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A chocolate cupcake with swirled chocolate frosting sits on a cooling rack, with more cupcakes in the background. The cupcake is in a dark brown paper liner.

Ultra Moist Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe With Chocolate Frosting

These rich and fluffy Ultra Moist Chocolate Cupcakes are topped with creamy chocolate frosting, making each bite a heavenly indulgence!
Author: Nick Makrides
4.74 from 46 votes
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Prep 30 minutes
Cook 30 minutes
Cool 2 hours
Total 3 hours
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12
Calories 700 kcal

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes

  • 185 g all-purpose flour plain flour
  • 220 g caster sugar superfine sugar
  • 50 g natural cocoa powder see notes
  • 1/4 tsp bicarb soda baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp fine salt
  • 60 g unsalted butter melted and cooled
  • 80 g vegetable oil
  • 2 large eggs at room temperature (55g each)
  • 185 g whole-milk room temperature
  • 60 g boiling water

Chocolate Frosting

  • 500 g unsalted butter softened (see notes)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1-2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 20 g heavy cream cold (see notes)
  • 400 g powdered sugar
  • 200 g dark cooking chocolate melted and cooled to room temperature (see notes)

Instructions
 

Chocolate Cupcakes

  • Preheat your oven to 160C / 320F (fan off), 140C / 285F (fan on). Line your muffin tin with cupcake liners. More details on cupcake liners in the notes.
  • Combine dry ingredients - Add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, bicarb soda, baking powder and salt to a medium sized mixing bowl and sieve. Then mix with a hand whisk.
  • Add wet ingredients - Add the butter, oil, eggs and milk to the dry ingredients and whisk together until well combined and no dry ingredients are showing. Take care not to overmix the batter.
  • Add boiling water - Lastly, pour in the boiling water and whisk until well combined and smooth. The batter will darken and thin out.
  • Bake - Scoop the batter into the cupcakes filling them up 3/4 of the way. Bake in the middle rack of your oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one cupcake (one of the middle cupcakes) comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool to room temperature.

Chocolate Frosting

  • Cream butter - Add your softened butter, salt and vanilla extract to a large bowl. If using a stand mixer fit it with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium high speed for 5 minutes until pale and fluffy. You will want to scrape down the bowl halfway through with a spatula to ensure everything beats together evenly!
  • Add sugar - Scrape the bowl down using a spatula and add all of the sifted powdered sugar. Begin beating on low speed at first. When no dry ingredients are showing, turn the speed up to medium high speed again and beat for 5 minutes.
  • Add chocolate and cream - Scrape down the bowl again and add the melted chocolate and heavy cream. Beat in on medium high speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl at least once to ensure the chocolate mixes in evenly.

Let’s Decorate!

  • Add the frosting to a piping bag fitted with an open star top and pipe swirls on each cupcake. Finish with chocolate or rainbow sprinkles.

Notes

Natural Cocoa powder - This is different to Dutch cocoa. It’s more acidic (not in flavour, just how it reacts in baking), which helps the cupcakes rise and makes them soft. It also gives a rich chocolate flavour and darker colour when mixed with boiling water.
Dark cooking chocolate - you want to use dark cooking chocolate and not regular eating chocolate for this recipe as it’s designed to be melted and used in baking recipes. Make sure you let the melted chocolate cool down before using. Warm is ok. Hot will melt your frosting.
How to soften your butter
Make sure your butter is softened for this recipe. It’ll help with the structural integrity of the frosting. I have a full guide on how to properly soften butter on the blog, but for reference, softened butter is 18C / 65F on a thermometer. Cut it into cubes and let it sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours until it reaches this temperature to until it’s soft enough that when you press on it with your finger, it leaves an indent with some resistance.
Heavy cream - I originally used milk for this recipe, but I’ve made the switch to cold cream instead. I find that milk makes your frosting too soft, and cold cream keeps it’s structure, and using cold cream helps stiffen your frosting while making it smoother. It’s a win win! For this recipe I’d recommend using heavy whipping cream which has about 36% butterfat in it. Check how much fat it has per 100g on the back and that number will give you a percentage.
Storage - Cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container for up to three days.
Nutrition - is an approximate and is based on per cupcake. This recipe makes 12 cupcakes.
What size muffin tin do you use?
I use a Wiltshire muffin tin. It’s pretty standard in size.
Bottom 5.5cm
Height: 3cm
Top: 7cm
What size cupcake liners do you use?
I use a brand named Confetta who are based here in Australia, but any greaseproof cupcake liners will work. Opt for good quality ones.
Bottom: 5cm
Height: 4cm
Top: 7.5cm 
A note on measurements – This recipe uses weight measurements for the most accurate results. Cup measurements can vary depending on where you are, which affects the precision needed for a recipe like this. Here is where you can learn more about how to measure ingredients using digital kitchen scales.

Nutrition

Serving:10g | Calories:700kcal | Carbohydrates:59g | Protein:5g | Fat:48g | Saturated Fat:30g | Polyunsaturated Fat:2g | Monounsaturated Fat:13g | Trans Fat:2g | Cholesterol:135mg | Sodium:358mg | Potassium:155mg | Fiber:4g | Sugar:42g | Vitamin A:1259IU | Vitamin C:0.01mg | Calcium:56mg | Iron:1mg
Keyword Chocolate, Cupcakes, Frosting
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