Moist Chocolate Cupcakes (One-Bowl)
If you ever need quick, easy, and moist chocolate cupcakes, this is it. Nothing gets easier than these one-bowl chocolate cupcakes. In fact, you simply add all ingredients in one single bowl, mix them up, and your batter is ready. These are delicious on their own, but you can also top them with my one-bowl chocolate frosting.
Both my moist vanilla and chocolate cupcakes are delicious on their own, but you can also top them with my one-bowl buttercream frosting recipe. A great treat for a simple evening tea, a last-minute kids’ party, or decorated beautifully for a celebration.
Why make these cupcakes?
- The batter takes just about 5 minutes to make, and all you do is throw everything in one bowl and mix.
- I have used a hand mixer in the video, but a bowl and whisk are all you need.
- And this recipe is very forgiving, and a little undermixing or overmixing is not an issue. This means it is perfect to do with kids.
- Additionally, the cupcakes freeze beautifully, making them ideal for saving in the freezer for later use.
Ingredients and substitutes
- Flour – Regular all-purpose flour is all you need for these cupcakes.
- Fat – I like to use unsalted butter and oil. While butter adds a nice flavor, the oil helps keep the cupcakes moist. And if salted butter is all you have, use it. But omit salt in the recipe. Additionally, it is crucial that the butter is at room temperature, but soft is preferable to firm, as it will result in a lumpy batter.
- Sugar – Fine-grain white sugar works best for one-bowl recipes. This helps the sugar dissolve easily in the batter. And if you only have coarse-grain sugar, pulse it in the food processor for a few minutes.
- Eggs – Always use large eggs, about 50 to 60 grams each. Make sure they are room temperature, or the cold eggs will curdle the batter.
- Buttermilk – Makes the cupcakes moist with a tender crumb.
- Cocoa powder – I use regular Dutch-processed cocoa powder.
Step-by-step: Chocolate cupcakes
One bowl cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C) / Gas Mark 3.
Pro tip – The batter gets ready very quickly, but make sure the oven is preheated well. - Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- In a bowl of a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment or (mixing bowl with a whisk), add all the cupcake ingredients, starting with the cocoa powder and hot water first.
Pro tip – It is essential that all ingredients are at room temperature. Otherwise, you will have a lumpy batter. Also, adding the hot water and cocoa powder first will give a deeper color to the cupcakes.
- Next, combine on medium speed until you have a smooth batter.
Pro tip – Do not overmix the batter, since we don’t want to activate the gluten in our flour. - Then, divide the batter between 12 cupcake liners using an ice cream scoop or a 1/3 measure cup.
Pro tip – These make 12 regular-size cupcakes; you can also make 8 large cupcakes in baking cups.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes clean.
Pro tip – Turning the baking pan halfway through will ensure they bake evenly (I forgot, as you can see in the video – some baked with side domes). - Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Cool cupcakes completely before you decorate.
Pro tip – It is essential to cool cupcakes or cake completely before frosting, or the frosting will melt.
One-bowl chocolate frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add all the buttercream ingredients. Combine, and then add all the rest of the ingredients.
Pro tip – Make sure the butter is at soft room temperature, otherwise you will have a lumpy mixture. - Whip until you have a smooth, light, and fluffy buttercream.
Pro tip – Whip for at least 3 minutes to achieve a light, fluffy whipped-cream consistency.
Assemble
- Place buttercream in a piping bag with your favorite piping tip. I like to use a large star tip to make swirls.
- Add the frosting to the bag. Pipe a generous swirl on each cupcake.
Pro tip – You can also color frosting into one, two, or more colors as desired and then put it in the piping bag. - A few sprinkles and your cupcakes are ready to be served.
- Enjoy!
Tips for Success
- The one thing you want to take note of is the temperature of your ingredients. You want all the ingredients to be at room temperature.
- If the butter is not at room temperature, it will not cream well, but will be lumpy.
- On the other hand, if the butter is too soft (or melted), the batter will be denser rather than light and fluffy, resulting in dense cupcakes.
- The same goes for eggs. Cold eggs will curdle the batter.
- Also, don’t overbake cupcakes since they can easily become dry. Similar to cake, cupcakes are done when a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
- These cupcakes were frosted with my one-bowl vanilla frosting today, but they are also perfect with many other frostings. For example, cream cheese frosting, Strawberry Buttercream, whipped cream, American, French, German, Swiss, or Italian buttercream.
Frequently asked questions
How do I prevent cupcake liners from peeling?
There are a few things you can do – I discuss in this post how to avoid cupcake liners peeling after baking.
How to bake even-sized cupcakes?
There are a few things you can do to bake similar-sized cupcakes – we discussed that in detail here – How to bake same-size cupcakes.
How long will these cupcakes keep?
Cupcakes are always best on the day they are made. But these cupcakes will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days. And they will keep in the fridge for up to a week.
Can I make these eggless?
This recipe works best with eggs. And yet, I also have an eggless vanilla cake recipe that works beautifully for chocolate cupcakes.
Moist Chocolate Cupcakes (one-bowl)
If you ever need quick, easy, and moist chocolate cupcakes, this is it. Nothing gets easier than these one-bowl chocolate cupcakes. In fact, you simply add all the ingredients to one single bowl, mix them up, and your batter is ready. These are delicious on their own, but you can also top them with my one-bowl chocolate frosting.
Video
Ingredients
- ½ cup (45 g) Cocoa powder
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) Hot water
- 4 tbsp (60 g) Butter unsalted, soft room temperature
- ¼ cup (60 ml) Oil
- ½ cup (110 g) Brown sugar
- ⅓ cup (150 g) White sugar
- 2 Eggs large
- 1¼ cup (160 g) All-purpose flour
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- ½ tsp Baking soda
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ½ cup (120 ml) Sour cream or yogurt
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Frosting
- ½ cup (45 g) Cocoa powder
- ¼ cup (60 ml) Hot water Hot
- ½ cup (113 g) Butter unsalted, soft room temperature
- 2 cups (240 g) Powdered sugar confectioners or icing sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 tsp Coffee powder (optional)
Method
Bake the Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 325°F / 160 °C / Gas Mark 3.
- Line a muffin cup with cupcake liners.
- Ingredients – In a bowl of a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment or (mixing bowl with a whisk), add all the cupcake ingredients starting with the cocoa powder and hot water first.½ cup Cocoa powder, ⅓ cup Hot water, 4 tbsp Butter, ¼ cup Oil , ½ cup Brown sugar, ⅓ cup White sugar, 2 Eggs, 1¼ cup All-purpose flour , 1 tsp Baking powder, 1/2 tsp Baking soda, ¼ tsp Salt, ½ cup Sour cream or yogurt, 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- Mix – Combine on medium speed until you have a smooth batter.
- Liners – Divide the batter between 12 cupcake liners using an ice cream scooper or a 1/3 cup measure.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes clean.
- Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Cool cupcakes completely before you decorate.
Chocolate Frosting
- Combine – In a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add all the buttercream ingredients. Starting with the cocoa powder and hot water first. Combine, and then add all the remaining ingredients.½ cup Cocoa powder, ¼ cup Hot water, ½ cup Butter, 2 cups Powdered sugar, 1 tsp Vanilla extract, 1 tsp Coffee powder
- Whip until you have a smooth, light, and fluffy buttercream.
Assemble
- Bag – Place buttercream in a piping bag with your favorite piping tip. I like to use a large star tip to make swirls.
- Pipe a generous swirl on each cupcake. A few sprinkles and your cupcakes are ready to be served. Enjoy!
Notes
- The one thing you want to take note of is the temperature of your ingredients. You want all the ingredients to be at room temperature.
- If the butter is not at room temperature, it will not cream well, but will be lumpy.
- On the other hand, if the butter is too soft (or melted), the batter will be denser rather than light and fluffy, resulting in dense cupcakes.
- The same goes for the eggs. Cold eggs will curdle the batter.
- Don’t overbake cupcakes, so they don’t dry out. Similar to cake, cupcakes are done when a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
- These cupcakes were frosted with my one-bowl vanilla frosting today, but they are also perfect with many other frostings, such as cream cheese frosting, Strawberry Buttercream, whipped cream, American, French, German, Swiss, or Italian buttercream.
Hello Veena!
I have been doing your first recipe with success that included buttermilk or yogurt and noticed that you changed it by using yogurt or sour cream. Is it ok if we stil use buttermilk instead. Thank you
Hi Nicoletta. Yes actually you can use buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream and it works perfectly every single time. Thanks
I followed the recipe for the frosting exactly as per the method and i ended up with a soupy mess.
I’m sorry to hear that. Please check to ensure you have the amounts of the ingredients right and make sure to whip the buttercream until light and fluffy.
Hi Veena because i used 113g of butter instead of 60g as mentioned in Jeanettes’s comment below. i did not know there was a mistake in the recipe till after i had made it. No worries i will try it again.. All your recipe’s have been amazing. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thanks Carol, I am happy you are enjoying my recipes. However, this recipe does have 113 grams of butter dear.
Just noticed your butter info has conflicting info. 4T =60g, your recipe shows 4T=113g. Which is correct please?
Thanks
Hey Jeanette. Sorry – it’s just 4 tbsp butter (60 g). Thanks for bringing it to my attention.