Easy Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes – Whip up a batch of these simple, moist chocolatey cupcakes with an effortless whipped cream frosting.
Chocolate Cupcakes – A Nostalgic Classic
There are few things better than a classic chocolate cupcake. There’s just something about cupcakes that takes me back to my childhood.
In my school, we had ‘Cupcake Day’ once a year. The teacher would come in with a big tray of cupcakes piled high with different types of frosting – one for every kid in the class plus a bonus.
The kid that chose the cupcake with the star on the bottom got TWO. I’ll never forget the day I got the star! To a kid, it’s like winning the lottery!
How To Make Easy Chocolate Cupcakes From Scratch?
This simple chocolate cupcake recipe is so easy to make. Just throw in the ingredients and mix! The hardest part is melting the butter! It really couldn’t be easier! Not only that but, the frosting is even easier! No extra steps – just dump it all in and whip! And the frosting will hold its shape for days!
Why This Recipe Works
- Cocoa powder and melted chocolate are uses to get the most chocolate flavor.
- The buttermilk adds moisture as well as flavor.
- The Frosting is quick and easy to make keeping things simple.
What Makes A Cupcake Moist
Chocolate cupcakes can get moisture in many ways. In this recipe – buttermilk. Oil is often used in easy cupcake recipes to add moisture.
For this recipe, I wanted to use butter instead of oil. There are two reasons for this – 1) It adds flavor and 2) It makes melting the chocolate an effortless task.
How To Make Your Own Buttermilk
To make your own buttermilk at home, add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup of milk. Full-fat milk is best, low-fat or skimmed milk will still work. Stir and let stand for 5 minutes. The mixture may look a little curdled, but that’s fine.
How to Make Easy Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350.
Then start with adding the butter to a microwavable bowl.
Melt in the microwave and add the chocolate chips to the hot butter.
Mix until the chocolate melts into the butter and it’s completely combined. 
Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt to a sifter and sift into a separate large bowl.
Add the sugar and the chocolate mixture.
Add the eggs (no need to beat them) and the vanilla.
Followed by the buttermilk.
Mix until smooth and combined.
Using an ice cream scoop, add the batter to the cupcake papers.
Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely while you prepare the frosting.
How to Make Whipped Cream Frosting:
Add heavy cream, vanilla, powdered sugar, and powdered milk to a bowl.
Whip until thick and smooth.
Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.
To pipe the frosting, I used a large Wilton 2D Tip (which you can get here, on Amazon (#paidlink).
To add a special touch, I added baby roses for decoration (these are not edible).
Baker’s Tips:
- To melt the chocolate chips, be sure to add them to the hot melted butter.
- Be careful not to overmix the batter. To ensure mixing properly, beat cake batter on low until ingredients have just combined and finish with a wooden spoon. Over mixing will result in a dense, heavy cupcake.
- Always use room temperature ingredients. Using chilled eggs or milk, they won’t combine room temperature dry ingredients.
- Avoid opening the oven door. Opening the door, allows heat to escape causing uneven baking.
Bake cupcakes in the middle of the oven for the most even baking. - When making the whipped cream, be careful not to over whip. The cream can quickly turn to butter.
FAQs
What Chocolate is Best for Baking? I use Couverture Dark Chocolate Callets (54.5% Cacao). It’s the only chocolate I bake with. You can get it on Amazon by clicking here. (#paidlink)
Just a heads up – the Amazon link above is an affiliate link, which means I make a small commission if you make a purchase.
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Let's Make Easy Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- ¾ cup butter
- 8 oz bittersweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips
- 1 ¼ cups flour
- ¾ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup buttermilk at room temperature
For the Whipped Cream Frosting:
- 1¼ cups Heavy Cream chilled
- 6 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon skimmed milk powder
Instructions
For the Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350F/175C. Prepare a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- Add the butter to a microwaveable bowl. Melt the butter in the microwave on high in 30-second intervals until completely melted (be careful the bowl might be hot).
- Add the chocolate chips to the hot butter and mix until melted and fluid. Set aside.
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda into a separate mixing bowl. Add the sugar, chocolate mixture, vanilla, eggs, and buttermilk and mix until fully combined.
- Add the batter evenly to the cupcake pan.
- Bake 20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Allow to cool completely on a cooling rack before frosting.
For the Whipped Cream Frosting:
- Place the heavy cream, powdered sugar, vanilla and skimmed milk powder to a mixing bowl.
- Whip until thick (You’ll know it’s ready to use when you run a spoon through it and it doesn’t collapse into the crevice).
- Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes and decorate as desired.
P says
Can you use chocolate ganache frosting on these cupcakes and how many does the recipe make
Erren's Kitchen says
Hi, yes ganache frosting would be great on these, the recipe is for 16 cupcakes 🙂
Janz says
Amazing recipe. Chocolate cravings satisfied!
Erren's Kitchen says
Thank you, I love hearing this 🙂