This Chocolate Cupcake recipe is my go-to for birthday parties and bake sales, since they are perfectly moist and oh-so chocolatey. Top them with our chocolate frosting, and you have the ultimate chocolate lover’s cupcake!
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Helpful Reader Review
“I made these last weekend for my husband and my wedding anniversary, and oh my goodness, DELICIOUS!!! The cake was so simple and quick to put together, baked beautifully and the icing was delicious and so lovely and thick! Can’t wait to bake it again!!!” – Jazz ★★★★★
Chocolate Cupcake Video Tutorial
This recipe is SO EASY! Simply mix the dry ingredients, then mix the wet ingredients, and whisk them together. They bake up with a beautiful domed top and taste way better than a store-bought box mix.
Best Chocolate Cupcake Recipe
Ever since my daughter was little, we’ve celebrated her birthday with these decadent chocolate cupcakes, so they’ve become a staple on her day. Fast forward to now, and she has begun to make the cupcakes and Chocolate Buttercream herself (and I’m not allowed to help). She loves them so much that we even made Mini Chocolate Cupcakes out of them.
This chocolate cupcake recipe is moist and fluffy at the same time with a tender crumb. Adding coffee is the secret ingredient here, making these intensely chocolatey and giving the cupcakes a deeper color (and yes, you can sub with decaf coffee). You can’t really taste the coffee, and you probably wouldn’t know it’s there if you didn’t read the recipe, but it really makes the chocolate flavor shine.
Ingredients for Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes
After coffee, you’ll notice this recipe for chocolate cupcakes requires all the usual suspects for the perfect chocolately texture and taste.
- All-purpose Flour – Be sure to measure correctly for the best crumb.
- Cocoa powder – Use naturally unsweetened cocoa powder for the best chocolate flavor and light, fluffy texture.
- Sugar, baking soda, and salt – remaining dry ingredients, giving sweetness and rise
- Brewed coffee – warm regular or decaf coffee works perfectly. The acidity of the coffee deepens the chocolate flavor. Swap with room-temperature buttermilk if necessary.
- White distilled vinegar – reacts with the baking soda for a better rise.
- Vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla extract – remaining wet ingredients for moisture, strength, and flavor. P.S. If you are egg-free, try our Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes.
Pro Tip:
I’ve tested chocolate cupcakes with coffee and with buttermilk, and the coffee makes for a better tasting, darker colored, more moist cupcake, but buttermilk works in a pinch. See the difference below.
Pro Tip:
To make a cake instead of cupcakes, double the recipe and cook in two 9″ cake pans. See our Chocolate Cake Recipe for guidance on baking the cake
How to Make Chocolate Cupcakes
This recipe for chocolate cupcakes couldn’t get any easier, but the result tastes like it’s straight from the bakery.
- Quick prep – Preheat the oven with a rack in the center, and line a 12-count cupcake pan with liners (I love parchment paper liners – excellent for being non-stick).
- Mix dry ingredients – In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt, breaking up any big clumps.
- Mix wet ingredients – In a second bowl, whisk together the warm coffee, vinegar, oil, egg, and vanilla.
- Combine cupcake batter – Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and whisk just until combined. The batter will be a little loose with small lumps. Overmixing can make the cupcake too dense.
- Fill and bake – Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 full and bake at 350˚F for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (do not overbake or your cupcakes will be dry). Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, and then transfer the cupcakes to a rack to cool before frosting.
Pro Tip: Do not overfill the cupcake tin
Use a trigger-release ice cream scoop for even portioning and fill each cup 2/3. If you overfill, it will flow over, get stuck to the tin, and won’t form that perfect dome top. It’s better to have a little batter left over than to overflow the pan.
The Best Frosting for Chocolate Cupcakes
This moist chocolate cupcake recipe only gets better when topped with my 6-minute Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. If you want something different, try any of these popular frosting recipes:
- Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- Vanilla Cupcake Frosting
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- Swiss Merignue Buttercream Recipe
- Chocolate Ganache
- White Chocolate Frosting
- Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- Homemade Whipped Cream
Helpful Reader Review
“Made these, and used coffee in the chocolate buttercream recipe instead of cream for a mocha frosting. They were delicious, my sister loved them.” – K Booth ★★★★★
Make-Ahead and Storage Tips
This chocolate cupcake recipe is perfect for party prep because you can make them ahead of time and they refrigerate really well, maintaining their soft and moist texture.
- Make-Ahead: Make the cupcakes a day ahead, cool, cover, and store on the counter overnight, and then frost before serving, or freeze (see below).
- Store Frosted Leftovers: Pack into an airtight container and store on the counter for a day, then move to the refrigerator for 4-5 days. If you don’t have a cupcake carrier, you can flip a storage container upside down to store cupcakes on the lid, snapping the bottom on top.
- Freezing: Cooled unfrosted cupcakes or Cupcakes frosted with buttercream can be covered and frozen up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight or quick-thaw on the counter for 2 hours.
My Chocolate Cupcake recipe is sure to become a go-to favorite for you! I cranked out 8 batches of cupcakes when I was developing the recipe, and I am confident these are the ultimate chocolate cupcakes. Let us know your favorite way to decorate in the comments!
Easy Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, measured correctly
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup warm coffee, or substitute with room temperature buttermilk*
- 1 Tbsp white distilled vinegar
- 1/3 cup light olive oil, or vegetable oil
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Quick prep – Preheat oven to 350˚F with the rack in the center of the oven. Fill a 12-count muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- Mix dry ingredients – In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly whisk together dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Break up any larger cocoa clumps with your whisk.
- Mix wet ingredients – In a second mixing bowl, add the wet ingredients: coffee, vinegar, oil, egg, and vanilla, and whisk until well blended.
- Combine batter – Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and whisk just until the ingredients come together and no dry streaks remain. The batter will be a little loose and lumpy.
- Fill and bake – Use an ice cream scoop to portion batter, filling each cup 2/3 full (do not over-fill). Bake 18-22 min (20 minutes was perfect), until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Don't overbake. Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a rack to cool completely to room temperature before frosting.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
Cupcake Recipes to Try Next
- Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- Vanilla Cupcakes
- Pumpkin Cupcakes
- Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
- Greek Yogurt Cupcakes
- Cherry Stuffed Honey Cupcakes
I’ve made these cupcakes before and love them! one question though, should I add milk or water to substitute the coffee?
Hi Bryn! The coffee helps to enhance the chocolate flavor. You can use water alone if you prefer no coffee.
Hi Natasha
Can this recipe be halved ? It’s become my go to. Absolutely love it ! Can I still use the one egg since it calls for eggs ?
Hi Shanice! I’m glad you love this recipe! It should be fine to cut the batch in half. I haven’t made a smaller batch. Using too much egg can cause the texture to be rubbery/dense, but it might be ok. Let us know how it turns out.
Definitely saving this as my go to chocolate cupcake recipe. Only thing I did different was substituting the white vinegar (as I run out of it) with fresh lemon juice and they turned out perfect! It’s my first time trying a chocolate cupcake recipe and I’m really happy with the outcome. Thank you!
That’s wonderful. Daniella! I’m so glad it worked out for you.
Love this recipe – the coffee perfect flavour enhancer! Making another batch today!
The coffee is a perfect addition! I’m glad you love it too.
What a simple and delicious recipe! I am not a baker and was able to make these right the first time. I will be making them again, as they impressed my kids. Thank you!
That’s wonderful, Jaclyn!
This recipe is amazing! The texture is perfect and tastes delicious 😋 Thank you so much! This is my new go-to chocolate cupcake recipe.
You’re very welcome! I’m glad you found a new go-to!
Great recipe, easy and delicious! Made this for my daughter’s birthday party and had multiple request for the recipe.
Hi Jen, happy to know that it was a huge hit!
These were delicious and tasty. Easy too. I used your American buttercream recipe and dyed it orange for Halloween cupcakes. The coffee elevates the chocolate flavor.
Nice idea! Glad you loved it.
I used butter instead of olive oil or what ever the other oil suggested. And i did not use vinegar. I know what vinegar does but it didn’t need it. As someone who could retch at one drop of vinegar, this is not a necessary ingredient.
Good to know that you liked it! We use vinegar as it helps a lot with the rise.
Hi! This may be a dumb question but do you consider the sugar a dry ingredient? Technically, it is. However, in baking, many recipes consider it a wet ingredient. Please help lol.
Hi Marianne, sugar is technically considered a dry ingredient.
Try your banana bread and chocolate cupcake with butter cream frosting recipes love them they turned out so yummy my family loved it too and always ask for it so easy and quick Thankyou for the amazing recipes🥰😊
You’re welcome, great to her that you all loved it!
Absolutely amazing cupcakes!!!! Light , fluffy , airy and the flavor is incredible. I added some espresso baking powder ( 1/2 tbsp) just to use some up before it expires. But even with out that they have to be AMAZING! I will definitely be making these again. 🙂
That’s wonderful, Kristen! So glad they still turned out.
These cupcakes are amazing!! so moist and soft and chocolatey! I made them with your chocolate cream cheese frosting and they were so good!
So glad you loved them, Alina! Thank you for the feedback.
Quick question. This recipe did not having baking powder in ingredients but should it have ? Also where do buy espresso baking powder ?
It has baking soda, so no need to add baking powder. You don’t need to use espresso baking powder, you can use regular instant coffee or espresso powder (make it according to the package instructions), or you can brew fresh coffee to use.
amazing, I decided to replace the warm coffee with 1 cup milk and it’s perfect
Great to hear that it worked well!
Hi Natasha! How do you store these frosted cupcakes? (With your chocolate buttercream frosting) Because I personally don’t like the taste of frozen buttercream (as it solidifies in the fridge) but if there is no choice…
Hi Elizabeth. Store them in an air tight container in the refrigerator and then let them come to room temperature before eating them, the butter will soften.
What if you want to make extra large cup cakes? How long should i bake those?
Hi Janet. I haven’t tested it to advise. You’ll have to experiment and watch them in the oven. You can check doneness with a toothpick. They’ll be done when the toothpick comes out clean.
Natasha, all of your recipes are incredible, but this one…REALLY and I mean REALLY stands out! My tastebuds have been blessed by the chocolatey, delicious, wonderful swirls of pure goodness thanks to your recipe. I truly am your biggest fan now! Would love any and all tips on decorating with the frosting recipe you have!
That’s so great to hear, Kaylie. Thank you for the wonderful feedback.
This has become my go to recipe for any chocolate cupcakes or cake. It’s so easy and absolutely delicious! Not to mention it’s pairs great with any frosting. I’ve used this many times and will continue to do so! Thank you so much for such a wonderful recipe.
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Kaitlyn!
Very mediocre cupcake. I used this recipe because I was in a pinch and only had certain ingredients on hand. Dry and crumbly. Not very chocolaty.
Hi AT! That shouldn’t happen if the recipe is followed as written. We’ve had great results with the recipe, very moist. Dry and crumbly cupcakes are usually due to using too much flour or over-baking. Are you spooning your flour into your measuring cup? I’ve attached my tutorial on How to Measure Ingredients to help. I hope you’ll give this recipe another try. I also recommend using an internal oven thermometer (affiliate link) to ensure your oven is heating correctly. This recipe is written for a conventional oven using regular bake mode.
Were the ingredients you had the ones in the recipe? I found these to be very chocolaty with the addition of coffee (they complement each other) and definitely not crumbly, even when I break them open. If you used all of the written ingredients in the way they were described, it should be moist and delicious.
Amazing recipe worked great!
Did it for a competition go t#1
great and easy
Hi Michael! That’s so great to hear. Thanks for sharing.