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
Fabulous recipe! Tasty, light cupcakes! I was distracted when making these and made numerous “mistakes,” from adding one too many eggs to using cold coffee instead of warm. All the same, they came out wonderfully light and chocolaty. Thank you, Natasha–I love your site and rely on your recipes for everything from dinner to dessert.
You’re so nice! Thank you, Annie! I’m happy you’re loving my recipes!
Hi!
Can I use white vinegar insted of distilled vinegar in the recipe.
Yes, it’s essentially the same thing. 🙂
Heyyy Natasha!
I love your recipes! I really want to try this one, but I’m afraid of adding vinegar because I really hate it. Will I taste it in the finished product?
Thank you!
Hi Zara, you will not taste the vinegar in this recipe!
Can I sub the vegetable oil with canola canola oil?
Thanks!
Yes, that will work!
Hi Natasha!
Just made these today. Frosting frosting was great and cupcakes came out nice and even. I was a bit disppointed because I thought there’d be no coffee flavor but my family and I could still taste it. Any idea why? Thanks! Otherwise, great recipe!
Hi Zara! Did you add espresso powder or instant coffee granules to the batter directly without dissolving them? We used brewed coffee. It could also be the type of coffee roast (darker roasts have a more potent flavor). Some baking cocoa powder is very concentrated as well and it can make your cake taste like coffee. You could try using hot water in place of coffee next time. I hope that helps!
I made this recipe exactly how you instructed and they came out terrible. They were doughy and not very chocolatey. 🙁
Hi Audrey! That has never been my experience. It could be that you used too much flour or over-mixed the batter. The coffee also enhances the chocolate flavor. I am not sure what went wrong but I would look over the recipe again to see if you missed anything. You can watch my tutorial here on how to measure your ingredients correctly.
Hi Natasha!
I’m planning on baking these next weekend for a family get together, and I want to make them peppermint flavor. How much peppermint extract would you suggest to put in the batter?
Hello Skyler, that sounds delicious! However, I haven’t personally tried it to advise. If you do an experiment, we’d love to know how it goes!
Home smokes these came together so quickly. Simple. Delicious and fast!!! Thank you. That frosting is perfect. 😋
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Erin!
For this recipe, you have mentioned 1 cup warm coffee, 1 cup warm water+ 1/2 t. sp instant coffee is fine with it?
Hi Tanuja, yes, that would be fine. Just make it according to the package instructions.
Hi, there’s no package instructions. Pls help me out. I made it before without knowing it turned out so bad. this time i don’t want to do mistake again.
It’s hard to say exactly without knowing what type of coffee it is. If it is instant coffee that dissolves in hot water it should be about 1 teaspoon per 8 ounces of water. You can taste it and see if you need to add more or less. I hope that helps.
I use your recipe all the time but I have two questions, when I use the slider to cut the recipe in half(to make 6 cupcakes) how do I measure the .71 cups or the 3.21 teaspoons? And, this time the texture of the cupcake wasn’t soft, how did that happen and what can I do to prevent that
Hi Kyla! You may want to use the metric option on the recipe card and use a food scale to weigh it out in grams for the most accurate measurement and best results. If they were not moist/soft but rather dense, then it is very possible that you used too much flour.
Excellent recipe! We followed them to the T but added a 1/4 cup of chocolate chips. Outstanding cupcakes. For the topping, we did a simple thin chocolate ganache layer…delicious! Never would have thought coffee and vinegar would work, but IT DOES! Thank you Ms. Kravchuk!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Marina! Happy Holidays!
Natasha,
Loved the recipe, came out so good.
As I didn’t add frosting, it’s not sweet enough with added sugar. how much sugar is needed to avoid frosting.
Thanks
Hi Saritha! The proper balance of sugar is very important in baking. It affects the texture, volume, taste, etc. I cannot advise since I have not tested this. You’d have to experiment with it. You may also consider my brownie recipe since it does not have frosting and it is significantly sweeter.
I am not a baker. Let’s start with that. But I was in the mood for something chocolate AND I wanted cupcakes. So I did what anyone in my position would do, I looked up a recipe. I chose this one because it didn’t require milk (which I don’t keep in the house) and it had coffee in the recipe. Anything with coffee sells me instantly 😉 They are amazing!! They came out so super moist, the perfect amount of chocolate. They satisfied my craving and then some. I will add two things; I know that you have to temper the egg when you are adding anything warm to them otherwise you risk getting scrambled eggs. I would advice the instructions to add something about that when adding the coffee. My coffee was a little more than “warm” but I knew what to do so it was all good. Maybe that’s why my final batter wasn’t “loose and lumpy” like it said it would be. IDK. The other thing that was a little different in my recipe is that I only drink flavored coffee. So today we had butter pecan in the pot and that’s what I used. OMG! SO GOOD! Bottom line: I will be keeping this recipe for future cravings.
Hello Chicki, thank you so much for sharing that with us. We appreciate your feedback and suggestion!
I wnat to make these for my friend for her birthday. could I use nesquik instead of cocoa powder?
Hi Alvy, I have not tried that to advise. I wouldn’t use substitutions especially on your first try just to be sure that you will achieve great results!
I ended up using melted chocolate in the cupcakes instead and they turned out great. I used a combination of nesquik and melted chocolate in the frosting and it was delicous!
That’s good to know!
I’ve tried your vanilla cupcakes and they turned out amazing ! I want to try this one too but can I substitute vinegar with lime juice?
Yay, that’s lovely to hear, Chloe. 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!
could i use instant coffee with hot water for the coffee because that’s all i have in hand. i don’t have like coffee grounds and a coffee maker.
Hi Christina! Yes, that would be fine. Just make it according to the package instructions.
OMG… simply the best chocolate cupcake recipe ever. I’ve used twice now and worked perfect both times and everyone loves them. thanks you Natasha.
Do you think it would convert into a vanilla cupcake if I left out the cocoa and replaced coffee with milk?
I have tried your vanilla cupcake recipe but didn’t like the result, i followed the recipe exactly and they domed up and then sank down and were quite dense.
Hi Jeanette! I wish it were that simple but for baking science reasons, I do not recommend this recipe for a vanilla cake. Dense cupcakes are a result of over-mixing batter or using too much flour. Watch my tutorial on how to measure your flour correctly, HERE.
-I also recommend using an internal oven thermometer to see how your oven heats. Be sure to let it fully preheat before baking and do not open the oven door in the process, a temperature drop could cause them to sink. If your oven runs hot, the cake will bake faster on the outside, causing the dome and then sink. I hope that helps.
Hey! Why do we not use backing powder in this recipe?
Thank you <3
We use a different ingredient that helps with the rise of the Chocolate Cake. 😉
Love your recipes. Way, way too many advertisements. It’s distasteful.
Hi Annette, Thank you for sharing your concerns and feedback. The only way we can continue providing free recipes is by having ads on our site, so we are not able to remove those at this time. We find that most people would rather see the ads than pay to see the recipes. But we will definitely take note of your feedback and use it to improve our website.
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Can I use coconut oil? Some times I run out of olive oil. I’m new to this recipe.I hope it comes out well, all the recipes I have used have failed. Thanks for such a wonderful recipe!
Hi Jade, that should work fine. I’m sorry you didn’t have much success baking. A helpful tip is to watch my tutorial on how to measure ingredients correctly.
This was literally the best chocolate cupcake I’ve ever made / tasted! Amazing!!
So glad to hear that, Ellie! 🙂
Woopie! Best choc cupcake recipe for sure! Just dusted with powdered sugar (icing sugar) makes a delectable treat! Tks!
Thank you for that great feedbvack!