These cupcakes are deeply chocolatey, they’re moist – and stay moist for 3 days – and have a terrific tender crumb. It’s extremely simple to make – no creaming butter, no beater required. By far the best chocolate cupcakes I’ve ever had made with such little effort!

Ingredients

Dry:
3/4 cup plain/all purpose flour
3/4 cup caster sugar (super fine sugar, or sub with normal white sugar)
1/2 tsp baking soda / bi carbonate soda (Note 1)
Pinch of salt
Wet:
120g / 8 tbsp unsalted butter , cut into 1″ / 2cm pieces (1 US stick / 1/2 cup)
60g / 2 oz dark chocolate , preferably 70%+ cocoa, broken into pieces (Note 2)
1/2 cup cocoa powder , preferably Dutch processed (Note 3)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil (or other neutral flavour oil)
2 large eggs (55 – 60g / 2 oz each)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp white vinegar
Chocolate Fudge Frosting:
120g / 8 tbsp unsalted butter , cut into 1″ / 2cm pieces (1 US stick / 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup cocoa powder , preferably Dutch processed
2 1/2 cups soft icing sugar / powdered sugar (NOT pure icing sugar)
3 – 4 tbsp milk (any)
Sprinkles and other decorations, if desired

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan). Put oven rack in the middle of the oven.
Place 12 cupcake liners in a cupcake tin.
Sift Dry ingredients into a bowl. Whisk briefly.
Place butter and chocolate in a separate, large heatproof bowl. Microwave for 45 seconds, mix, then microwave for another 30 seconds. Mix until chocolate is melted and smooth (keep microwaving in 20 sec bursts if chocolate not melted).
Add cocoa powder and mix.
Add milk and oil, then eggs, vanilla and vinegar. Whisk until smooth.
Add flour mixture and whisk until lump free.
Divide mixture between cupcake liners. I use a ice cream scoop for this. They should be just over 3/4 full.
Bake for 18 – 20 minutes, or until skewer inserted into the cupcake in the middle of the tray comes out clean.
Remove from oven and immediately transfer to cooling rack (spoon or knife helps).
Once cool, spread with frosting and decorate with sprinkles if desired. Alternatively, use Chocolate Buttercream Frosting!
Speedy Chocolate Fudge Frosting:
Melt butter then mix in cocoa powder until smooth.
Add icing sugar and milk. Mix until smooth. Use milk to adjust consistency if required – it should be a soft spreadable consistency (like peanut butter).

Notes

1. You can substitute the bi carb with 1 1/2 tsp baking powder. The cupcake is not quite as fluffy, but it is still lovely and soft.
2. Use dark chocolate purchased from the baking section of the supermarket, not eating chocolate. You can use any dark chocolate you want, but a good quality one with 70% or more cocoa (will say on packet) will give a better chocolate flavour.
3. Dutch processed cocoa has a more intense chocolate flavour than normal cocoa. However, you can use normal cocoa if you want.
Using a normal cocoa and normal dark chocolate will still yield a lovely chocolate tasting cupcake. It is just that by using 70%+ chocolate & Dutch processed cocoa powder makes a more intense chocolatey flavour. 🙂
4. For BAKING NERDS: Mixing cocoa powder with hot butter (or hot water, as is usually done in recipes) makes it “bloom”, enhancing the chocolate flavour. Also, I add the milk and oil first into the melted butter mixture to bring the temperature down so you can add the eggs without worrying about the heat from the butter “cooking” the eggs!
This recipe is deliberately and specifically made with both oil and butter. Butter for flavour, oil for moisture.
Cup sizes in the US are slightly different to those in the rest of the world. For most recipes, the difference is immaterial and won’t affect the recipe. For baked goods, it can matter. I have made this recipe using US cups, Australian cups (same as UK, EU) and weight measures and noticed no difference in the results. I find this recipe pretty forgiving compared to most cupcake recipes – because it’s made like a quick bread / muffin batter.
5. The Frosting recipe makes enough to slather each cupcake quite generously – around 2.5 tbsp per cupcake. If you want less, use the SCALER (hover over servings) to reduce the butter to 70g – this will make enough frosting to just spread frosting on each cupcake.
6. These cupcakes stay beautifully moist for 3 days, in an airtight container. If it is very hot where you are, refrigerate them (because of the frosting) but ensure they are brought to room temperature before serving. They also freeze great (even with he frosting) – I’ve made so many in recent weeks, I’ve been freezing tons of them!