Moist Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

Everyone in my family is a huge fan of cupcakes, and really love this version that I've been making for as long as I can remember.

 

*Post Edit* February 25, 2014. This recipe has been slightly revised for even better results. Enjoy!

 

Ingredients

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cups cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. Fill muffin pans with 24 cupcake liners. Add all ingredients, except the boiling water, into a mixing bowl. (I recommend a batter bowl to easily pour the batter into the cupcake liners). Beat with a hand blender, stand mixer, or by hand with a wire whisk, until batter is completely combined and smooth. Add the boiling water, and whisk, just until blended. (Don't be alarmed - the batter appears watery). Evenly ladle (or pour) the batter into the liners. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the center of the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Cool and frost. Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Perfectly sweet, but not overly so, and light and creamy just like you'd want on a cupcake. 1/3 cup butter, just slightly cooler than room temperature 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar  2-4 tablespoons milk, depending on desired consistency 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract food coloring, if desired Beat butter in a medium-sized mixing bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in 3 cups of the powdered sugar. Beat in milk and vanilla. Blend in remaining 1/2 cup powdered sugar. If desired, tint with food coloring. (For the perfect pastel colored frosting, only 1 drop of food coloring is necessary).

Note

This recipe also makes a delicious Chocolate Layer Cake. To make as a cake, divide batter evenly between three oiled and floured 8" round cake pans.

Bake in preheated 350 degrees fahrenheit oven for approximately 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from oven and cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto cooling racks until cooled. Frost layers as desired.

My go-to small kitchen appliances are:

Stand Mixer

Hand Mixer

Food Processor

Immersion Blender

Instant Pot

>>>><<<<

Between posts on my website, I document my life on Instagram. You can follow along with me there, Username: thefarmchicks

>>>><<<<

 

Comments

[Mary Lou Weidman]

I am making these cupcakes for the New Yearps-it is snowing like crazy and warm cupcakes and cocoa are just what this house of people needs!
I love your blog,
Mary Lou Weidman

[cityfarmer]

mu butt just got bigger looking at these cupcakes

P.s. I'm a farmgirl, too
come on over for a real treat

[hip chick]

Ooh those look yummy. I'm going to make them tomorrow.

[emilie]

oh yummy. i just printed the recipe, thank you !
and happy new year !
em

[PamperingBeki]

What perfect looking cupcakes! Great job.

[Beth]

these would be perfect Valentines...oh gotta get this recipe and make them for my little girl to take to day care for their party...I know I am eager to find stuff for this year.

[Diana]

My daughter made these tonight! YUM!!!

[Stacy]

These are delicious cupcakes! You should check out my blog http://noplacelikehomeintx.blogspot.com/
to see what happened on my first attempt...it was a disaster...but, we tried it again and the cupcakes turned out perfect. So Moist & Delicious!
Thank you For the recipe!!!

-stacy

[Stephanie]

Wow! These look delicious! Homemade cupcakes are just so much yummier than boxed kinds, don't you agree?

I think I'll make these to "celebrate" after baby #2 makes her debut in March.

[Betsy]

Oh my goodness. I made these tonight... and they are by far THE BEST recipe for chocolate cupcakes. Moist, perfectly dense, full of flavor. LOOOOVE THEM!!! Thanks so much for the recipe!

[Amanda]

I just made these for my son's fourth birthday and they were amazing! I will be making them again and a again. We left the frosting white and topped them with gummy dinosaurs--very cute. Thanks!

[Vanessa]

We made these yesterday for my daughter's 1st birthday, which was entirely cupcake themed. They were perfect! Thanks for the recipe!
You can see pics from our daughter's birthday by going to: http://whenmamashappy.blogspot.com/

[suz]

omg...these look amazing! exactly what i'm looking for--for my hubby's 30th bday this weekend! i'm making a giant cupcake for him and about 2 dozen regular cupcakes for the guests....

question: any idea on different cooking times or measurements if i wanted to follow this recipe in a giant cupcake pan like this one?

http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=4018F320-423B-522D-F5ECDA6F3A2ABB5E

thank you so much!!! i appreciate it!
suz

a mom to quadruplets in texas

[Johnny Fearless]

Excellent! I tried this recipe last night for some black forest cupcakes and it came out perfectly - I filled them with cherry pie filling and I did something a little different with the buttercream. Thanks!

http://www.efficientliving.com/images/DSC_1137_small.jpg

[teenage baker]

These cupcakes were perfect!
Just what I was looking for, moist and delicious. I topped them with white mountain frosting for a light topping. They were also delicious with just a dollop of whipped cream on top.
Thanks!

[jownana girl - philippines]

thanks for this! i'm making these for my brother tonight...

[invierta proyectos]

My daughter will love this.

[Kalie Ellis]

I just finished making these cupcakes a few minutes ago, and although I haven't tasted them yet, they look AMAZING! I have attempted to make cupcakes several times before but they always come out flat or concave-- but these cupcakes look like they're right from the bakery! Thanks for the recipe :)

[Leeta]

I made these for a fund raiser and they were a hit! These are the most delicious cupcakes I've ever had and I love cupcakes :)

Thank you very much!

[Sonya]

This was the BEST recipe ever. I no longer need to hunt for another chocolate cupcake recipe. They were so pillow soft and moist. Thanks so much!!

[Courtney]

best chocolate cupcakes ever! I live in The Netherlands where you can't find a cupcake anywhere. I bake these for my friends and family here and they go crazy for them.

[Irina]

wow i just made these cupcakes! Super delicious! Gourmet cupcakes. Probably the best i have ever made...and i have made a lot of cupcakes! Instead of milk i used Buttermilk and they came out really moist and delicious.

[andrea]

i made these last night and they were perrrrrrrrfect!

one question: i filled them up to the top of the muffin paper and they began to grow beautifully in the oven, but when i took them out they flopped down. they were very tasty, but didn't look as appealing as i'd hoped. should i have filled them up only half way?

thanks

[TIFFANY]

WHAT TYPE OF BROWN SUGAR DID YOU USE? OR CAN ANYONE TELL ME THE TYPE OF BROWN SUGAR THAT THEY USED. THANK YOU!

[Tina]

I've had this recipe saved for months but I only just tried them yesterday.

The cupcakes came out looking great - I filled them about halfway.

The frosting looked amazing but I think I went a little overboard with frosting some of the cupcakes so they were a little sweet.

However, overall, I'm quite pleased with them!

[Harmony]

Thank you so much for this amazing recipe!
My step mom and i made them at ten tonight and couldnt stop eating the frosting before they came out of the oven! once out of the oven and with frosting on top they are to die for! :) made our night better yet our week~

[Shannon]

I googled a recipe for moist chocolate cupcakes and your site was one of the first to come up. I decided to try your recipe and I'm so glad I did! These were the best chocolate cupcakes I've ever had. The cup of boiling water was odd but it definitely worked! Everybody at work loved them. I'm only going to make chocolate cupcakes with this recipe now. :] Thanks!

[joshua]

this is an excellent recipe i just made them a few minutes ago and i am stupified by how delicious these cupcakes are.

[Michelle]

alright i am going to try- i have tried dozens of recipes looking for thee "perfect" one.. I hope this is it ;-)

[Cookyldy]

I am sooo excited to try these!! The last recipe I tried was soooo dry. My teenage boys even said they were dry. They are a little spoiled to having baked goods around at all times, since that's what I love doing, so they do have a little better judge of baked goods than the average teen boy, but still, they usually eat what won't eat them first, so I knew they were icky...
I'll report again. I'm gonna go make them now.

[Amanda]

Ok, I want a plain vanilla cupcake just like this. I love the choc version. The texture is amazing and they're so moist and delish! How would you convert this into a vanilla cupcake or does someone have a recipe that would be similar to a vanilla version of this?

[Kim]

I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Today I have baked for 7 hours straight, tried 6 different recipes trying to find the perfect chocolate cupcake for my cousin's wedding! Your recipe produced the perfect cupcake - moist, dense, tight crumb, doesn't stick to paper, delicious - I cried with relief. Thank you, thank you, Thank you from Kim in South Africa.

[Jessica]

I will be making these in a few short hours for my sons 3rd birthday party tomorrow to go along with a dinosaur cake I am making. I will post back and let you know how they are. After many hours of searching, your recipe won out!

[Jessica]

I am posting back about making them for sons birthday and they were a huge hit. The only thing I changed was I added 1/4 tsp of instant coffee and cinnamon to batch and everyone wanted your recipe. Well done and thanks!

[Angela]

I am a huge cupcake baker/ fanatic and criticize recipes very hard. I tried this out but replaced the all purpose with cake flour and it came out beautifully. I adore this recipe and refer to it every time I bake chocolate cupcakes. For additional moist-ness i also used Buttermilk.

2 thumbs up.

[Hannah]

I made these this morning - by FAR the best recipe - I will never revert back to my old one! Thanks for finishing my quest in finding the perfect choc cupcake recipe :)

[Sharon]

This recipe looks great! I'm making cupcakes for a Harry Potter potluck I am attending :) Will try 2 batches: original recipe and then substituting with buttermilk and cake flour.

Thanks! - Sharon
Toronto, Ontario (Canada)

[Mizhiel]

this cupcake recipe is amazing!
THANK YOU!!!! =)

[Sharon]

Hi, just posting back to say that I tried the recipe and the cupcakes turned out phenomenally!! Absolutely the best I've ever tasted, and the icing was divine. I mixed in a bit of Nutella to half of the icing, which was wonderful. Will definitely be making these again very soon!!! Thanks :)

[Mary Chapman]

Loooove this site

[Adrianne]

I've used a lot of baking recipes online, and this is the first one I've ever commented on. These cupcakes were so good! Everyone loved them. When I first made them, I thought I did something wrong because the batter was so thin. But after baking them, they came out perfect! Great recipe. Thank you!

[Jennifer]

I've always loved the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe! The pink buttercream you put on top looks sweet :)

[Sarah Bustillos]

I have these backing in the oven and so far the batter(one of my favorit parts) was amazing.They were very simple to make.

Cant wait to try the finished product!

[Stephanie]

My son requested chocolate cupcakes to take to preschool to celebrate his birthday this week. I googled the best moist chocolate cupcakes and it came up with your blog. I decided to give your recipe a try and I'm so glad I did! These cupcakes are fantastic! Thanks for posting such a great chocolate cupcake recipe!

[yoyozr]

wow! this recipe seems so tempting i'll try it tomorow as i've been thinking of a moist dellicios cup cake and all the reviews tell me " go ahead it'll be fantastic" ithink as i hope.

[yoyozr]

by the way , if i want to make different flevouring of the cake for ex. instead of the coco powder i could use lemmon or orange or even only vanella flavoure and then i give it a fruity kick inthe filling as well as the topping.
so what do you think of this? will it affect the recipe in a bad way? please i need your advice
thank you

[Ingrid]

I have been looking for a great chocolate cupcake recipe and I found it.The cupcakes were super moist and delicious. My family loved it, definitely a keeper. Thanks for sharing such a fantastic recipe.

[Lynn]

This was a super easy and simple recipe that made delicious chocolate cupcakes. It wasn't too sweet and was very chocolately. This is definitely a keeper! (:

[Brandi]

The best chocolate cupcakes ever! Has anyone tried adjusting the recipe to make them vanilla?

[Briana]

I have tried this recipe 3 times now, and every time the cupcakes bubble over and then cave in. Any ideas why this is happening? I have followed the recipe to a T! Please help because I am really excited about this recipe- it has gotten such great reviews, and I want it!!

[Leah Hudson]

I made these today. It was my first time ever making cupcakes, and I know they can be temperamental for the inexperienced so I did a few hours' worth of research, reading reviews and tips. This recipe appealed because it used ingredients I have on hand, used oil instead of butter (I was worried about dryness) and had great reviews.

I overfilled my cups a little, so I did get a bit of spillover onto the pan, and even though I sprayed the cup liners with Pam a few cupcakes had to be scraped out of the liners. This was totally my fault, and not because of the recipe! Next time I will only fill halfway, and I'll use foil liners for easy removal.

Lastly, I added a bit too much baking soda and a bit too little baking powder, which did not seem to affect the flavor in any bad way at all. Next time I will be sure to get the measurements right. Either way, they were moist and tasted wonderful, and I got compliments at the get-together I took them to. Thank you so much for this.

[Serena]

Briana,
It's possible the liners are getting over-filled or perhaps you didn't beat the batter long enough.
I hope you can get them to work out for you. They're so tasty.
Take care,
Serena

[Barb]

Is this safe to double?

[becky]

I would like to make these for my daughters birthday party but have not had luck with my cupcake recipes staying moist and light. Was just wondering if these will freeze well so I can make them ahead and frost them the day before? Thanks

[Bethany]

I just made this recipe for my son's 2nd birthday cake. I baked one batch in 2 round pans and the other for a 9x13 cake (for making a tractor cake). I used a family recipe for the frosting, but the cake was amazing (and I'm not even a big choclate cake fan)! Definitely lives up to the name-very moist. I got lots of compliments on the cake. Will definitely put it in my recipe box as a keeper. Thanks!

[barb]

do you use natural cocoa or dutch-processed? thanks, i am hoping this is the LAST chocolate cake recipe i will have to try ;)

[Dee]

these cupcakes are amazing; I have been searching for so long for a moist chocolate cupcake; usually they are way too heavy but these were fantastic!!

[Liz]

Yum!!! I just made these today. They were ultra moist and delicious. My daughter who normally only eats the icing and leaves the cupcake actually finished the whole cupcake!

[Alison]

This recipe is so perfect and moist! The only thing that was different for me was not having brown sugar, but I substituted it with half cup of sugar. I also used only one cup of oil because I ran out, and baked it for 17 minutes instead because I used a mini-cupcake tray. Thanks for this amazing recipe!

[Tia Peterson]

I'm going to try these tonight; I tried a recipe for peanut-butter chocolate cupcakes from the new magazine put out by Better Homes & Gardens. They were SO DRY that I threw every single one of them out, and discarded the batter. All of recipes omit the oil and I think that is a big mistake.

On to your recipe! I am looking forward to moist cupcakes again!

[nisa]

hi.....are we going to bake it for 350 deg also after preheat the oven??

[Jenna]

These are great! Thanks for posting. I made one batch as written and one batch I tried converting to vanilla. I just omitted the cocoa powder and the brown sugar and then only added enough boiling water to thin the batter to the right consistency (which was about 1/4 cup total). I also added an extra tsp of vanilla extract. They came out great! I am going to serve both at my daughters' joint birthday parties.

[Carmen]

I baked these last night and they turned out great. Full of flabour and moist, just what I was looking for. I substituted butter for the vegetable oil as I didn't have any and it still turned out good. I used a chocolate frosting instead but I'm yet to try this frosting. I would recommend this recipe to anyone looking for a moist chocolate cupcake. I baked a batch of chocolate cupcakes earlier in the day before trying this recipe which used melted dark chocolate which i was extremely disappointed, I found it dry and no where near as tasty as these. I will be using this recipe to bake cupcakes for my son's first birthday. Thank you for the great recipe.

[Milu]

one question...the cocoa powder would that be unsweetened?? or sweetened?? Thanks :)

[Rhondi]

I made these cupcakes for my daughter's 8th birthday party. They were absolutely amazing! Super moist and the perfect amount of chocolate. I made homemade chocolate frosting to take it over the top. Thanks for our new favorite cupcake recipe, and we are vanilla cupcake lovers!

[Sandra]

Is that 350 degrees Fahrenheit?

[Eden]

I just made these cupcakes and wow are they moist and light. When I saw how thin the cupcake batter was, I was a little concerned, but they turned out so amazing. I will definitely be making these again and again.

[Antonia]

Hmm. I wasn't impressed. I found these cupcakes to be very bland, without enough chocolate kick. As usual, the outcome probably depends on using the BEST quality chocolate available... since I'm in New Zealand, there wasn't much selection. Oh well, luckily the birthday party's not 'till tomorrow and I have time to try again.

[Rachael]

By far the best ever chocolate cupcake recipe. Have made this recipe over and over again in the past few months. Everyone loves them!!

[Rachael]

Antonia,
I only use Cadbury's regular cocoa powder and these cupcakes have always turned out beautifully and are very chocolatey in flavour.

[lea]

This cake recipe is the same as Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake. The only difference is the amount of salt. Hershey's recommends 2 tsps. of salt while this, only 1 tsp. though.

[Dana Tewake]

Hi there I made a double batch of these for a birthday party and they were a great hit everyone loved them, they were moist and chocolatey, and very easy to ice, I will definately be using this recipe again, btw I'm from NZ and had no problem sourcing all the ingredients!

[Jess Nava]

I don't mean to be a buzzkill, but I thought the flavor of these cupcakes was not particularly good. I've made many many cupcakes in my day and I really just didn't care for these. The flavor was a bit odd and I think it had to do with the balance of ingredients. Just my own opinion though...

[ajay955]

I made a video cooking the cupcakes, they were great!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWHrcwg8SRs&feature=channel_video_title

[steffy]

this recipe is amazing! ive been looking for a good recipe for almost two months now and i stumbled upon this one. i am never making cupcakes with any other recipe. thank you so much! my parents and siblings love them!!

[Em]

This is just the Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate cake with 1/2 the salt and substituting one of the cups of sugar with brown suger. Still yummy, of course!

[Bex]

The best cupcakes I've ever had I made them tonight and everyone said I should be making them professionally thank goodness for your recipe will make time and time again :)

[Rybie]

These are absolute perfection! So many chocolate cupcake recipes I've tried have been SO heavy. These are so light and moist. I'm going to make these for a first birthday party later this month.

[Jennifer]

So I made these last night and it was my first time ever making chocolate cupcakes from scratch and frosting from scratch. Can I tell you that they turned out AMAZING! Thank you so much for the recipe! I will for sure be making these in the future :D

[Raheela]

Hi,

I am not much of a baker but I tried this recipe and wow!! a hit! thanks for the wonderful and easy to follow recipe.

I was just wondering, if I needed to make a different variation, say lemon cupcakes, will the measurements be the same?
what will replace the cocoa?

many thanks!

[crowland]

most every cake recipe that calls for cocoa is refering to the unsweetened kind.

[babes]

may i know?? your first ingredients says 1 cup sugar and the next line is another cup of sugar (brown) does it mean, one is granulated white sugar and the next one is brown sugar, making it two cups of (different kinds)sugar?? i hope i can try this tomorrow.. do you have other recipes?? thanks for posting! God bless!

[gina]

awesome recipe.. and, so much easier than mixing dry and wet ingredients separately!!! best chocolate cupcakes that I have ever made!!

[Yummy]

My sister made these cupcakes and they were the yummiest moistest cupcakes ive ever eaten ! Usually cupcakes ive made in the past have been quite heavy & dry but these were quite a good little snack to munch on :)

[Gabi]

I absolutely LOVE these... i halved the recipe to make 12 cupcakes, and the only thing i have to say is that i used just 1/2 cup of white sugar. they came out delicious, and perfectly sweet. in a few days i'll try actually making them with the icing, but even unadorned they're super super yummy, light, and moist.

if you're on the fence with making these, DO IT. you won't regret it.

[Smits]

Hi..I am from india and love baking..waiting to try thie recipe but my oven cannot fit two 12 muffin pans. so if i have to make 24 cupcakes can i bake them in two batches or the second batch wont come out so good because the batter was left out for long while the first batch was been baked..please reply soonest..thanks!

[B]

baked these for thanksgiving just yesterday ! they were so yummy, super moist and very choclatie ! thanks !

[Maruti]

wow!!what an appetizer.Love the cupcakes you made.

[LJ]

Seriously tanked on this one... The watery-ness wasn't a problem - they looked like cupcakes at the end, but they tasted very strange. I tried adding butter after the first bum batch, plus more cocoa and some cinnamon, and some chocolate chips, but it just wasn't working. Time to go to the supermarket and pick up storebought ones :(

[Renee Snell]

These turned out great for me! Thanks so much for the recipe....Happy Birthday to my sister, Terri, hope she likes them too!

[Lulu]

Fabulous, moist, delicious cupcakes. . . . they do tend to erupt though when cooking and I end up with chocolatey lava flows across the pan?! Anyone know why that is? All my other cupcakes stay flat. They are even more amazing drenched in chocolate orange syrup and frosted with orange buttercream. Yummy. x

[Rose]

I was wondering if you could pip swirls with a 1M Star tip with this buttercream frosting...Can you? Because from the picture above, I believe it will be too runny and thin to be able to pipe onto a cupcake.

[Serena]

Rose, I recommend adding more powdered sugar to make it thicker, in order to pipe, as the recipe I've included here is more on the runny side.
Best wishes,
Serena

[Rose]

What if I substituted this buttercream frosting recipe for another one like from Serious Cake's? Do you think, judging from her recipe, that it would be too sweet for these cupcakes?

[Missi]

Life is short, and this artlice saved valuable time on this Earth.

[Yesenia Rodriguez]

cupcakes were great!
This was my first successful recipe for cupcakes!
thank you.
but I did some changes to the frosting so it wouldn't taste so sugary!
I just added two cups of cream cheese and a splash of more vanilla and it did it for me!

[Margeaux]

I made these and they were not as superb as I thought they'd be. They tasted much better after sitting for 13 or so hours, and they were not that moist! still cupcakes are cupcakes and i would highly suggest making them with chocolate frosting

[Toni]

Just tried out your recipe for the chocolate cupcakes and loved it! Used a different frosting though but I can't get over how yum the cupcakes are! Thanks for sharing!

[S Bradt]

These are the BEST cupcakes I have ever made!!!! Thank you! I normally don't really even like chocolate cupcakes (I'm a vanilla girl) but these were so moist and fabulous warm from the oven with frosting- I ate 2! I added some almond extract to the frosting- YUM! Awesome! Will be making these again! Thanks!

[LeeAnn]

I've made these cupcakes twice, and both times they have come out with small-to-large holes in the tops. The look like the surface of the moon! They taste fine, and the holes are easily covered with frosting, but I am just curious as to why this happens. Any ideas???