Fluffy Black Cocoa Cupcakes

How To Make Black Cocoa Cupcakes, Step-by-Step Photos

Chocolate Cupcakes

1. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt until they’re evenly distributed.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk the oil, sugar, eggs and sour cream until they’re well combined and smooth.
3. Sift the dry ingredients over the wet and whisk just a little – about halfway. 
4. Pour in the hot coffee and whisk until the batter is completely smooth.
5. 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.  
6. 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.
7. Let the cupcakes rest for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove them from the pan.

Black Cocoa Frosting

1. Beat the butter with the whisk attachment until it’s pale, fluffy and creamy looking. 
2. 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. 
3. 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. 
4. 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.