Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

These chocolate cupcakes are melt-in-your-mouth delicious! Topped with silky smooth chocolate cream cheese frosting and garnished with chocolate curls, this will be your new go-to chocolate cupcake recipe. I’ve been making these cupcakes for years, starting with all my kids’ birthday parties, and everyone always agrees that they are the best chocolate cupcakes! 

You can switch the flavor and colors of the frosting to suit a variety of occasions: chocolate for Valentine’s Day or Halloween, plain cream cheese with crushed candy canes for Christmas, or add a little raspberry juice to the frosting by crushing fresh raspberries through a sieve and top with sprinkles for birthdays! 

For more easy chocolate desserts, try my Flourless Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes, Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart or my Chocolate Pear Tart. 

Why You’ll Love these Cupcakes:

• The cupcake is made with basic ingredients you probably already have on hand! (No need for buttermilk!)
• The cake is so moist, light, and delicious, and the batter needs no stand mixer! You can whisk it up with two bowls and a spoon, saving the clean stand mixer just for the cream cheese frosting. 
• Thanks to the combination of melted dark chocolate and unsweetened cocoa powder these cupcakes are extra chocolatey! This recipe is similar to my Chocolate Christmas Cake recipe which is a quick and festive chocolate cake recipe. 
• The frosting uses a cream cheese base, not butter, which lessens the need for a ton of powdered sugar like most buttercream frostings!

The Ingredients:

• Dark Chocolate Chips: I use these in addition to the unsweetened cocoa powder for the best rich, chocolatey flavor. My favorite brand is Nestle’s Dark Morsels. They are the best! They are not overly sweet and full of chocolate flavor. The recipe only calls for 2 tablespoons of the chips, so you can use up the rest of the bag in my Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies or my Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins. 
• Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Use unsweetened natural cocoa powder, not Dutch-processed cocoa powder. My favorite brand is Hershey’s; I find I get the most consistent results with it. 
• Hot Water The hot water will help the cocoa powder “bloom” and bring out its best flavor. It will also help melt the chocolate chips. I also find that water over milk provides a lot more moisture to the cupcake. It’s the same recipe I use in my Banana Bread and Pumpkin Bread recipes to get a super-moist quickbread. It also works with Blueberry Muffins, too!
• Vegetable Oil I prefer oil over butter in this recipe because it creates a super moist chocolate cupcake! If you don’t have vegetable oil, any kind of neutral oil will work (corn oil, canola oil, etc)
• Eggs: You’ll need two. Be sure to take them out of the refrigerator to come to room temperature. Use room temperature ingredients; they will combine a lot better with the oil and the water in this recipe.
• Sugar: I prefer white granulated sugar. The whiter, the finer, the better! This is what gives you the best light and fluffy texture. Stay away from coarse, natural-looking sugars; they will create a denser cupcake.
• Vanilla extract: Be sure you are using pure vanilla extract (not imitation vanilla extract). My personal favorite is Trader Joe’s Pure Vanilla. It will give you the best flavor and consistency for the price. 
• All-Purpose Flour I know there are bakers out there that swear by cake flour for cupcakes, but honestly, I cannot see the difference so I say you can make things easy on yourself and stick with the all-purpose flour.
• Baking Soda: I don’t use too much baking soda to prevent “the dome effect” on the cupcake. Domed tops are nice for muffin recipes but not great for cupcakes since they make them harder to frost. 
• Kosher Salt will boost all that wonderful chocolate flavor! 

A Word About The Cupcake Batter:

• What makes these chocolate cupcakes so moist and delicious is the fact that they don’t call for a lot of flour, but the trade-off is a runny batter!
• For this, I recommend filling the cupcake liners with an ice cream scoop; it’s a little less messy that way, and will ensure an even quantity of batter is distributed among the 12 cupcakes
• I also like to use brown parchment paper liners because after the cupcakes are baked, the liners blend into the cupcakes and allow the frosting to “pop,” making for a dramatic presentation.
• Only fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full so they don’t spill over the cupcake tin while in the oven. They are done when a toothpick comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting and Chocolate Cupcakes

The standby for chocolate cupcakes is typically buttercream frosting. Still, I always find buttercream to be too sweet, since it takes so much powdered sugar to get rid of the greasy butter flavor and turn it into “frosting”. Cream cheese already has a lovely texture and taste. It just needs to be sweetened up and lightened. You’ll find that the combination of the lightly sweetened cream cheese and the rich chocolate flavor is much better since each component plays a separate role. The cupcake is rich and chocolatey, and its sweetness is balanced by the tangy cream cheese frosting. 

Tips for The Best Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:

• Use whipped cream cheese. This will make your cream cheese frosting extra light and fluffy. I also be sure to use full-fat cream cheese for the best flavor. 
• Instead of adding butter, which I think makes the frosting too dense, I use heavy cream, which lightens the cream cheese and makes the frosting extra smooth and silky
• Use a star tip for the best presentation. I use the 1C tip from the Kayaso Pastry Tip Kit and it works perfectly for a beautiful swirl.
• The swirl also provides the perfect place to catch the chocolate curls once they are added.

Storing the Cupcakes:

• These cupcakes are best eaten the day they are made.
• Once the cupcakes are cooled, frost them, garnish them, and keep them in the fridge until ready to serve.
• Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting need to be refrigerated because of the dairy in the cream cheese. Just remove them 30 minutes before serving so that the cream cheese can come up to room temperature and regain a softer, lighter texture. 
• They can also be made 1 day ahead and frosted and still be pretty good! 

Freezing the Cupcakes:

• You can also freeze the unfrosted cupcakes for up to 1 month. 
• Place them in an airtight container and then place in the freezer.
• To thaw, place them in the refrigerator overnight or heat 2-3 cupcakes on high in the microwave for- 18-:30 seconds until just warm.
• Then allow them to cool, frost, and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. 

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chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Yield: 12

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Total Time: 58 minutes

These chocolate cupcakes will melt in your mouth! Topped with silky smooth chocolate cream cheese frosting, this will be your new go-to cupcake recipe.

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Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp (30ml) Dark Chocolate Chips
• ½ cup (50 g) unsweetened Cocoa powder
• ½ cup (120 ml) hot water
• 1 cup (200 g) of sugar
• ½ cup (120 ml) vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 ½ (7.5 ml) tsp vanilla
• 2/3 cups (80 g) of flour
• ¾ tsp (8.75 ml) salt
• ½ tsp (2.5 ml) baking soda

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 16 oz (450g) whipped cream cheese
• 4 Tbsp (25g) Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 1½ cup ( 170g) powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup (177ml) heavy cream
• 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla
• Dark Chocolate curls for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F (175 C) degrees. Line a 12-well muffin tin with cupcake papers.
2. In a large heat-safe bowl, add the chocolate chips and the cocoa powder. Then pour the hot water over the top to combine. Add the sugar and oil, whisk to combine. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth. Add the vanilla. Set aside.
3. In a smaller bowl sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture, in thirds, stirring gently with a wire whisk until combined.
4. Fill the cupcake wells ¾ of the way full. Bake 17 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.
5. To make the frosting combine cream cheese, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar in a bowl and with an electric mixer beat until combined.
6. Add heavy cream and vanilla and beat until smooth and creamy.
7. Fit a pastry bag with your favorite star tip, pipe frosting, and garnish with chocolate curls made with a potato peeler and a dark chocolate bar.

Notes

1. The cupcakes cake be made a day ahead and left unfrosted, at room temperature lightly covered with foil.
2. If frosting ahead of time, they can be made up to 1 day ahead, frosted and garnished, placed in the refrigerator uncovered.
3. These cupcakes can also be frozen, unfrosted. Once cooled place them in a ziplock bag, and pop them in the freezer for up to 1 month. Then defrost in the microwave on high for :15-:30. Allow to cool before frosting.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 242Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 72mgSodium: 136mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 1gSugar: 9gProtein: 5g