These bakery-style made-from-scratch chocolate cupcakes are moist and fudgy with a rich chocolate flavor--Combine them with your favorite fillings and frostings and you have the only chocolate cupcake recipe you'll ever need! From Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes to Chocolate-Covered Strawberry to Double Chocolate, you can mix and match the favorite flavors that we were known for at Amycakes Bakery.
Servings 19cupcakes
Prep Time 10 minutesmins
Cook Time 16 minutesmins
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
170 grams (1 ¼ cup + 2Tbsp)All-Purpose FlourI use Gold Medal
1 ½teaspoonBaking Powder
1teaspoonBaking Soda
¾teaspoonSalt
2tablespoonInstant ClearjelA bakery ingredient you can use at home--see Note #1
26 grams (¼cup)Unsweetened Cocoa PowderI use Hershey's
100 grams (½cup)Sugar
113 grams (½cup packed)Brown Sugar
Wet Ingredients
2largeEggs
¾ cup + 2tablespoonButtermilk
¼cupBrewed Coffee
½cupVegetable Oil
3tablespoonDark Corn Syrupor use light corn syrup
1 ½teaspoonVanilla Extract
Chocolate Butter Mixture
¾ stick(s) (3oz)Salted Butter
43 grams (¼ cup + 1Tbsp)Semi-Sweet Chocolate ChipsI use Nestle
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill cupcake tins with 19 cupcake liners.
Using a sifter or fine mesh strainer, sift the first sevenDry Ingredients into a large bowl, then add brown sugar. Whisk until well blended. If you see any large brown sugar clumps, break them up and blend them in with your fingers.
Combine Wet Ingredients in a separate large bowl and whisk until smooth and well-blended.
Melt saltedbutter in the microwave (or over the stove) until just melted. Avoid overcooking. Add semi-sweetchocolate chips and whisk until melted and smooth (Whisk for 30 seconds to 1 minute--the heat from the melted butter plus the whisking will melt the chips).
Pour Wet Ingredients into Dry Ingredients and whisk until incorporated. Pour Chocolate Butter Mixture over batter and whisk until smooth and lump-free. (A few teeny brown sugar lumps are ok and will dissolve as it bakes).
Using a 2-oz scoop or ¼ cup measuring cup, scoop batter into prepared cupcake tins.
Allow tins to set for 5-10 minutes before putting it in the oven. This will give time for the instant clearjel to thicken the cake batter before it bakes, allowing for a better rise.
Bake in the middle or top rack (avoid bottom rack) of the preheated 350-degree oven for 8 minutes. Without opening the oven, turn the temperature down to 300 degrees and bake for another 8-10 minutes. The cupcakes are done when a toothpick or small paring knife comes out mostly clean when quickly stuck in the cupcakes. These cupcakes are often done baking before they look done, and they will continue to bake a little bit as they cool. Because these cupcakes are so moist, it is okay to see a few moist crumbs on your knife when you check the finished product for doneness. But any wet-looking crumbs mean they need more time in the oven.
Brush Cupcakes with simple syrup (optional, see Note #2).
If you are frosting and serving them the next day, wrap the cupcakes in the cupcake tin and leave at room temperature overnight. You may also freeze the unfrosted cupcakes wrapped tightly in the cupcake tin up to a week in advance and they will stay very moist.
Decorate and Serve
Fill with your favorite Cupcake Filling and frost with your favorite Buttercream Frosting. I like to use 18" disposable pastry bags and either a 1M star tip or Round Cupcake Tip to pipe frosting on these cupcakes. Decorate with a drizzle of chocolate ganache using a squeeze bottle, if desired, and top with your desired garnishes.
Store finished cupcakes in airtight Tupperware. Cupcakes are best eaten at room temperature. If not serving within 24 hours, refrigerate the frosted cupcakes, but remove from the fridge 2-3 hours before serving so they may come back to room temperature. Enjoy!
Notes
Read my article Instant Clearjel: a Magical Bakery Ingredient to see why I think this ingredient is worth having in your pantry. Instant Clearjel must always be whisked thoroughly with other dry ingredients before added to wet ingredients to avoid clumping. I have tested this recipe with the following Instant Clearjel brands: Prepared Pantry, Hoosier Hill Farm, and Ingredion (Make sure what you purchase is labeled as "Instant." Cooktyle Clearjel is a different product that does not work the same in cakes). If you don't have Instant Clearjel you can substitute Jello Chocolate Instant Pudding Mix as described in my Instant Clearjel Substitutes.
Simple Syrup is optional, but I highly recommend it to seal in the moisture of your cupcakes. While the cupcakes cools, make a simple syrup by combining 2 tsb water and 2 teaspoon sugar in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave until the sugar is dissolved after whisking, about 20-30 seconds. You can also make a larger batch of this (1 part sugar to 1 part water) and keep it in the fridge if you're doing a lot of cake/cupcake baking.