Best Ever Moist Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission. These really are the best ever super moist chocolate cupcakes. Made from scratch with cocoa powder, they are deeply chocolatey, perfectly fluffy, and with a slightly domed top. And dare I say it? These homemade, moist chocolate cupcakes are way better than any boxed cake mix, with the same super moist crumb and texture that you know you love. If you also prefer homemade cakes made from scratch over box cake mixes, you will definitely want to check out my Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting, Homemade Funfetti Cake, and Best Red Velvet Cake. This is the be all, end all, of chocolate cupcake recipes. Your days of resorting to a cake mix can be a thing of the past. If you love making desserts from scratch and have been searching for the perfect chocolate cupcake recipe, your search is over. I know these are big claims, but honestly, I feel like I have tried every chocolate cupcake recipe on the planet.

And while there are many good chocolate cupcake recipes out there, this one is hands down the best chocolate cupcake recipe ever. I’m pretty confident you will agree. These cupcakes are the perfect thing to pair with homemade rainbow chip frosting recipe. Or the best chocolate buttercream you’ve ever tasted (it’s the chocolate frosting that is pictured in these photos). And I have a salted caramel frosting recipe that is also amazing with these cupcakes. Heck, I have an entire category of frosting recipes that would pretty much all be amazing with these moist chocolate cupcakes! And honestly, the cake part itself is so amazing that I always eat at least one cupcake sans frosting while I wait for them to cool. What makes these chocolate cupcakes so moist? The two biggest players in keeping these chocolate cupcakes moist are using buttermilk and oil in the recipe, as opposed to butter and sour cream, which are both commonly used in chocolate cakes.

If you don’t have any buttermilk on hand, you can make an easy substitute by adding 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to a 1/2 cup measuring cup, then filling the rest of the way with milk. Stir, then let sit for 5 minutes before adding to the recipe in place of the buttermilk. And while you technically could replace the oil with butter in this recipe, the cupcakes won’t be as moist for some science-y reason that I can’t explain. Just go with it - if you want to replicate the moist texture and fluffiness of a box cake mix (with way better flavor because these cupcakes are made from scratch), use the oil instead of melted butter. Start by combining flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until everything is combined. There is one more ingredient, which is very hot water.

It’s super important to achieving super moist chocolate cupcakes with an intense chocolate flavor. The hot water is also going to create a pretty thin batter, too. It really is supposed to be like that. Readers have said you can use hot coffee in place of the water, but I haven’t tried that myself. How much do you fill cupcakes? Be sure to only fill the cupcake liners halfway full! Not 3/4 or even 2/3 full, which are common amounts for other cupcake recipes. It is going to seem strange and like there is not nearly enough batter in each cupcake liner, but just trust me on this one. There is so much lift to the thin batter that if the cupcake liners are too full, the cupcakes will overflow and you won’t get that beautiful, domed cupcake shape that is the hallmark of perfect cupcakes. Plus, the top edges will get crisp and stick to the pan and the cupcake centers are probably going to sink. So just halfway full, m’kay?

If you find that your cupcakes aren’t doming on top, try filling your liners a little less next time. Or if you are baking at a high altitude, you might want to use this helpful guide to high-altitude baking and see if that helps, since I’m in California near sea level. How do you tell if cupcakes are done without a toothpick? I never use the toothpick test on cupcakes. For one, I hate digging around the back of my spice cupboard to find them. But also, I feel like it isn’t as accurate as simply touching the tops of the cupcakes. The best way to tell if cupcakes are done is to lightly tap the top of a cupcake. If it bounces right back, they are done. If a little indentation from your finger remains, the cupcakes need to bake a little bit longer. What kind of cocoa powder do I prefer? I have a few chocolate brands that I think make really great cocoa powder, like Rodelle and Ghiradelli, but I don’t have any problems with good old Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder, which is available at any grocery store.