These dark chocolate cupcakes are made with dark cocoa powder and a batter that only requires one bowl to make. The cupcakes are rich, moist, and tender. Top it all off with an easy chocolate cream cheese frosting for a decadent dessert that’s great for any occasion.
I love experimenting with different types of cocoa powder. As a dark chocolate girlie, dark cocoa powder is one of my favorites. The flavor is deeper and smoother than regular cocoa powder, which comes through nicely in a cupcake. These easy to make cupcakes use dark cocoa powder and are paired with chocolate cream cheese frosting. And my friends, they’re fantastic and honestly a little luxurious lol.
Dark cocoa is actually the base for a lot of my favorite cupcake recipes, like dark chocolate peppermint cupcakes or dark chocolate brownie cookies.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Easy to make. You only need one bowl for the batter, which means less fuss and clean up.
- The cupcakes are moist, rich, and tender.
- Chocolate cream cheese frosting is the perfect chocolatey and tangy companion for the dark chocolate sponge.
- It’s a versatile recipe — you can make the recipe with dutched cocoa powder as well.
Ingredients Needed
- Dark cocoa powder: Hershey’s Special Dark is one of the most easily accessible dark cocoa powders, but there are lots of options. I also love the King Arthur double dark cocoa.
- Dark cocoa powder is cocoa powder that has been ultra-dutch processed, which means that is has been treated with an alkaline solution to reduce acidity.
- If you do not have dark cocoa available, you can also use dutch processed cocoa powder.
- Boiling water: to bloom the cocoa powder
- Sour cream: adds a lot of great moisture and richness to the cake. Use full fat sour cream for the best results.
- Granulated sugar and light brown sugar: for sweetness
- Room temperature egg: quickly warm eggs with soaking them in a bowl of warm water for 5-10 minutes
- Pure vanilla extract: vanilla extract actually helps enhance the flavors of chocolate
- All-purpose flour: I recommend measuring flour with a digital food scale.
- Baking powder and baking soda: leavening agents
- Kosher salt: to balance the sweetness and add depth
- Cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and heavy cream: top make the chocolate cream cheese frosting
Step by Step Instructions
Bloom Cocoa Powder: Whisk boiling water and cocoa powder together until smooth and lump free (I love keeping some mini whisks around for tasks like this). Let cool slightly.
Add Wet Ingredients and Sugar: Into the same bowl as the cocoa, whisk in the sour cream, egg, sugars, and vanilla extract until very smooth. Then whisk in the leavening agents and salt as well to evenly distribute them into the batter.
Add flour: Add the flour in 2-3 batches, as adding it all at once tends to create lumps. Gently fold in one-half or one-third of the flour at a time, making sure to be gentle and not over mix.
Bake the cupcakes: Divide the batter evenly between 12 lined cupcake tins, filling each to no more than ¾ full. Over-filling leads to collapsed cupcakes. Bake for around 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool and frost cupcakes: Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting.
What Does It Mean to Bloom Cocoa Powder?
Blooming cocoa powder is why boiling water is an ingredient in this recipe. Essentially what we’re doing is mixing cocoa powder with hot liquid to dissolve it. This releases the flavors contained within the cocoa solids.
Have you ever had a chocolate cupcake where the chocolate flavor was there but not very rich? An easy fix for this is to bloom the cocoa powder.
Expert Tips
Make sure your leavening agents are fresh: Did you know that baking powder and baking soda lose their effectiveness over time? f your leavening agents are well over a year old, or you’ve noticed your bakes not coming out with quite as good a rise, it may be time to replace them.
Use a Digital Food Scale: Cocoa powder is notoriously easy to measure inaccurately. It can both fluff up and pack down, which means filling up a measuring cup can be a gamble. I highly recommend using food scale to measure the ingredients in this recipe. If you do not have a food scale, make sure to measure the cocoa powder and flour using the spoon-and-level method.
Make Cupcakes Ahead of Time: If short on time, you can pre-bake the cupcakes ahead of time and just frost them once you’re ready to serve. Store unfrosted cupcakes in an airtight container for up to 2 days. To freeze cupcakes, tightly wrap them in plastic, and then store them in a freezer bag. Thaw before serving.
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Happy baking and enjoy your dark chocolate cupcakes!
You May Also Like
Dark Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes
Dark Chocolate Brownie Cookies
One Bowl Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
Moist and decadent dark chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting. Easy to make in one bowl!
Ingredients
Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
- ⅓ cup (30g) dark cocoa powder, such as Hershey's Special Dark
- ½ cup boiling water
- ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (55g) light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup oil, such as vegetable or avocado
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 4 oz cream cheese at room temperature
- ¼ cup (20g) cocoa powder
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ⅛ tsp kosher salt
- 2 cups (240g) powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 12 cupcake tins.
- Add the cocoa powder to a large, heatproof bowl. Pour the boiling water over, whisking until the mixture is smooth. Let it cool slightly.
- Into the same bowl, add the sour cream, egg, vanilla extract, sugars, and oil. Whisk until ingredients are smooth and fully combined.
- Whisk in the baking powder, baking soda, and salt on top.
- Sprinkle half of the flour on top, gently folding it in until combined. Repeat with the other half of the flour, making sure to not over mix.
- Use an ice cream scoop to divide the batter between the cupcake tins, filling to no more than ¾ full. Bake for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the cupcakes rest in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the frosting, fit a mixer with the paddle attachment. Start by beating cream cheese, butter, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and salt together for 1-2 or until smooth and combined.
- Beat in the powdered sugar, a bit at a time, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the heavy cream, one tablespoon at a time, and beat on high speed for 2-3 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
- Frost the cupcakes using your favorite piping tip or a knife.
Notes
Dark Cocoa Powder: Dark cocoa powder is cocoa powder that has been ultra-dutch processed, which means that is has been treated with an alkaline solution to reduce acidity. As a result, it has a smoother flavor and is super dark. The flavor is also deeper and richer. If you do not have dark cocoa powder you can substitute dutch-processed cocoa powder. You cupcakes will turn out lighter in color and have a brighter flavor.
Boiling Water: Adding boiling water to cocoa powder 'blooms' the cocoa. It is essential that your water is very hot, as the goal is to dissolve the cocoa to release the flavor particles inside. This leads to a richer, more intense chocolate flavor in this cake.
Storage: Since there is cream cheese in the frosting, keep frosted cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge. However, you can store unfrosted cupcakes at room temperature.
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