Update 2022: After posting this recipe four years ago, I found that my one bowl chocolate cake recipe makes the best chocolate cupcakes! It’s what I prefer, and the crowds agree. So, this recipe has been updated with the new (and even easier to make!) recipe. 

Oh, chocolate. It’s made me weak in the knees since I was a kid sneaking it into the cart when my mom wasn’t looking. Some people prefer fruity desserts but I tend to lean toward the decadence of something chocolatey. If you’re in the same boat, then this recipe is for you: melt-in-your-mouth chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate buttercream that has been described by a friend as “the kind you need to put in the sink and fill the bowl with water because you can’t stop eating it.”

This recipe is everything you want in a chocolate cupcake – rich and decadent, moist and fudgy, and the perfect chocolatey flavor throughout. It’s a classic flavor pairing that will satisfy any chocolate lover in your life, and I’m a firm believer that every cake maker should have a good chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream recipe up their sleeve. Whether you pair the recipes together or use them separately to pair with other flavors, these are some great staples to add to your recipe box. 

You’ll notice that the cupcake recipe calls for hot coffee or hot water. You can absolutely use either, but the hot coffee will really help amplify the chocolate flavor in these cupcakes. It won’t add any coffee flavor in the process. I like to use fresh pour-over coffee, but you can use instant coffee or whatever you’re used to drinking at home.

I’ve kept the decoration simple with these babies by piping a swirl of chocolate buttercream with my Wilton 1M tip, but feel free to get creative with the design. They’re made even more beautiful with these pretty sprinkles from Fancy Sprinkles in the Birthday Balloons mix. I just love the pops of color and texture they add! 

Here’s a quick video of how to make these chocolate cupcakes before you read through the recipe below:

PS: If you’re into cake decorating videos like this one, be sure to check out my YouTube Channel! Click the Subscribe button while you’re there so you never miss a new video. 

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Chocolate Cupcakes With Chocolate Buttercream

Rich and moist chocolate cupcakes topped with decadent chocolate buttercream.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Servings 15 cupcakes

Ingredients

One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

• 1 Cup (132g) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 Cup (150g) white granulated sugar
• 1/3 Cup (30g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 Cup (60ml) vegetable oil
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 Cup (120ml) buttermilk, room temperature*
• 1/2 Cup (120ml) hot coffee or hot water**

Chocolate Buttercream

• 1 Cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 Cups (360g) powdered sugar
• 1/2 Cup (45g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 Tbsp (45ml) whole milk, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt

Instructions

Make The Chocolate Cupcakes

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF/177ºC and line a cupcake pan with 12-15 liners.
• Whisk all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl to fully combine them. Add the vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk and mix on low with either a hand mixer, the paddle attachment on your stand mixer, or by hand until combined. Add the hot coffee (or hot water) in a slow stream. Continue mixing on low until fully combined and smooth, 1-2 minutes. The batter will be very thin.
• Pour the batter into the prepared cupcake liners (no more than ⅔ full) and bake for 15-18 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Make The Chocolate Buttercream

• In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip the butter on high speed until creamy and light in color, about five minutes. Scrape down the bowl and paddle and turn the mixer to low, then add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, milk, vanilla extract, and salt. Continue mixing on low speed until fully combined and uniform, 2-3 minutes, scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed.

Assembly

• Let the cupcakes cool thoroughly before frosting with chocolate buttercream. In the images above, I've used Wilton tip 1M to pipe a swirl with the buttercream before adding these sprinkles. 

Notes

*DIY Buttermilk recipe: add 1 Tbsp of white vinegar to a jar and top it with 1 Cup of whole milk. Stir and let sit for 15 minutes before using in the recipe. 

**hot coffee will not add any coffee flavor to the cupcakes, but it does help amplify the chocolate flavor better than hot water. 

Make Ahead Tips: 

1. The chocolate cupcakes can be made ahead and stored at room temperature, covered with plastic wrap, for up to two days. Alternatively, they can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to two months. 
2. The chocolate buttercream recipe can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-mix with your stand mixer on low speed to bring it back to frosting consistency. 

Did you make these chocolate cupcakes? I want to know how it went! Leave a comment below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me. I love to see what you create!

The post One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

Hands down, my favorite Thanksgiving tradition is spending an entire day cooking all the food. There’s something so special about working side-by-side in the kitchen with someone you love, turning the music up loud enough to sing, and tackling a huge list of foods to make! It all started with my sweet mom and I, and although she passed away years ago, I’ve been able to keep the tradition alive with my mother-in-law. Of all the things we make together for Thanksgiving, there’s one thing I’m solely responsible for: the pies.

Although my pie game is usually a tiny bit better than average, this year it was almost as if I’d never baked a thing in my whole life! After laboring over the perfect butter crust and decadent chocolate caramel pecan filling, the pie wouldn’t set. It’s a recipe I’ve made successfully before (see the pic above), but this year.. oh man. Just imagine chocolate caramel soup with pecans floating around in it. It’s a good thing situations like these can be redeemed with these chocolate caramel pecan cupcakes!

Inspired by the pie recipe that went horribly wrong, these chocolate caramel pecan cupcakes are downright decadent: moist chocolate cupcakes topped with salted caramel buttercream, rolled in chopped pecans and drizzled with chocolate ganache and salted caramel. They’ll satisfy the chocolate caramel lover at any gathering! And best of all, they’re easier than pie.

You can decorate these cupcakes any way you’d like, but I love piping a swirl of buttercream with my Wilton tip 4B and rolling the edges in chopped pecans before all the drizzling. Since the chocolate ganache and salted caramel recipes do require some cooling time before decorating, I recommend making these two elements ahead of time (they’ll keep for up to two weeks in the fridge!) so you don’t have to wait around for them to cool down. And with everything prepped and ready to go, you can really whip them up in a jiffy!

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Chocolate Caramel Pecan Cupcakes

Moist chocolate cupcakes topped with a swirl of caramel buttercream, rolled in chopped pecans, and drizzled with chocolate ganache and caramel. 

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 18 cupcakes

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes

• 1 1/3 cups (184g) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (63g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1 cup (200g) white granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup (80ml) vegetable oil
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup (80ml) whole milk, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup (240ml) boiling water

Salted Caramel Buttercream

• 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 cups (480g) powdered sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (120ml) salted caramel, room temperature (recipe link below)
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt

Garnishes

• 1 cup chopped pecans
• salted caramel (recipe link below)
• chocolate ganache (recipe link below)

Instructions

Make The Chocolate Cupcakes

• Preheat the oven to 325˚F and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Place the sifted dry ingredients into the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the sugar to the mixture and mix at low speed until blended. Add the vegetable oil and continue to mix until the mixture is crumbly, about 1 minute.
• In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and vanilla extract until blended. With the mixer at low speed, add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and mix for two minutes, scraping down the bowl and paddle as necessary.
• Slowly add the boiling water and mix until just blended and the batter is smooth, scraping down the bowl and paddle to ensure uniform consistency. Pour the batter evenly amongst cupcake liners, about ⅔ full each. Bake the cupcakes for 17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool thoroughly before frosting.

Make The Salted Caramel Buttercream

• In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip the butter on high until it’s fluffy and light (almost white in color), 5-6 minutes, scraping down the bowl and paddle a few times in between. Turn the mixer to low and add the powdered sugar a few cups at a time, scraping down the bowl and paddle after each interval. Add the vanilla. 
• With the mixer still on low, add the salted caramel. Add a pinch of salt, increase the speed to medium, and mix for 2 full minutes.

Assembly

• Once the chocolate cupcakes have cooled completely, top them with a swirl of Salted Caramel Buttercream (I used Wilton Tip 4B). Roll the edges in chopped pecans and drizzle the cupcakes with Salted Caramel and Chocolate Ganache. 

Notes

Make Ahead Tips: I recommend making at least the Salted Caramel and Chocolate Ganache recipes at least one day ahead. Each of those recipes can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use them, bring them back to room temperature and then microwave in 10 second increments to bring them back to drizzling consistency. 

The Chocolate Cupcakes can be made ahead and stored at room temperature, covered with plastic wrap, for up to two days. Alternatively, they can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to two months. 

The buttercream recipe can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, re-whip with your stand mixer.

How are the Holidays treating you? I’m in full-on Christmas mode now that Thanksgiving has passed and really excited to share some festive cake tutorials and recipes with you! Let me know how you like these chocolate caramel pecan cupcakes in the comments below, or feel free to tag me on Instagram – I love to see what you’re making!

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