good. Between the cupcake and the buttercream, you get all the best parts of chocolate desserts. It’s not overkill: it’s a perfect combination.
Plus, since we can’t all be Tik Tok stars and slice our own cake with a wine class, I think cupcakes are the perfect picnic/outdoor party dessert. Easy serving and cleanup. Easy to transport. It’s like they’re encouraging our outdoor, socially distant gatherings. Thank you, cupcakes, for keeping us safe.
How to make double chocolate cupcakes
These really are easy to make! First, sift and whisk together your dry ingredients.
Then, whisk your wet ingredients, except for the coffee, together well.
Slowly pour in the coffee while whisking well. (Yes, this photo is not at all from the same day I made these cupcakes, and it was literally taken with my phone. But I love it anyway.)
Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry, with the mixer on low. Immediately turn off the mixer and scrape the bowl. Then beat on medium for exactly 2 minutes—set a timer!
Fill 24 cupcakes liners about 2/3 to 3/4 full. I suggest using a large cookie scoop or the like, although even then I still manage to make a mess.
Bake until a toothpick comes out with just moist crumbs. Check early, as you want to catch them right after there’s no more raw batter.
While the cupcakes cool, make the easy chocolate buttercream. It’s called “easy” for a reason—you just cream the butter, add the sugar then the cocoa (and some salt and vanilla and maybe heavy cream) then beat until light and fluffy. Easy peasy.
Frost, top with sprinkles, and enjoy!
Tips and notes for this recipe
Don’t over bake
With my chocolate cake batter, I’m pretty militant about the whole “a few moist crumbs part,” and for good reason. If you wait for a toothpick come out clean, that means the cake/cupcakes are over baked. Remember that they retain their heat for a while after you take them out of the oven, so you want to take them out right when there’s no longer raw batter.
How to pipe rosettes
To get the piped look I used (a rosette), simply put a 1M piping tip in a (ideally reusable) piping bag and fill with buttercream. Start with a dollop in the middle then slowly move toward the edge and create a ring around the dollop. That’s a rosette. It’s kinda like a corkscrew motion. If you want taller piping, simply do the reverse—a corkscrew that starts at the edge then fills in the middle, then create another swirl/dollop on top of that. Feel free to practice on some parchment paper—you can scrape it back into the bag after you’ve perfected your technique.
Don’t refrigerate for longer than an hour
If it’s warm or you’re taking them to a picnic (yay for you and your social distancing together-ness!), you can chill them for a bit to help really set that frosting and delay the inevitable melting that happens with cupcakes in the sun or heat. In fact, I made my black & white Oreo cupcakes and some vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream for an outdoor July wedding last year. We kept the cupcakes in the fridge for an hour or so before the ceremony and it was perfect. They weren’t dry, but they also didn’t melt!
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Double Chocolate Cupcakes
- prep time: 20-25 minutes
- bake time: 15-18 minutes
- total time: about 40 minutes, plus about 30 minutes cooling time
servings: 24
Ingredients:
- 1 ⅔ cups (335g) granulated sugar
- 1 ⅔ cups (226g) flour, sifted
- ¾ cup (75g) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
- 2 teaspoons (8g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (5g) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (3g) sea salt
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup (236g) buttermilk, room temperature*
- ½ cup (108g) avocado oil (can sub vegetable or canola oil)
- 1 tablespoon (13g) pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240g) hot, light roast coffee (or hot water)
- one batch easy chocolate buttercream
Instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 325. Line one regular cupcake pan with cupcake liners (or spray with baking spray or even grease with butter and lightly sprinkle with flour—use what you have!). This is also a great time to set your coffee to percolate (unless using hot water or espresso and hot water, which is what I do).
- Whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl, sifting everything but the sugar (unless yours is fine enough to sift--go for it!). Set aside.
- In a separate medium mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla together until well-blended and fully emulsified, about 1 minute.
- Very, very slowly stream the hot coffee or water into the wet ingredients, whisking vigorously and constantly as you pour to avoid scrambling the eggs. Feel free to do this in segments if it’s easier. If you do scramble some of the eggs, you can run the mixture through your fine mesh sieve to remove the cooked egg bits.
- Using the paddle attachment, turn your stand mixer to low (or use a hand mixer) and slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry. This should take about 30 seconds or so. The batter will clump up then thin out. Once you’ve poured all the wet ingredients, immediately turn off the mixer. Scrape down the bottom and sides. Beat on medium for exactly 2 minutes (set a timer).
- Evenly divide batter between 24 cupcake liners (they should be somewhere between ⅔ and ¾ full). I found an ice cream scoop or large cookie scoop helps with this.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in a middle cupcake comes out with just a few moist crumbs (ideally not fully clean, as this could mean they’re over baked). Check early and rotate halfway if not using convection.
- Let cool 5-10 minutes in the cupcake pan then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- While the cupcakes cool, make the chocolate buttercream. Optionally, you can make it ahead of time, refrigerate it, then let it come to room temperature for 1-2 hours while you make the cupcakes. Just be sure to give it a good stir if it was refrigerated longer than overnight.
- Frost using a 1M piping tip (and ideally a reusable piping bag!). Top with sprinkles for extra fun!
Enjoy! If not serving right away, store in an airtight container until ready to eat. Cupcakes will last for 3-5 days. Avoid refrigeration for more than an hour, as this can cause them to dry out.
- *Notes: You can make your own buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon white vinegar with enough room temperature whole milk to equal 1 cup total. Stir and let sit 10 minutes while you prep the rest of the ingredients.