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
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- Vanilla Cupcakes
- Pumpkin Cupcakes
- Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
- Greek Yogurt Cupcakes
- Cherry Stuffed Honey Cupcakes
Hi Natasha, with 1 cup of warm coffee.. what is the ratio of warm water and instant coffee (brand?)
Thank you
Hi Roxanne, we used espresso, but instant/ brewed works also and I recommend following the coffee packaging instructions to make a cup. I hope you love this recipe!
These are the BEST chocolate cupcakes I’ve ever eaten and made. Thank you so much for such an amazing recipe.
Wow! That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Tina!
Hello natacha, these cup cakes look good…kisses from Portugal
These are the best chocolate cupcakes EVER!! Thank you so much! (And by the way, I am Russian😊) Definitely making these again!
Thanks a lot for your great comments and feedback, Isabela!
why did they turn out dry for what reason? what did i do wrong?
Both, Vanilla and Chocolate cupcakes 🙁
Hi Angelina, a dry cupcake is usually the result of under-baking. The process is pretty fail-proof, but make sure to measure ingredients correctly. This article on measuring should help. Also, make sure to try the recipe exactly as written before making substitutions or modifications.
Hello Natasha, my 7yr old Granddaughter and I are in the process of making these Cupcakes now but she says she knows they will be delicious.
Thank you for sharing with us
Aww, I love that you’re baking this together! I hope you both love it, Rose!
Hey Natasha,
Just wondering if you could male a suggestion regarding how to store the frosted cupcakes if I want to make them a day in advance.
It depends on the frosting you use. If you use a buttercream frosting, it would be ok to leave it at room temperature overnight. If it’s cream cheese based you should refrigerate overnight. It won’t hurt to just cover and refrigerate though – that is what I would do.
It’s going to taste better to use Vegetable oil or Olive oil, and if Olive oil then what kind? Thank you!
Hi Angelina, you can use canola or vegetable oil if you don’t have plain olive oil on hand.
I’d like to make these cupcakes, however it’s for a kids party. Is the coffee flavor overwhelming?
Hi Julia, you shouldn’t taste the coffee. The coffee amplifies the chocolate flavor 🙂 I hope you love this recipe!
Amazing recipe, my cakes came out so springy and moist and delicious. Used a jug to pour the batter into the cases as its quite thin and that worked really well. I’m over the moon that I’ve found the perfect chocolate cupcake recipe.
I’m happy to hear that you loved this recipe, Amelie. Thank you so much for the review!
Natasha, fantastic recipe for both the cupcakes and frosting! Instructions were exact down to the cooking time. I doubled the recipe for a super bowl party; rave reviews. My piping skills could use some improvement but overall a great success!
I’m sure you’ll do better as you practice. Thanks for your good comments and feedback, Marci!
Do you have any gluten free recipes for children. Chocolate cup cakes etc please
Hi Kim, here are the Gluten-Free recipes on my website so far.
Hi! I made these and it didn’t turn out the way I had wanted. I’m not too sure why. Maybe I over-mixed the ingredients. But it still tasted great! The tops just weren’t the right texture. Thank you sharing your recipe!
I’m glad it tasted great! I hope you give it another try soon!
Delicious! I’m making them for a library baking club, and managed to reduce the baking time to 15 minutes at 375, and was also able to make it all in one bowl! The kids are going to love them!
That is the best when kids love what we moms make. That’s so great!
These are better than bakery cupcakes! I ate one and it will be hard to not eat the rest. Amazingly delicious!
These cupcakes are so good! Now I’m craving one! Thank you so much for sharing that great review with me, Sonia!
Hi! So I have been searching for the best tasting quick and easy chocolate cupcakes. These were PERFECT!!! I did a batch of coffee and a batch with buttermilk, my whole family liked the buttermilk better. My only thing is that next time I will probably add more cocoa powder if you are using buttermilk. Other than that these were the best chocolate cupcakes I have ever made! And they were very quick and easy.
For my buttermilk, I use milk and you can add either vinegar or lemon juice, for this I used lemon juice since there was already vinegar in the recpie and it was DELICIOUS!!
Thank you so much for this delicious recipie!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
One word…WOW! I followed the recipe exactly and they came out perfectly! I used pure vanilla I had received as a gift from St Maarten…what a difference. No need to look any further for the perfect chocolate cupcake! Thank you so much Natasha ☺️
You’re so welcome, Wendy. I’m happy that this recipe wowed you! I hope you’ll love all the other recipes that you will try.
Hi Sheila, a dry cupcake is usually the result of under-baking.
Hey, Natasha? Do you know why my brownies dry out after an hour or so out of the oven, is it under baked? They tasted fine though.
Hi Justin, I wouldn’t leave them out unnecessarily. I recommend storing them in an airtight container.
These are the best cupcakes I have ever had! Perfect amount of sweetness, moist, and just the right amount of richness. The coffee makes it amazing!
Isn’t it so good! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Best cup cake I ever made. Moist and not too sweet. Thanks for the recipe.
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
Is it ok to omit vinegar or replace it with something else? If replacing what is suitable to replace it?
Hi Fahima, I haven’t tested anything besides vinegar, but vinegar does help activate the baking soda, and the reaction helps to darken the color of the cupcake. Another one of our readers substituted it with lime juice. Here’s what they said ”I just made these today and woww🤤🤤🤤🤤they were the best chocolate cupcakes ever definitely gonna try again and also I used lime juice instead of white distilled vinegar and still it was soo good. I hope this helps!
Ms Natasha can I use 100% wheat flour instead of all purpose flour in this cup cake?
Hello there, I honestly have not tried that to advise. If you do an experiment, please share with us how it goes!