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.

I know I’m not alone when I say my love for chocolate cake runs DEEP. I’ve just always had a soft spot in my heart for a good chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (bonus if it has sprinkles!). So when I went about making this Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe, I made sure it had all the essentials: extra moist, rich chocolate flavor, just the right balance of sweet and decadent, and has that melt-in-your-mouth crumb we all want in a chocolate cake. It’s a true rival to my (full-dairy) One-Bowl Chocolate Cake recipe and I could not be more satisfied with how the vegan version turned out! 

My ultimate goal with this recipe was to make it so tasty that you couldn’t tell it’s vegan. I’m so happy to say that this cake definitely knocks it out of the park on taste, texture, and all the things! After topping it with Vegan Chocolate Buttercream, even my (non-vegan) husband agreed that you truly can’t tell a difference between this recipe and the full-dairy version. Maybe we need to do a blind taste test to compare, but I feel like this Vegan Chocolate Cake is everything I was hoping for. 

This cake recipe actually dates back to the depression era (it’s sometimes called Wacky Cake or Crazy Cake), when ingredients like eggs and butter were too expensive to have on hand. Even though it’s super simple and basically the kind of cake you can throw together with ingredients you probably already have in your pantry, it makes the perfect vegan cake because it doesn’t need dairy to be amazing. It gets its moist crumb from a vegetable oil base, and while you can use any kind of oil you want, be sure that you like the taste of whatever you’re using, as it will end up flavoring the cake. I always opt for canola oil or generic vegetable oil, because they have the least amount of flavor and I want chocolate to be the star of the show in this recipe. 

Why NON Dutch Process Cocoa? 

Speaking of chocolate, it’s really important that you use non Dutch Process cocoa powder in this recipe. This is because there’s an amazing chemical reaction that happens between the cocoa powder, baking soda, and vinegar that’s responsible for giving this cake its rise. The chemical reaction doesn’t work properly with Dutch Process cocoa powder because of how it’s made – Dutch Process involves washing the cocoa beans in an alkaline solution called potassium carbonate, which neutralizes the acidity. In other words, it prevents that cool little science experiment from happening when you bake it, resulting in a deflated cake. Just be sure to use a natural, unsweetened cocoa powder for this recipe. Any brand will work, but Hershey’s is what I use.

This Vegan Chocolate Cake pairs well with pretty much any frosting flavor, but it’s pictured here with my Vegan Chocolate Buttercream, which is lick-the-spoon amazing. I ate an embarrassing amount of it (zero regrets though!). This cake also pairs super well with the Vegan Oreo Buttercream from this recipe as well if you’re more of a cookies and cream kind of person. 

To decorate, I frosted the cake smooth, added some Fancy Sprinkles in the “Hey Jude” mix (also vegan!), and used Wilton tip 4B to pipe swirls around the top before adding even more sprinkles. If you want to grow in your cake decorating skills, be sure to check out my Cake Basics series – it’s a collection of videos and blog posts that will show you how to build and decorate a cake just like this one from start to finish. However you decide to decorate, this Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe is sure to impress both vegans and non-vegans alike. Enjoy!

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Vegan Chocolate Cake

A simple yet decadent vegan chocolate cake that's moist, ultra-chocolatey, and basically everything you could want in a chocolate cake (but completely dairy-free!)

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 Cups (400g) all-purpose flour
• 2 Cups (410g) granulated white sugar
• 1/2 Cup (45g) natural, unsweetened cocoa powder NOT Dutch Process
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 Cup (180ml) vegetable oil
• 2 tsp white vinegar
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 Cups (480ml) water, room temperature

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF and prepare three 6-inch or two 9-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with cooking spray and fitting the bottoms with a wax paper or parchment cake circle. 
• Place all of the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer and stir on low for 30 seconds to fully combine them. Add the vegetable oil, vinegar, vanilla, and water and mix on low until combined.
• Pour into prepared cake pans no more than 2/3 full and bake for 35-40 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely before filling and frosting with a double batch of Vegan Chocolate Buttercream (or frosting of your choice).

Notes

Make ahead tips: This Vegan Chocolate Cake can be made ahead and stored at room temperature, covered tightly in plastic wrap, for up to two days. Alternatively, you can cover with plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to two months before thawing to room temperature. 

Make it extra chocolatey by filling and frosting with a double batch of Vegan Chocolate Buttercream. 

Did you make this Vegan Chocolate Cake? I want to know what you think! Let me know in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco in your Instagram photos to show me. I love to see what you create!

The post Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

I get questions quite often about adding sprinkles to cake. Mainly: how do you get them to stick to the frosting? And how do you add them without indenting the buttercream? It’s about time I dedicated an entire post to my go-to methods for decorating cakes with sprinkles, and while I already have this post on how to cover an entire cake in sprinkles, this one will share all the little things I do to get the look pictured above. Here’s a quick video to show you the techniques before I get into all the details below:

Want to see more Cake Basics videos like this one? Head to my YouTube Channel to see the growing collection. You’ll also find tons of cake recipes and decorating videos to inspire you and broaden your skill set – be sure to hit the subscribe button so you never miss a new one!

What Kinds of Sprinkles Work with These Techniques? 

The cool thing about these techniques is that any sprinkles will work! Keep in mind that the smaller the sprinkles you’re using, the more tedious it will be to add them if you’re placing them one-by-one (like in Step 3). While it’s not impossible to work with teeny tiny sprinkles, it’s just much easier to place the sprinkles when they’re jimmy-size or bigger. 

The sprinkles I’m using in my video (and throughout this post) are the Hey Sugar mix by Sprinkle Pop, simply because I love the color scheme and think they go well with my turquoise + fuchsia buttercream. I also love using Fancy Sprinkles and have found plenty of pretty sprinkle mixes at my local JOANN store. They’re everywhere these days, so take a look around on Google, Instagram, or even try your local craft store or specialty baking aisle to find a sprinkle mix you love. 

How Many Sprinkles Do I Need? 

Sprinkles typically come in a few different jar sizes: 2oz (sample size), 4oz, 8oz, and beyond. The cake I’m working with throughout this post is a triple layer 6-inch cake that is about 5 inches tall. To get the look pictured (a thicker band of sprinkles around the base of the cake + individually placed sprinkles around the top) with this size of cake, you’ll need a 4oz bottle of sprinkles. In reality, you’ll only use about 2-3oz of sprinkles, but in my opinion, it’s always best to have more than enough than to have just barely enough. 

The good thing about this approach (buying a little more than you need) is that sprinkles keep for a long time, so you can always use the extra in future cake and cupcake projects. 

When to Add Sprinkles to Your Cake

I always add sprinkles right after I add the final layer of frosting to my cake, while the frosting is still wet to the touch. Beneath that final frosting layer is a crumb coated cake that’s been chilled, which gives the entire cake a sturdy foundation and makes the final layer of frosting semi-set (because of the cold sublayers), yet still fresh enough for sprinkles to adhere easily. 

In my experience, this timing is essential to decrease the chances of indenting the frosting finish while you’re placing the sprinkles. If you add the sprinkles without crumb coating and chilling your cake before applying that final layer of frosting, you have an increased risk of the foundation (cake layers and filling) shifting around on you as you decorate. On the other hand, if the final frosting layer is too chilled (aka you placed your cake in the refrigerator after the final layer of frosting was added) before adding the sprinkles, they may not adhere as easily. 

While it’s not impossible to place sprinkles on a cake that’s not set enough and a cake that’s too chilled/set, I recommend following the timeline laid out in this Cake Basics series and adding the sprinkles right after that final layer of frosting.

Here’s how: 

Step 1: Prepare Your Cake & Workspace

Once your cake has been frosted with the final layer of buttercream, you’re ready to prepare your workspace and start adding sprinkles. To make cleanup super easy and ensure that you don’t waste a ton of sprinkles in the process, I recommend placing a large sheet pan underneath your cake, which should still be on its turntable.  

I also recommend pouring the sprinkles out into a bowl and mixing them up, just so you don’t end up with all of the larger sprinkles in only one area of the cake. 

Step 2: Add the Concentrated Sprinkles

To add a concentrated amount of sprinkles around the bottom of the cake, I find it easiest to pour some sprinkles into the palm of my hand, then gently press them by the palmful onto the side of the cake. 

Continue this process around the entire base of the cake until you’re happy with the way it looks. I prefer an imperfect boundary line when it comes to this technique so I like to add a lot of highs and lows instead of trying to create a perfectly straight line here.

Feel free to add in larger sprinkles and fill in gaps as you see them. Once you feel satisfied with the sprinkle placement around the base, it’s helpful to clean up the stray sprinkles on the turntable so you can ensure that you’ve covered all the spaces you want to before moving on.

The easiest way to do this is with a pastry brush, and since you’ve got your sheet pan underneath the turntable, all of those extras will get swept away without covering your kitchen floor. 

Step 3: Add the Individual Sprinkles

Once I’ve got the base of the cake covered with a more concentrated sprinkle placement, it’s time to add individual sprinkles in what I like to call a “floating” pattern. I don’t really know what else to call it, but the only way to get the look is to add each sprinkle one-by-one. To get started, I press a sprinkle onto the pad of my pointer finger, then quickly (and gently) press that sprinkle to the side of the cake. 

In my opinion, pressing the sprinkles on with the pad of your finger is the best way to prevent indents, since your fingernails won’t get in the way. Adding sprinkles with tweezers, your fingertip, or by pinching the sprinkle between two fingers is totally possible, but you have to be way more careful in regards to the sharp points of the tweezers or your nails indenting the cake finish. 

You will drop a lot of sprinkles along the way whichever method you choose, but as a tip for getting the sprinkles to stick to your finger easier, it’s helpful to keep a damp paper towel handy. This way you can press your finger onto the paper towel before placing it onto a sprinkle – that little bit of moisture helps keep it stuck on for longer. 

I like to place the individual sprinkles about an inch or so apart, always ensuring that no two colors or shapes are placed right next to one another. This process in total can take upwards of 15 minutes, so throw on some music and settle in for a tedious sprinkle sesh. Taking your time will be worth it in the end! 

Step 4: Continue Decorating 

For this particular design, I move on to decorating the top of the cake once I’ve got the sides sprinkled just the way I want them. Side note worth mentioning: If I’m adding sprinkles to a cake that will have a ganache drip, I tend to do Steps 1 and 2, add the drip, then complete Steps 3 and 4. Just thought I’d mention that in case anyone is wondering where a drip comes into play. 

For this cake, I fitted a piping bag with Wilton Tip 4B and filled it with some buttercream frosting that I tinted with Americolor Fuchsia color gel. Then, I piped a series of swirls around the top edge.

To finish the look, I added more sprinkles onto each of the fuchsia swirls. It’s important to do this immediately after swirling, while the buttercream is still fresh. If the buttercream has set, the sprinkles will just bounce off. 

When you’re happy with your beautiful smooth and sprinkled buttercream cake, step back and marvel at your masterpiece! You did it! 

Did you make this cake? I want to see how it turned out! Be sure to let me know in the comments or tag @Sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me. And if you want more Cake Basics, head here to see all of the posts and learn the methods of caking I’ve come to love over the years. I’m cheering you on every step of the way!

The post How to Decorate a Cake with Sprinkles appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

If you’d have asked me what my favorite kind of cake was as a kid, I would reply without hesitation that it was Funfetti (specifically the Pillsbury box mix) with the canned rainbow chip frosting to match. The frosting came with a little pouch of rainbow chips that you could mix in by hand, so it felt like a fun little project. To this day, Funfetti cake remains my most popular flavor request from people of all ages, and for all kinds of events (even weddings!). There’s something about the sprinkles baked right into the cake that gets people jazzed, and for good reason. It’s basically a party waiting to happen!

Although I’ve swapped the canned Funfetti frosting for homemade, I’ve never been happier. This cake pairs so well with a variety of frostings since it’s a vanilla-based cake (specifically, my vanilla cake recipe with sprinkles folded in at the end!). In the past, I’ve topped it with buttercream flavors like vanilla, almond, cream cheese, raspberry and chocolate. Basically anything that pairs well with vanilla cake will go perfectly.

As far as sprinkles go, you’ll want to stick with very basic rainbow sprinkles called jimmies (the elongated kind, pictured below). I buy mine from the bulk section at the grocery store (such a great discovery!), and although you might be tempted to use fancier sprinkles or nonpareils I would not recommend it because many sprinkles tend to bleed their colors once they’re mixed into the batter. Trust me, I know from experience that some sprinkles can either tye dye your cake or turn it a weird green color. Your cheap-o rainbow jimmy sprinkles will be perfect for adding that pop of color without the colors bleeding, and with the inside of the cake looking so pretty, you can save the fancy ones for the outside. 

Another thing about the sprinkles: I recently learned that coating them with a little all purpose flour keeps them perfectly suspended in the cake batter! You’ll notice 1 1/2 Tbsp of all purpose flour at the end of the recipe below, and that little bit of flour is every bit important for confetti-esque cake layers.

As far as decorating goes, the sky is the limit! To keep with the funfetti theme, I’ve used some Fancy Sprinkles in the Roller Disco mix on the outside of the cake to give it a fun, celebratory look. I added a few buttercream swirls with my Wilton 1M tip to the top, sprinkled generously, and called it a funfetti masterpiece. However you decide to decorate, slicing into this cake is like getting the party started.

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Funfetti Cake Recipe

The perfect party cake for all ages! Soft and fluffy vanilla cake with rainbow sprinkles baked right in.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

• 3 3/4 cups (398g) cake flour, sifted before measuring*
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/8 cup (254g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 1/2 cup (513g) granulated white sugar
• 5 eggs, room temperature
• 3/4 cup (168g) sour cream, room temperature
• 1 1/2 Tbsp (22ml) pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup (360ml) whole milk, room temperature
• 3/4 cup (142g) rainbow sprinkles (jimmies work best)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp all purpose flour

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare three 8-inch or four 6-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with a cooking spray (Baker's Joy is my favorite) and a wax paper circle fitted to the bottom of the pan. Alternatively, you can grease and lightly flour the pans. 
• Sift the cake flour and then measure by spooning and leveling it in your measuring cup. Add the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside. 
• In the bowl of your stand mixer (a handheld mixer works fine too!), cream the butter for on high for two minutes until it’s light and fluffy. Add in sugar and continue to mix on medium-high for another two minutes, scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Add vanilla and sour cream and mix for one minute on high, scraping down the bowl and paddle once more. 
• With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the milk slowly and mix until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and give it a few stirs to make sure there are no lumps. 
• In a small bowl, coat the rainbow sprinkles with 1 1/2 Tbsp of all purpose flour. Then, gently fold the flour-coated rainbow sprinkles into the cake batter by hand. The batter will be slightly thick, but pourable.
• Pour batter into prepared cake pans (no more than 2/3 of the way full) and bake for 35-40 minutes. They’re done when they spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan for five minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack for an additional few hours of cooling. Make sure they’re entirely room temperature before applying any frosting.

Notes

*DIY Cake Flour Recipe: To make your own cake flour, spoon and level one cup of all-purpose flour and remove 2 Tbsp. Add 2 Tbsp of cornstarch. Repeat per the amount of cake flour you need, then sift the flour and cornstarch mixture 4 times (don’t skip that step!). After sifting, spoon and level to re-measure the amount of cake flour you need. 

Make ahead tip: These cakes can be baked, cooled, wrapped in plastic wrap, and left out at room temperature up to two days ahead of decorating. Unfrosted cake layers can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored in the freezer for up to two months before thawing and frosting. 

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