Best Chocolate Cupcakes {Soft and Moist}

Classic, quick, easy, best chocolate cupcakes recipe, homemade from scratch with simple ingredients. Topped off with chocolate frosting. Rich, soft, moist and fluffy. Packed with cocoa powder and topped off with fudgy chocolate buttercream frosting.

If you are a fan of my Best Easy Vanilla Cupcakes (Soft and Moist), then you are going to love today's recipe. I am not sure why I waited so long to share these because I have been making them for years for all of our family events, especially birthday parties. Speaking of birthdays, check out these fun Birthday Cake Ideas.

Jump to:

• Key Ingredients
• How to make easy chocolate cupcakes recipe from scratch?
• Frosting pairings
• Filled cupcakes
• Variations
• Tips and techniques
• Recipe FAQs
• Storage
• More easy cupcakes
• Recipe

Key Ingredients

• Eggs- You need two large at room temperature.
• Flour- Simply use your all-purpose for great results.
• Coffee- Be sure it is strongly brewed and warm.
• Cocoa powder- The higher quality you use, the better the cupcakes will be.
• Rising agents- Both baking powder and baking soda need to be used in this recipe.
• Buttermilk- You can make your own or purchase some at the store.
• Oil- This makes moist cupcakes that are delicious.
• Vanilla extract- This warm aroma and flavor pairs perfectly.
• Sugar- Simple granulated does great for this recipe.
• Chocolate Frosting- Use your favorite recipe from my long list and enjoy.

How to make easy chocolate cupcakes recipe from scratch?

1. Mix together wet ingredients- Including eggs, oil, buttermilk, coffee, and vanilla.
2. Mix together dry ingredients- Including flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda.
3. Dump dry mixture- Into wet mixture and stir altogether.
4. Pour batter- In cupcake liners.
5. Bake- Then let cupcakes cool and frost.

Filled cupcakes

If you have never stuffed your cupcakes, check out this handy tutorial on How To Make Filled Cupcakes. The classic choice is obviously Chocolate Ganache Frosting because it truly enhances the overall deep cocoa flavor. It's also super rich and creamy. You can also try jams and spreads such as this Homemade Strawberry Jam, peanut butter, other nut butters, Nutella or Biscoff cookie butter. I also like them with Homemade Vanilla Custard or Vanilla Pudding. You can also fill them with fresh berries (raspberries, strawberries, blackberries e.t.c.). Let’s not forget about pie fillings such as this Raspberry Pie Filling or this Cherry Pie Filling or this Strawberry Pie Filling. All of these can be homemade or store-bought.

Variations

• German chocolate- Pair these cupcakes with a classic German Chocolate Coconut Pecan Frosting.
• Vegan Cocoa Cupcakes- Use this linked recipe instead of modifying the one below.
• Sugar Free Cocoa Cupcakes- Use this linked recipe instead of altering the recipe below.
• Chocolate chip version- Stir in ¼ cup mini chocolate chips in the cupcake batter and also top off the frosted cupcakes with mini chocolate chips. Another option is to make my Chocolate Chip Cupcakes.
• Chocolate peanut butter flavor- Pair these cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting and a drizzle of melted peanut butter. Finally, top off with roasted peanuts or Peanut Butter Chocolate Bark.
• Mini cupcakes– Use a mini cupcake pan to make smaller cupcakes. Watch them closely while baking to prevent them from becoming over-baked and dry.
• Decorate- I kept it simple and decorated with a simple swirl of frosting but you can toss mini chocolate chips, chopped candies, chocolate shavings, sprinkles and even fresh flowers. Check out this tutorial on How to Decorate Cupcakes (Pipe or Frost). You can also Pipe Rose Cupcakes. Use mini marshmallows to make Flower Pot Marshmallow Cupcakes. An additional idea is to top them off with Fondant Flowers, Wafer Paper Flowers or Royal Icing Flowers (Sugar Flowers).

Tips and techniques

• All ingredients must be at room temperature- Because this allows them to blend together smoothly and evenly.
• Only use all-purpose flour- Don’t replace all-purpose flour with any other flour because it does not yield the same good results. I have various other flours, including whole wheat and gluten-free and neither tasted great. The only other flour that still yielded good results was Homemade Cake Flour.
• Don’t over-mix cupcake batter- Because that will yield very tough cupcakes and there is a higher probability of them sinking in the center, during baking.
• Frost cool cupcakes- Allow the cupcakes to fully cool down before frosting them because that prevents the frosting from melting all over the cupcakes and making a mess.
• Serve a crowd- Recipe can easily be doubled to serve more people. You will have to bake in batches though, if you don't have multiple ovens.
• Oil vs. Butter- Typically, I am a big fan of butter but in order to make these cupcakes fluffy, oil has to be used to give them an airy texture. Butter tends to make them very dense.
• Both, baking powder and baking soda, are required– Don’t replace one with the other because that will alter the texture of this cake.
• Use warm brewed coffee- Because if it’s too hot, it will start cooking the eggs in the batter. It cannot be boiling hot.
• Don’t use dark chocolate– This is with regards to cocoa powder because it makes them too bitter.
• Don’t replace buttermilk with whole milk- Because it adds a lot of moisture and yields super soft results.
• Make them moist- Moisture comes from rich ingredients that are high in fat. So, use full fat ingredients. Use whole milk or buttermilk instead of fat free or low fat milk. Use butter instead of oil, although today's recipe is an exception and requires oil.

Recipe FAQs

Storage

• Room temperature- These can be left out for up to 3 days on the counter in a container.
• Refrigerate- Place in a sealed container for up to 3 days.
• Freeze- Unfrosted cupcakes can be stored in an air-tight, sealed freezer bag or container for up to 1 month. Let them thaw to room temperature and then ice them with frosting of your choice. Don't freeze frosted cupcakes as they don't thaw well and can lose their beautiful swirl design.
• Make ahead- Make up to 2 days in advance and store in a sealed container in the fridge.

More easy cupcakes

• Birthday Cupcakes (Pinata Cupcakes)
• Oreo Cupcakes (With Cake Mix)
• Mocha Cupcakes (Coffee Cupcakes)
• Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes
• Easy Biscoff Cupcakes (With Cake Mix)

Recipe