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Made completely from scratch, these moist chocolate cupcakes are delicious and a crowd favorite! They are super moist, pack tons of chocolate flavor and are so easy to make! Topped with a rich chocolate buttercream, these are amazing!

The Best Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes
There are certain recipes that every baker needs in their repertoire and an amazing chocolate cupcake is one of them. These cupcakes are insanely moist and so easy to make. They are the perfect starting point for any number of flavor combinations. I have used this chocolate cupcake recipe countless times and not only does it never let me down, it is always a hit.
These chocolate cupcakes are amazing in their cupcake form, but Iโve also shared them as my favorite layered Moist Chocolate Cake, in 6-Inch Chocolate Cake form, and many other ways. Itโs easily adaptable and these are so good that after being asked many times for a vanilla version, I created these Moist Vanilla Cupcakes. So if youโre looking for an amazing oil-based vanilla cupcake, those are the way to go.
You may think you already have the perfect chocolate cupcake, but trust me. If you havenโt had these, you havenโt had perfection yet. Itโs time to make them.
Why Youโll Love This Chocolate Cupcake Recipe
So what sets these chocolate cupcakes apart from all the rest? Youโll see for yourself when you make them, but Iโll let you in on why I think they are so standout here.
- So moist and tender. These are perhaps the moistest cupcake youโll ever have. No cracked, dry cupcakes here. Just super tender chocolate goodness straight out of the oven.
- Great to make ahead. These chocolate cupcakes are so moist that they do really well with making a day or two ahead.
- Real chocolate frosting. I love that the frosting for these cupcakes uses real chocolate. The base of the frosting is made from semisweet chocolate chips that are melted and mixed into the butter. The real chocolate gives the frosting a fudge-y quality that makes it a chocolate loverโs dream.
- A wonderfully simple recipe. No fancy mixing methods or complicated steps here. This recipe comes together quickly and is accessible to all skill levels. All you need is a couple bowls and a whisk!
What Youโll Need
Time to grab your ingredients and get started. Hereโs what youโll need to make these chocolate cupcakes from scratch. Have a look at the recipe card below for exact measurements.
Chocolate cupcakes
- All-purpose flour โ Be sure to measure this properly to get the right result. I always recommend a food scale, but the spoon and level method is fine as well. A quality 1:1 gluten-free flour should work also.
- Sugar โ Regular granulated sugar is used in these.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder โ Regular unsweetened cocoa is used in these cupcakes. You can used Dutch cocoa, but they donโt rise quite as high, so youโd need to fill them a little more and youโd probably get one or two less cupcakes.
- Baking soda โ This leavening gives the cupcakes the most amazingly tender texture.
- Salt โ This enhances the flavors already present in the cupcakes. Without it, your cupcakes would be a bit bland.
- Egg โ Large size eggs, not medium or extra large.
- Milk โ You can use regular milk (whole or 2%) or buttermilk. They all work! Buttermilk will make the cupcakes even more tender, but they donโt need it. They are so darn moist and tender even without it.
- Vegetable oil โ The use of oil in this recipe makes these cupcakes extra moist. It also means we donโt need to cream any butter and therefore donโt need a mixer. Score!
- Vanilla extract
- Hot water โ The hot water allows the cocoa to โbloomโ, which brings out a richer chocolate flavor in the cake. Cooler water will work just fine but the cocoa flavor will not be as strong in the finished product. The water also adds moisture without adding more fat that would weigh the cupcakes down and make them more dense.
Chocolate frosting
- Unsalted butter โ The butter must be at room temperature otherwise you run the risk of a lumpy frosting.
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips โ I used semi-sweet chocolate. Itโs my favorite to use in recipes like this. It lends a richer chocolate flavor than milk chocolate but isnโt too bitter.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder โ Regular unsweetened cocoa is what I use, but feel free to use a darker version as well.
- Powdered sugar โ For volume and consistency. Feel free to reduce the amount to your preference, if needed.
- Salt โ You donโt have to add a touch of salt, but I do like the additional flavor it adds. Plus, it cuts down the sweetness a bit.
How to Make Chocolate Cupcakes from Scratch
Hereโs a quick look at how to make these moist chocolate cupcakes. For more detailed instructions, scroll to the recipe card below.
For the cupcakes
- Prep. Preheat oven to 300ยฐF and line a cupcake pan with liners.
- Combine the dry ingredients. Whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together.
- Combine the wet ingredients. Whisk together the egg, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract.
- Put it all together. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
- Add hot water. Add the hot water to the batter. It will be very thin.
- Bake. Fill the cupcake liners halfway and bake for 18-23 minutes.
- Cool. Cool the cupcakes in the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
For the frosting
- Make the base. Beat the butter until smooth.
- Add some chocolate. Mix in the melted chocolate followed by the cocoa powder.
- Pull it all together. Mix in half of the powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of the heavy cream followed by the remaining powdered sugar and salt. Add more heavy cream if your frosting is too thick.
- Decorate the cupcakes. Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.
Tips for Baking Moist Chocolate Cupcakes
You are about to experience the best homemade chocolate cupcakes youโve ever tasted. Just follow these simple tips and tricks and youโll see what I mean.
- Donโt overmix. When mixing together the wet and dry ingredients, be careful not to overmix. This can cause the glutens in the flour to overdevelop, leaving you with a tough, dense cupcake.
- Use hot water. Trust me. While you can use cooler water in the batter for this recipe, I highly suggest using hot water. It allows the cocoa to bloom, bringing out its full, rich, fudgy flavor.
- Thin batter? Keep it that way. The cupcake batter should be very thin. They are loaded with moisture. Trust me. They will turn out just fine. Better than fine. Fluffy, moist, and delicious.
- Bake at a low temperature. 300 degrees F to be exact. It is necessary to bake at a low temperature here because it gives the thin cupcake batter time to fluff up and cook evenly all the way through.
- Let the cupcakes cool. Wait to frost the cupcakes until they have cooled completely. Otherwise, the frosting will slide right off!
Serving Suggestions
Looking to add a little extra flair? Here are some fun ways to serve these moist chocolate cupcakes that will take them from amazing to heavenly.
- Frosting. Change up the frosting on top for something a little different. Try my Strawberry Buttercream, Cream Cheese Frosting, regular Chocolate Buttercream, Vanilla Buttercream or Ermine Frosting.
- Ice cream. Serve these cupcakes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Want to make your own ice cream? Try my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream, Strawberry Ice Cream or Birthday Cake Remix Ice Cream.
- Sauce. I love drizzling a fruity sauce over these cupcakes or filling them. Try my Easy Strawberry Sauce or this Easy Raspberry Sauce. Not in a fruity mood? My Easy Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce, Chocolate Ganache or this Salted Caramel Sauce would work beautifully as well.
- Cookies. Wedge half an Oreo or chocolate chip cookie into the frosting.
- Sprinkles. Add a dash of crunch and a little extra sweetness with rainbow or chocolate.
How to Store Cupcakes
Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before arranging them in a single layer in an airtight container (you can use an airtight cupcake carrier if you have one). Close the container and store the cupcakes at room temperature for up to 24 hours. Past that, store them in the refrigerator. They should be good for up to 5 days.
Can I Freeze These?
You can! Once cooled, arrange these moist chocolate cupcakes (frosted or unfrosted) in a single layer in an airtight container. Close the container and store it in the freezer for up to 3 months. Allow the cupcakes to thaw in the refrigerator before frosting (if applicable) and serving.
More Chocolate Cupcake Recipes
I have done a lot of playing with chocolate cupcake recipes. This one is definitely my favorite and is used as the base of some of the ones below. But here are a variety of other chocolatey options.
- Moist Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Filling
- Baileys Chocolate Cupcakes
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Buckeye Cupcakes
- Raspberry Chocolate Cupcakes
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes
- Nutella Chocolate Cupcakes
- Sโmores Cupcakes
- Snickers Cupcakes
- Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
- Oreo Chocolate Cupcakes
Watch How to Make Moist Chocolate Cupcakes
PrintHomemade Moist Chocolate Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 14-16 Cupcakes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
Made completely from scratch, these moist chocolate cupcakes are delicious and a crowd favorite! They are super moist, pack tons of chocolate flavor and are so easy to make! Topped with a rich chocolate buttercream, these are amazing!
Ingredients
Chocolate cupcakes
- 1 cup (130g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (207g) sugar
- 6 tbsp (43g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup (120ml) milk or buttermilk*
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil
- 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (120ml) hot water*
Chocolate buttercream
- 1 1/4 cups (280g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
- 3 tbsp (22g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 5 cups (575g) powdered sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 2โ4 tbsp heavy cream
Instructions
For the cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 300ยฐF (148ยฐC) and prepare a cupcake pan with liners.
- Add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt to a large mixing bowl and combine. Set aside.
- Add the egg, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract to another medium sized bowl and whisk together to combine.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
- Add the water to the batter and mix until well combined. The batter will be very thin.
- Fill the cupcake liners about half way and bake for 18-23 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Remove the cupcakes from oven and allow to cool for 2 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
For the buttercream
- To make the frosting, beat the butter in a large mixer bowl until smooth.
- Add the melted chocolate and mix until well combined and smooth.
- Add the cocoa powder and mix until well combined and smooth.
- Add about half of powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of heavy cream and mix until well combined and smooth.
- Add remaining powdered sugar and salt and mix until well combined and smooth.
- Add remaining heavy cream as needed to get the right consistency of frosting.
- Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. I used Ateco tip 847.
- Store cupcakes at room temperature for up to 24 hours, then refrigerate. Cupcakes are best served at room temperature. Best eaten within 4-5 days.
Notes
- I have previously used Hersheyโs Special Dark Cocoa powder for these cupcakes, but Hersheyโs has changed it and it doesnโt work quite the same in these. They donโt rise as well. I recommend regular unsweetened cocoa powder, but you can technically use either.
- This recipe calls for hot water. You donโt have to use hot water โ the cake will still bake fine โ but the hot water allows the cocoa to โbloomโ, which brings out a richer chocolate flavor in the cake.
- Milk and buttermilk both work great in these cupcakes. I donโt notice much difference between the two, other than that the buttermilk makes them even more tender (and they are already super tender).
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cupcake
- Calories: 520
- Sugar: 55.8 g
- Sodium: 168.3 mg
- Fat: 29.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 65.6 g
- Protein: 3.8 g
- Cholesterol: 54.8 mg
Perfect ๐๐ป exactly how it says moist and fluffy .I didnโt have large egg but turned perfectly with my medium egg ๐๐ป๐๐ป.Thank you for the nice recipe
Iโm so glad you enjoyed them!
This did not rise nearly at all. I used milk instead of buttermilk, which you said was fine, but then there wasnโt an acid to react with the baking soda. The buttermilk is there in to react with the baking soda to make carbon dioxide bubbles, which make the cake rise. The proportions were off, so I wasnโt sure the recipe would work, but I just wanted a quick dozen cupcakes, so thought Iโd try it. Didnโt work though.
So I do understand the science, thank you, and cocoa powder is also acidic, which means that there is an acid to react with the baking soda. You do not need the buttermilk. I used to make these with buttermilk, but honestly, I now use only regular milk, unless I have buttermilk on hand that I want to use up. It truly makes no difference to the rise. Iโm not sure why you had an issue, but that wasnโt it. This recipe is probably in the top 5 recipes on my site that Iโve used over and over. Iโm super confident in it and I know it works. Perhaps you mixed up your baking soda and baking powder, as I have seen a friend do that by accident and it was super obvious because they didnโt rise. Your baking soda could also be old and maybe try fresh baking soda. Also be sure not to over mix the batter and donโt open the oven door to early in the baking process. Those would be my first thoughts.
These were amazing! I used my frosting recipe because I had some in the freezer, so I canโt comment on that. It did take way more than 18-23 minutes to bake. Iโm unsure if it is because I used baking cups instead of liners in a pan, but it made 14 and took over 40 minutes to bake them. Once they were done, they were super moist and delicious. I got great feedback from the people who ate them. I will definitely make them again with the anticipation of it taking longer to bake.
If the baking cups were filled with more batter than what I typically add to the liners, then that would take longer to bake. Either way, Iโm so glad they were a hit!
I tried this recipe back at Christmas and the cupcakes were AMAZING! I need to make a chocolate layered cake but would love to be able to use this recipe. How would you change the baking time/ amount of batter for 2 9 inch round pans?
Iโm so glad you enjoyed them! I have this recipe as a chocolate cake here. Itโs an 8 inch, but you could do two 9 inch layers and just add a little to the bake time โ maybe 5-10 minutes.
Came I make this into a full cake? Would it equal a 9ร13?
For a full 9ร13 cake, youโd want to double it. I bake it at that size for 40-50 minutes.
HI โ I love your recipes and only use the vanilla cupcakes but I am having a dilemma with this recipe. I used to make it without issues but the last 6 bakes the cupcakes are dropping. I follow the recipe to the letter. I even bought new ingredients to make sure it is fresh. I normally do half vanilla and half chocolate and the vanilla comes out 100% as always but not the chocolate. I donโt use the buttermilk like before โ only milk. I donโt know what is causing this problem. I would love any ideas please.
Hmm, thatโs strange that it worked before and not now. Has your oven or altitude (like, did you move?) changed or anything? Sounds like youโve tried fresh ingredients. If youโre baking the vanilla and chocolate, are you baking them at the same time? If so, you may be opening the oven to take out the vanilla ones in the middle of the chocolate ones baking. Opening the oven too soon to remove the baked vanilla ones could cause the chocolate ones to fall. Could that be it?
No idea. I do vanilla first then drop the temp as per the recipe for the chocolate. I did bake the full size cake last week to test and used buttermilk again. The cake was fine. I donโt know why the cupcakes are not. I do add a spoon of coffee in. I am out of ideas. Maybe I should just use your sheet cake recipe that has baking powder as well. I find other peoples recipes so dry and I hate dry cupcakes. I love yours so I will test until it works ๐คฃ
Hmm. Are they overflowing at all? I find sometimes that if they do, it can cause the centers to fall.
So good!! The cupcake is just so moist. This is my go to for choc cupcakes. Thank you for sharing
Iโm so glad you enjoy them!
These cupcakes are DIVINE! However, they are SO tender they fall apart! Can I add less hot water to help this? What do you recommend?
They are very tender. I havenโt tried them with less water, so Iโm not sure about that. Another option is to use this chocolate cake recipe and make cupcakes. They are very similar (and the batter is still very thin), but thereโs a little less liquid and it uses a combination of baking soda and baking powder, which changes the final texture a bit. Plus, itโs baked at 350.
All of my chocolate lovers just love this recipe. Moist cupcakes. Delicious frosting (although I only use 3 cups of powdered sugarโ makes it more chocolate/rich, less sweet). I made them for 3 events in a week. A hit every time.
Awesome! So glad to hear that!
I just want to say im a pasty chef and i tried this recipe a few years back and Iโve never been able to find a better one. I also tried many times to find a good vanilla cake recipe and they all ended up coming out a little too dense but then I tried yours and it was perfect. The addition of the water really helps the cupcakes taste so moist.
Awesome! Iโm so glad to hear that!