What’s better than decadent and moist chocolate cake with a thick swirl of frosting on top? I don’t know. And I don’t want to know. I’m happy here with my pan of decadent cupcakes that I’m gonna be sinking my teeth into alllll Valentine’s weekend long. And let’s be honest, I’ll be enjoying them any chance I get after that too – because cupcakes aren’t just for holidays, baby!
Continuing on the honestly train, the truth is, I ate a few bites of these cupcakes before 7 AM on the morning that I took these photos for the blog. I mean, sure, it was early, but how does anyone resist silky smooth chocolate cupcakes when they’re right in front of you?! I sure as hell can’t.
I’m so obsessed with these cupcakes. The cake is super light and full of flavor, and the icing is whipped to perfection to balance out the cake. Enjoy these for birthdays, Valentines Day, or just another Sunday… they won’t let ya down. 🙂
Couple of notes before we get on with this recipe:
- It is essential to use room temperature ingredients for this cake. Let your ingredients (butter, eggs, milk) sit out for at least an hour before baking. It makes all the difference – using cold ingredients won’t combine well, which will in turn yield uneven and oddly textured cupcakes… no one wants that!
- Do not melt your butter for the frosting OR cake. To the above note, the butter used in both should be room temperature, but still solid, not melted! We’ll be creaming the butter with the sugar, and the creaminess yields a lot of the airiness and fluffiness to the cupcakes.
Decadent Double Chocolate Cupcakes
1
servingsIngredients
- Cake Ingredients
1/2 Cup Milk
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Cane Sugar
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
- Frosting Ingredients
3/4 cup Unsalted Butter
1 cup Powdered Sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
6 tsp Milk
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare line a muffin tin (recipe makes about 9 cupcakes).
- Add room temperature butter to a large mixing bowl. With a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream the butter on low-medium speed for about 3 – 4 minutes. Make sure to scrape down the sides in between mixing. You’ll know when the butter is creamed when it is smooth and light in color.
- Once the butter is smooth and creamy, add vanilla and cane sugar, about a third at a time until the butter and sugar are creamed together. This will be about another 2 minutes of mixing – it will be well worth it!
- To the creamed butter and sugar, add in room temperature eggs one at a time and continue incorporating on low speed with the hand mixer until you’ve added both eggs. Once the butter, sugar and eggs are all beaten together, the mixture will be smooth and fluffy. At this point, add in the milk and continue mixing until fully incorporated.
- Next, in a separate bowl, sift all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. It’s important not to skip the sifting, as cocoa powder tends to clump up, and we don’t want that in the cake.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, about a fourth at a time, and with your hand mixer on low speed, mix in until all of the dry and wet ingredients have been incorporated. At this point, there should be no pockets of dry ingredients left and the cake batter should be smooth
- Scoop the cake batter into a lined muffin tin and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, prepare your frosting. Add (room temperature) butter to a mixing bowl, and similar to how we creamed the butter for the cake, cream the butter the same way for the frosting.
- Once the butter is fluffy and creamy, add in cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and milk. Add everything a little at a time so the dry ingredients don’t fly all over. I recommend alternating between adding the milk and the dry ingredients to the creamed butter which helps incorporating the ingredients with minimal mess.
- After the cupcakes are done baking, remove them from the oven and let them cool for at least an hour. Once the cupcakes are no longer warm, spread or pipe the frosting over top. Enjoy!
If you made this recipe, I’d love to see it! Let me know in the comments and tag me on IG at @simply_unbeetable.
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