Best Ever Chocolate Cupcakes with Creamy Chocolate Truffle Frosting
Chocolate Cupcakes often disappoint - but, I've tried dozens of chocolate cake recipes over the years, and I promise you that these are as far from disappointing as you can get! Rich & moist, these one-bowl Chocolate Cupcakes stay that way for days. Top them in a luscious Chocolate Truffle Frosting that tastes as decadent as a chocolate truffle - without being too sweet!
Servings 24 to 26 cupcakes
Ingredients
To Bloom the Cocoa Powder
- 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder 77 grams
- 3/4 cup very hot water (almost boiling!)
For the Chocolate Cupcakes
- 1 and 1/2 cups cake flour, spooned + leveled 165 grams
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp brown sugar, packed 241 grams
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar 113 grams
- 1 and 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp espresso powder
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp milk, at room temperature 90 mL
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup full-fat sour cream, at room temperature 180 grams
- 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp vegetable oil 66 mL
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
For the Chocolate Frosting
- 12 ounces chopped milk chocolate, melted and cooled to room temperature Use a baking bar like Ghirardelli or Baker's, rather than chocolate chips. See note below.
- 1 and 1/2 cups salted butter, softened at room temperature (3 sticks, 24 tbsp, or 339 grams)
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp cocoa powder 77 grams
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 12 ounces cream cheese, softened at room temp Use the full fat, block style
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat your oven to 350℉. Place cupcake liners in your muffin/cupcake pan.
- Bloom the Cocoa Powder: Microwave the water in a microwave safe glass measuring cup until it's very hot - you'll want almost boiling water. Whisk in the cocoa powder. You'll have an almost fudgy mixture. Set aside to cool.
- Make the Cupcake Batter: Whisk together all the dry ingredients (the cake flour through the espresso powder in the ingredient list) in a large mixing bowl. Check that your cocoa mixture isn't piping hot (it will still be warm) and whisk the milk into the cocoa mixture. Add the eggs to the measuring cup that held the milk, and beat them lightly with a fork. Add the bloomed cocoa & milk mixture, the beaten eggs, and the remaining wet ingredients (sour cream, vegetable oil, and vanilla) to the dry ingredients. Gently fold everything together with a silicone spatula, making sure to scrape down to the bottom of the bowl, stopping as soon as no streaks of flour remain. If the batter has some lumps, that's ok! (It's better than over-mixing,)
- Bake: Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full. Bake cupcakes for 13-15 minutes. The tops will be set and will lightly spring back when gently poked, and a toothpick inserted into the middle will come out with moist crumbs - not wet batter. Once the cupcake pan is out of the oven, I like to use a butter knife to pop the hot cupcakes out of the cavities and place them on a wire rack to cool completely. I don't want them to continue baking in the hot pan. (You can wait a few minutes to do this so they aren't as hot.)
- Make the Chocolate Frosting: Melt the milk chocolate in a large mixing bowl, in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, then stirring vigorously after 2-3 intervals, using the residual heat in the bow to melt the remaining lumps. Allow to cool to room temperature. Beat the softened butter into the melted chocolate until well combined. Add the powdered sugar in two additions, mixing well between each, adding a splash of milk as needed to help it come together. Add all remaining ingredients except the cream cheese. Beat until combined, then mix in the cream cheese very last.
- Frost the Cupcakes: Use a piping bag and piping tip, or an offset spatula or butter knife to frost your cooled cupcakes. I used an Ateco 849 tip to create the large swirls pictured here. Pop a chocolate heart on top for extra flair!
- Serve + Store: Enjoy immediately! Store frosted cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge. These are best within the first 2-3 days.
Notes
Milk Chocolate - Use a good quality baking milk chocolate like Ghirardelli, Cadbury, or Baker's. Chocolate chips have binding agents in them to keep them intact while baking in cookies, so they don't melt nicely for things like this.
Chocolate Heart Surprise - If desired, pop a chocolate heart into the cupcake batter for a surprise inside your baked cupcake. I will note that the heart will end up on the bottom of the cupcake, as this batter isn't thick enough to suspend it in the middle of the cupcake. I did this in a few of the cupcakes to test it out, and felt indifferent about the results, but it is an option!