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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Hi will the cupcakes stays moist and fluffy or it will get harder when we eat directly from the chiller?
Can u help to describe the texture while its chilled as im going to use whipp cream as topping so they need to be chilled
Hi Virgi! These cupcakes stay pretty moist and fluffy, I think they are just fine eaten directly from the refrigerator. In general, cakes are best enjoyed at room temperature because it helps with the texture, but this cupcake batter uses oil and not butter so even out of the refrigerator, they will still be moister than a batter that uses butter.
These were amazing and so simple. A keeper for sure . I used your icing recipe as well. Delicious!
Wonderful, Kim! Thank you for the review. 🙂
Hi Natasha. Made these last week, love the recipe. How long will these last in the fridge?
I’m happy to hear that. In an airtight container, these hold up well for quite a few days, I’ve enjoyed them up to 5days. They lose moisture over time.
Sounds delicious Can I use melted butter instead of oil? Thank you!
I haven’t tested it but it could work. Please let us know if you experiment.
Hi, Is it possible to skip egg in this recipe? If so, what should I add instead..
Hi! I have a recipe for eggless chocolate cupcakes you can use instead.
Natasha, I have to provide cupcakes for a grown-up birthday party and tried so many recipes this past weekend that I could barely tolerate tasting another one. That said, you win both in ease and taste. Thank you! Can they be frozen with the frosting and if so, how should they be stored?
Hi Emily, thank you for your great comments and feedback. I haven’t tried that but one of our readers shared this “I made half the recipe of chocolate icing and frosted all 12 cupcakes. Individually wrapped them in Saran wrap, placed in a large zip lock bag and put in freezer. Freezing the icing was not a problem. I’m sooooo ready to bake more of these fantastic cupcakes. Thank you!” I hope that helps!
Hey Natasha,
Is powdered sugar and granulated sugar the same?
The major difference between the two is the size of their particles. I recommend checking Google too for more tips.
Hi Natasha,
I’m from Canada, and I can’t seem to get my hands on any distilled white vinegar. Do you recommend any substitutes that I can use? Thanks for your help!
Hi Francesca, distilled white vinegar is the same thing as white vinegar. Can you find this in Canada? Apple Cider Vinegar would be the next best alternative.
What is the purpose of the vinegar? I have never seen it in any of the other cupcake recipes?
It reacts with the baking soda to make the cake rise. 🙂
I made these for a friend for her birthday, and they were a hit! I spent time beforehand looking for a chocolate cupcake recipe I could trust. Thank you.
Thank you for the trust, Amanda, I hope you’ll love all the recipes that you will try!
I actually used this recipe to make a 3 layer 6″ s’more cake. The cake/cupcakes are SO easy to make! I love the fact the batter comes quickly together with a whisk. 2 thumbs up!
Hi Lynn! That’s wonderful. Thank you for sharing that with up. I’m sure it was delicious!
Natasha, these cupcakes are just to DIE FOR. I just took them out of the oven and they look perfect, and they tasted even better. Honestly, i was a little skeptical about the vinegar and the coffee but i am regretting my disbelief because they turned out beautiful. I didn’t make the chocolate buttercream, but a vanilla version by Betty Crocker and paired them together and it was a more balanced flavor combo for my pallette but others may love the rich and overpowering all chocolate flavor. Either way i loved the cupcakes and i loved how exited you were in your video.
So glad to hear that, Jana! Thank you for the feedback.
This is my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe! These cupcakes are moist and packed with tons of chocolate flavour. The best part about this recipe is that it takes me less than an hour to make. They are also super easy to make! Thank you.
You’re welcome, Greg. Thanks a lot for your good comments and feedback and good to hear that this is your go-to recipe!
Hi Natasha!
Would you sift and then measure the cocoa powder or measure and then sift?
Many thanks
Hi Carol! I usually fluff up my cocoa powder with a fork or spoon and then I measure it. If it’s clumpy, then I would also sift it before adding it to my recipe.
Hi Natasha , I haven’t tried this recipe yet and I want to make it perfect but the problem is I don’t have coffee so, What can you substitute for coffee?
You can substitute 1 cup coffee with 1 cup room temperature buttermilk. In my tests, the coffee gave the best color and more chocolate flavor. If you are concerned about caffeine, decaf coffee will also work.
on your Chocolate Cake Recipe no Eggs are included, but in Chocolate Cupcake Recipe it does use Egg. Why is there No Egg in Cake Recipe? TIA Alex G.
Hi Alex, the cake is made specifically to be an egg-free cake.
Hi there I have a few questions when using Canadian measurements what is the difference? Also what is the difference between regular white vinegar and distilled vinegar I can’t seem to find distilled vinegar
Hi Kim, white vinegar is the same as distilled vinegar. I believe in Canada you use the metric system. You can convert most of my recipes to metric by clicking “metric” on the recipe card.
This was an amazing recipe! I was a little worried in the beginning that the vinegar and coffee taste would be in the cupcake but it wasn’t! and when I tasted it, it was like magic! thank you so much for this amazing recipe!
Thank you for following the recipe as suggested, great to hear that you enjoyed it!
They were amazing, but the sugar in the frosting was SO MUCH, and I didn’t follow my common sense and followed your recipe, and the product was SO SUGARY, but… who cares about some sugar?! Great to make. I highly recommend it.
I doubled the recipe expecting to get 24 cupcakes but only got about 21.. not a big deal but I wonder if the Canadian flour would have anything to do with it? I put a mini Reese’s cup in the middle of the batter before baking for a nice peanut butter surprise 😋
Most likely, if that is the only change that you did to the recipe then that might be the reason for it. I’m still glad you enjoyed the cupcakes!
I’ve made these several times with various frostings. I use avocado oil instead of olive oil (don’t like the taste of olive oil in sweet baking though it’s great in bread recipes). Love how light they are and yet how richly chocolate flavored. They are always a hit. The vinegar and baking soda rise creates such a fluffy texture!
I also used this as a base to make earl grey cupcakes as well. Brewed earl grey tea in place of coffee, almond flour in place of cocoa, some ground earl grey tea in with the dry ingredients for flavor, and replaced 1 tsp vanilla with almond extract. They were great!
Will probably experiment with other flavors as well. Thanks for this!
Thank you for the awesome feedback. I appreciate you sharing your experimentation with the recipe.
I don’t care for coffee flavor, can I just substitute water?
Hi Cindy, that would be fine. The coffee is the secret ingredient here and makes these intensely chocolatey and gives the cupcakes a deeper color. You can’t really taste the coffee in these and you probably wouldn’t know it’s there if you didn’t read the recipe, but it really makes the chocolate flavor shine.