Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. A quick & easy, one bowl, mix & bake chocolate cake recipe that produces moist, tender cupcakes crowned with the smoothest chocolate frosting.

Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes
Perfect chocolate cupcakes for me are rich, moist, cocoa based chocolate scratch cake recipe cupcakes. They are topped with a simple butter based frosting that incorporates melted chocolate in the recipe for a silky, creamy icing on these perfect little treats.
Chocolate cupcakes are an ideal take-along to many occasions. I can’t imagine any gathering of family or friends at which they would not be welcomed!

I like to use 50% dark chocolate chips for the frosting but you can use semisweet as well.
If you liked these cupcakes, you should check out our Black and White Cake, which is the same cake recipe but with kid approved marshmallow frosting. Black and White cupcakes wouldn’t be a bad idea either but a half batch of the frosting should suffice.
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Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting - a quick & easy, one bowl, mix & bake chocolate cake recipe that produces moist, tender cupcakes crowned with the smoothest chocolate frosting.
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cake
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup cocoa
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup soured milk, add 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar to the milk
- 1 cup brewed black coffee, or one tsp instant coffee in 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 4 cups icing sugar, powdered sugar
- 4 tbsp cocoa
- 1 cup butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 -6 tbsp milk
Instructions
Tp prepare the Chocolate Cake
- Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes.
- Pour batter into paper lined muffin tins filling about 2/3 to 3/4 full.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool completely.
To prepare the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler and let cool back to almost room temperature.
- Mix the butter, cocoa and icing sugar together until the butter is broken up well into small pieces and distributed throughout the sugar. It may still look powdery at this point.
- Add the melted chocolate chips, vanilla extract and 3 tbsp milk.
- Beat together well until smooth, fluffy and creamy. You can add more milk if you want a softer textured frosting or a little more icing sugar if you want a stiffer frosting.
- Spread on cooled cupcakes and serve.
Nutrition Information
Yield
18Serving Size
1 gramsAmount Per Serving Calories 489Total Fat 21gSaturated Fat 9gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 10gCholesterol 50mgSodium 290mgCarbohydrates 73gFiber 2gSugar 57gProtein 4g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
Danielle
Thursday 13th of February 2020
These are exactly what I look for in a chocolate cupcake! I made these to take to a party, and they got rave reviews.
Viv
Thursday 7th of December 2017
HI Barry! Could I double this revipe? Or do you recommend making 2 batches?
Sandy
Thursday 2nd of November 2017
Can The black and white cake be made without having the coffee added to it? 🌝
Barry C. Parsons
Thursday 2nd of November 2017
Yes, additional milk to replace it will be fine.
Florence
Sunday 22nd of October 2017
Made your chocolate cup cake recipe today. .made as cake instead of cupcakes .turned out very good ..my son even commented on & took some home . Will definitely make again BTW I'm half Newfield. Mother from Brigus
Kathy Steele
Thursday 19th of October 2017
Hey Barry; I am pretty excited to test drive every one of your recipes. I'm checking out what's available on Amazon, and from there I'll brag about every one. I'm sure they are tried, tested, and true, so I can't wait. I love NL, being a Newfie myself ( Rabbit Town) ive had a few traditional meals over the past 60 years. I do try to use less animal fat, and incorporate whole grains when I can without disturbing the cruxt of the recipe. Good luck with this site. I'm a believer. Peace