Classic Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe

Sometimes, especially when I’ve had a bad day, I’ll stop at a branch of New York City’s famous Magnolia Bakery for a chocolate cupcake on the way home. The cake is tender, moist, and bursting with bittersweet cocoa flavor, topped with a swirl of chocolate buttercream and a handful of sprinkles. It’s a fun and delicious treat that never fails to lift my spirits. While cupcakes get a lot of hate (Slate once called the dessert a “scourge on our earth,” and Vice went so far as to say there’s something “fundamentally wrong” about the confection), I still have a soft spot for the little dessert. I’m convinced that anyone who has a negative opinion of cupcakes simply hasn’t had a good one. The best cupcakes are moist and flavorful, with just the right amount of silky frosting to accompany each bite. The best way to guarantee you’re eating a good cupcake? Make your own. (Yes, this even applies to those of us who walk past a Magnolia on our way home from work.)

Luckily for us, our colleague Anna Theoktisto, who works in the test kitchen in Birmingham, has a killer recipe for classic chocolate cupcakes that are tender, very tasty, and have a lovely, subtle tartness from the sour cream. It’s a super simple recipe that requires no mixer, and it only takes 15 minutes to prepare the batter before baking, making it a minimal-effort dessert that’s perfect for weeknights and special occasions. Here’s how to make them.

4 Tips for Making the Best Chocolate Cupcakes

Use a combination of bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder to double the chocolate flavor. While you can substitute milk chocolate for a sweeter cupcake, we recommend using chopped dark or bittersweet chocolate, which typically contains between 64 and 72 percent cacao. For a more complex-tasting cake, we incorporate Dutch-process cocoa powder into the batter, which adds a moist, earthy chocolate flavor.

Melt the chocolate with hot waterMelting chocolate with hot water may seem counterintuitive, since water can cause chocolate to set. But, as I noted in my chocolate mousse recipe, adding just enough liquid can help coat the cocoa particles and keep them fluid. So, go ahead: Pour a half cup of hot water over your chocolate. Incorporating melted chocolate (instead of unmelted chunks or chips) into the batter also ensures that the chocolate is evenly distributed throughout the batter, resulting in a deeply chocolatey cake.

Opt for sour cream for moist and delicious cupcakes. Fat inhibits gluten development by coating the gluten proteins, glutenin and gliadin; because sour cream is high in fat and moisture, incorporating it into the batter results in a tender, moist cake with a subtle acidity that complements the fruity notes of the chocolate.

Decorate with a piping bag for the prettiest cupcakes. For a party-worthy dessert, fit a piping bag with a fun tip, then pipe squiggles, stars, or an elegant rosette with your choice of frosting. If you don’t have a piping bag on hand, don’t worry—you can simply pipe frosting onto the cupcakes using an offset spatula. We’ve included links to our Chocolate and Vanilla Buttercream Frosting recipes below, which pair beautifully with these cupcakes, but feel free to use your favorite homemade or store-bought frosting.