If I had one specific baked good to thank for setting me on the path to becoming a professional Baker, it would have to be the humble cupcake. Growing up I loved baking with my Mom, and I always thought it was a great hobby – but I never really considered it as a potential career path for myself. I graduated from High School, started College, and went through the motions of figuring out what to do with my life; all the while baking (mostly cupcakes) for fun. Eventually, that little side hobby started bringing in some money. Not much money, mind you, but with every wedding, birthday party, and special event that people ordered cupcakes for I realized more and more that this was what I wanted to do. So I decided to go to culinary school and dreamed of opening a cupcake food truck. While the food truck dream came and went, my love of cupcakes never faded. They are so fun, versatile, and a great dessert for a crowd.
This is my favorite chocolate cake recipe – which means it is also my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe. The cake is soft and fluffy with a light crumb and delicate texture. To start, I like to bloom the cocoa powder. Yes, I said bloom the cocoa powder. What the heck does that mean?! To bloom cocoa powder means to measure out the cocoa powder you need for the recipe and then stir it into a hot liquid that is also going into your recipe, like water, vegetable/canola oil, or my personal favorite – coffee. But why? Blooming cocoa powder in a hot liquid causes the cocoa to dissolve, and as it dissolves it releases more flavor particles which means a deeper, richer chocolate flavor in your cupcakes! I prefer to use hot coffee in this recipe because coffee and chocolate are best friends. You can’t taste the coffee in the cupcakes, but the coffee enhances the flavor of the chocolate even more. The end result is a very chocolaty, super satisfying cupcake.
Okay, so bloom your cocoa powder in the coffee (or hot water), whisk it together and allow it to sit for 2 minutes. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk in the eggs, followed by the remaining wet ingredients (vegetable oil, vanilla extract or paste, buttermilk, and the bloomed cocoa powder mixture). Mix everything together until it is well combined and smooth. This batter is very liquidy, so I would recommend using a scoop or liquid measuring pitcher to pour the batter into your cupcake liners/pan. Be careful not to fill the cupcake liners too high (like I have a tendency to do), or your cupcakes will overflow as they bake and stick together. Try to aim for each cupcake liner to be about 3/4 full.
Bake your cupcakes in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes. Rotate your pans and then bake them for an additional 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a few cupcakes comes out clean. Allow them to cool completely before you frost them. Use your favorite frosting, or try the easy and delicious Italian Meringue Vanilla Bean Buttercream recipe below!
I decided to finish these off with a drizzle of Salted Caramel Sauce, and a pinch of flakey sea salt! You can find the Salted Caramel Sauce recipe here.
Recipe
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Chocolate Cupcakes + Vanilla Buttercream
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 24 cupcakes 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 cups Sugar
- 1 3/4 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Cocoa Powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
- 1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 2 Large Eggs
- 1 cup Buttermilk
- 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
- 2 tsp. Vanilla
- 1 cup Hot Coffee or Hot Water
For the Italian Meringue Vanilla Bean Buttercream:
- 1 cup Sugar and 1/4 cup Sugar – seperately
- 1/4 cup Water
- 5 Egg Whites – room temp.
- 2 cups Butter – room temp.
- 3 tsp. Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Bean Paste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Prepare muffin tins with 24 cupcake liners.
- Bloom cocoa powder by whisking it into the hot coffee or hot water. Let it sit for 2 minutes.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Whisk eggs into the dry ingredients, followed by the buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and bloomed cocoa mixture.
- Whisk together until well combined and smooth.
- Carefully pour batter into your prepared cupcake liners, being sure not to overfill them.
- Bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes, or until the cupcakes are springy and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before you frost them.
For the Italian Meringue Vanilla Bean Buttercream:
- Boil 1 cup of sugar with 1/4 cup of water over medium heat until it reaches 245-degrees.
- In a large bowl, whip egg whites with a mixer on high until soft peaks form. (About 2 minutes)
- Sprinkle 1/4 cup of sugar into the egg whites and keep whisking for another minute.
- Once the sugar/water mixture has reached 245-degrees, slowly drizzle it into the whipped egg whites while you continue to whisk. Be very careful as it is hot.
- Continue to whisk this mixture on high for 7 to 10 minutes.
- Because you are adding hot water/sugar to the egg whites, the bowl will become warm. The next step is to add the butter, but we don’t want to do that while the mixture/bowl is too hot. Otherwise the butter will just make it a melty mess. So keep whisking until the bowl is no longer hot to the touch and the whipped egg white and sugar/water mixture is room temp.
- Add the butter in large chunks.
- Keep whisking on high until buttercream is well combined.
- Scrape the bowl down well, and add your vanilla extract/vanilla paste.
- Whisk until combined.
Keywords: Cupcake, Chocolate, Buttercream, Vanilla