Fluffy Black Cocoa Cupcakes
The fluffiest dark chocolate cupcakes made with black cocoa powder and frosted with a whipped black cocoa frosting.
Fellow black cocoa lovers, I have soooo many recipes now. My OG Black Cocoa Cake, of course. But also the BEST Black Cocoa Brownies and my Chocolate Tiramisu Cupcakes and Black Forest Cupcakes use these black cocoa cupcakes as the base!
How To Make Black Cocoa Cupcakes, Step-by-Step Photos
Chocolate Cupcakes
- Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt until they’re evenly distributed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the oil, sugar, eggs and sour cream until they’re well combined and smooth.
- Sift the dry ingredients over the wet and whisk just a little – about halfway.
- Pour in the hot coffee and whisk until the batter is completely smooth.
- Scrape the edge of the bowl and give it a good mix. Fill the cupcake liners about ⅔-¾ full. I recommend weighing them so each cupcake has 50 grams of batter.
- Bake for 16-18ish minutes, until the tallest part of the cupcake, in the center, springs back when you press on it. If you’re hesitant, give it another minute or so.
- Let the cupcakes rest for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove them from the pan.
Black Cocoa Frosting
- Beat the butter with the whisk attachment until it’s pale, fluffy and creamy looking.
- Add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, salt and vanilla bean paste and turn the mixer to LOW speed just until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the speed to medium-high until the sugar is mixed in well.
- Stream in the heavy whipping cream slowly with the mixer on low speed or in 4-5 increments, stopping to scrape the edge of the bowl each time so it all gets mixed in. Use a rubber spatula to smooth the frosting out a little when it’s done.
- Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.
Expert Tips On Getting Perfect Black Cocoa Cupcakes
There’s a few things you can do to make sure your cupcakes are perfect.
- Don’t reduce the sugar. I know a lot of people do that for some recipes but I don’t recommend doing that. You can reduce it in the frosting but also reduce the heavy cream then.
- Weigh your ingredients with a digital scale.
- Weigh the batter for each cupcake with a digital scale. I just place the cupcake pan on the scale with the liners and measure out 50 grams for each cupcake. You should have just enough for 12 cupcakes.
- Use a light colored stainless steel muffin tin for even baking.
- Fresh coffee is the best – I use Americano for the cupcake batter
- For the frosting, make sure the butter is room temperature (NOT SOFT). I use cold heavy cream but I stream it in really slowly so it doesn’t split – use room temperature if you’re worried about it splitting.
How To Store Black Cocoa Cupcakes
These cupcakes can be stored airtight at room temperature for a couple of days before refrigerating. I recommend placing them in an airtight container and refrigerating them for up to a week then. Freeze if it’s any longer than that.
To freeze the cupcakes, place them in an airtight container and then place the container in a freezer bag, squeezing out all the excess air. Bring them back to room temperature by thawing at room temperature for a few hours before serving.
I haven’t looked back since using black cocoa for my cakes and cupcakes and I hope you don’t either!
If you have any questions, please comment down below – those will get answered much quicker than email or through social media.
If you’ve tried this, I would very much appreciate a star rating or review as well.
As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!
Love, B
I WAS Very disappointed with this recipe. I checked an rechecked the recipe but I ended up having 12 Very miniature cupcakes. Recipe called for 1 cup of flour and 1 egg and prepare 12 muffin cups 2/3 to 3/4 full. Thewasn’t enough batter to fill the cups anymore than 1/4 full. Is the recipe typed incorrectly or the number of muffin cups to use. In any case NOT HAPPY
Hi Loretta, I just double checked the recipe, this is the exact recipe I use for 12 cupcakes. Is there any chance that something was measured wrong?
1 cup of flour (+ all that cocoa powder) and 1 egg is pretty standard for 12 chocolate cupcakes.