Small Batch Cupcakes (Chocolate and Vanilla Recipe)
Today is your lucky day my friends because you get TWO full recipes in today’s post…I guess since they’re a small batch we can call them two halves?
Small batch cupcakes in both chocolate and vanilla flavors.
They’re fluffy, moist, perfectly rounded and can be frosted with any of your favorite frostings.
I included a simple American buttercream for each one in the recipe cards below but if you’re feeling a slightly less sweet buttercream like Swiss or French, I have those.
& I’ll include a section below on different flavors!
Over the past year, many people have resorted to making small batch recipes, ya know, for moderation and all. Because if I want a cupcake, I don’t want 12 cupcakes (or do i?!).
I also didn’t think it was fair to share just chocolate or vanilla so obviously, I had to do both.
Ingredients & Substitutions
*full recipe is in the recipe cards at the bottom!
- Flour – I like using cake flour in cupcakes, especially vanilla cupcakes. All-purpose flour also works fine, they’re just slightly less delicate.
- Sugar – I granulated sugar but both recipes can also be made with brown sugar.
- Eggs – large room temperature eggs are best. If they’re cold, place them in hot water for a little. For the vanilla cupcakes, I only use the egg white to keep them white but also cuz my full batch cupcakes only use 1 egg or 2 egg whites so instead of halving an egg, I used just the white.
- Sour cream – after an obnoxious amount of test runs, I found that my favorite combination for wet ingredients in cake and cupcakes is milk and sour cream. The sour cream can be subbed for plain yogurt, greek yogurt or dairy free as well.
- Milk – I use 2% or full fat but skim milk or dairy free milk also works fine.
- Butter – I use a little butter in the vanilla cupcakes to give it better flavor, I recommend salted but unsalted also works fine. For the frostings, I recommend unsalted butter.
- Oil – I like oil for chocolate cupcakes so any neutral oil works fine, I usually use canola oil or avocado oil.
- Cocoa Powder – obviously just for the chocolate ones, I use dutch processed but natural also works fine in this recipe.
- Vanilla – I like using vanilla bean paste and extract for a more intense vanilla flavor but either or works.
TIP: I HIGHLY recommend using a digital scale, as dry ingredients are almost always over measured.
To use up the extra egg yolk, you could make a half batch of my egg yolk cookies using just 1 egg yolk!
How To Make Small Batch Cupcakes
I made them both the same way using the reverse creaming method, to keep it simple.
& I frosted them the same way with American buttercream but the possibilities are endless.
Tip: Why I prefer the reverse creaming method for cupcakes: when the flour is instantly coated in the fat (butter/oil) it inhibits the development of the gluten a little so it’s much more tender and delicate. The lack of “creaming” also incorporates less air which makes the cupcake produce more consistently nice domed tops.
Small-Batch Chocolate Cupcakes
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Add the oil, egg and sour cream and whisk until it’s well combined.
- Add the milk and mix just until it’s combined.
- Measure out about 50-55 grams of batter per cupcake.
- Bake just until they spring back when you press on them, about 16-18 minutes.
Small-Batch Vanilla Cupcakes
THE EXACT SAME WAY! You betcha, I kept it simple and made the vanilla cupcakes the same way.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together.
- Add the melted butter and egg white and mix until they’re well combined.
- Add the sour cream and milk and whisk just until the batter is smooth.
- Measure out 50-55 grams of batter per cupcake
- Bake just until the cupcakes look set, are starting to gain color and spring back when you press on them.
Tip: One thing to note for these cupcakes, I developed this recipe to be very pale in color (just an aesthetic preference) so don’t look for a golden brown color when they’re fully baked.
American Buttercream
It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3.
- Beat the butter until it’s pale and fluffy.
- Add the powdered sugar, beat on low until it comes together and then increase speed to high for a couple minutes.
- Add in the cream and any flavorings and mix again until it’s all well combined and fluffy.
Different Frosting For Small Batch Cupcakes
I included both a small batch chocolate and vanilla frosting recipe below. I kept this simple again and just made simple American Buttercream.
These recipes can easily be tweaked to your liking. Play with the amount of sugar and cream and get creative with the flavors!
If you’re not into American buttercream and you want something a little fancier, use any frosting recipe that requires ½ cup of butter. For instance, you can cut this Swiss meringue buttercream or this French buttercream recipe in half and flavor it as desired.
Make sure to also check out my cookbook, Frosted for more frosting recipes. There are 14 base recipes and 60 ways to use them!
Some way to flavor include:
- add 1/2-1 tsp of any extract to the cupcakes or the frosting (I am obsessed with this combo in my ‘unicorn’ frosting)
- add 1/4-1/2 cup of jam to the frosting or use this to fill a hole in the center of the cupcake. I have a rhubarb & raspberry, seedless raspberry, blueberry, or even lemon curd.
- add 1/4-1/2 cup of sauces like my homemade caramel sauce, chocolate ganache, or caramelized white chocolate ganache.
Frequently Asked Questions
I use dutch process cocoa powder because I like the flavor and color better.
However, both the chocolate cupcake and the frosting recipe will turn out great with natural unsweetened cocoa powder as well.
Like I said, I tested a million and one versions of cupcakes last year. The reason I use cake flour for this small batch vanilla cupcake recipe is because I found it much more delicate and light as opposed to all-purpose flour.
If you don’t have cake flour, you can just subtract 1 Tbsp of the all-purpose flour and then replace with a Tbsp of cornstarch. If you have bleached all-purpose flour, use that if you can, since cake flour is almost always bleached.
Absolutely, dairy free milk, sour cream and butter work great here for both cupcakes.
I haven’t tested this specifically with these but gluten-free 1:1 substitutes like Bob’s or King Arthur work just fine for all my cake recipes so it should be fine here too.
My #1 tip is to use a digital scale to measure your ingredients and then use the scale to measure each cupcake. I put 50-55 grams in each cupcake tin so they bake perfectly even.
#2 tip is to get an oven thermometer just because oven’s can vary and cupcakes can be finicky so the wrong temp can make them sink or over/underbake them.
How to store small batch cupcakes
I recommend covering the cupcakes completely, making them airtight in a container or cupcake holder.
The cupcakes can stay at room temperature for 1-2 days or refrigerate them for up to a week.
To freeze them, place them in an airtight container and then place them in a freezer bag, squeezing out all the air. This ensures they won’t get freezer burn as quickly. They should be good for at least 2 months in the freezer.
Thaw at room temperature for a few hours or in the fridge overnight.
Thanks so much for reading today’s post, if you have any questions just comment down below, email and social media get lost more easily.
If you love this recipe please leave a 5-star rating or review <3
Get creative with frostings and maybe even cut a hole in the center and fill them with something fun!
As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!
Love, B
I made a batch of the mini cupcakes for a birthday yesterday and it was delicious 🩷✨ thank you for sharing with us 🩷
Hello, do you happen to remember which piping tip you used for the vanilla frosting?
Hi Q, I’m sorry I have no idea what the exact tip is but it looks like a closed star – medium size.
I made the chocolate ones last week and the vanilla ones today. They were both delicious, but the vanilla are my favorites. They were so light and tasty. Our grandsons loved the chocolate ones. I cannot wait to give them the vanilla ones. Yum!
Great recipe! I made the chocolate and vanilla. I followed the instructions as is for the chocolate, but found them to be a bit dense after mixing in the wet ingredients one at a time (I also slightly overbaked so I’m sure that contributed). I made the vanilla 2nd and combined all wet ingredients and mixed them in together versus one at a time as the instructions suggested. The vanilla were much more moist, light, and fluffy, but both were tasty! The chocolate was more like a brownie cupcake texture, which still worked 🙂 I filled the vanilla with mixed berry compote and the chocolate with caramel (which absorbed into the slightly over baked cupcakes and restored some moisture – again, my fault!). I loved the frosting, and appreciate this versatility of this recipe a lot. I was also able to get 8 cupcakes out of each recipe vs 6 and they were still domed nicely
Just made these vanilla cupcakes. WOW these exceeded my expectations – basically I was just looking for a small batch recipe to use up some buttercream that I had and this recipe was convenient because of the size. I was not expecting them to be so DELICIOUS!!! They taste almost identical to vanilla cake mix – and I mean that in the best way possible. They are super moist and delicate. Thanks for a fabulous recipe!
Hi Silvia, thank you so much!! Boxed cake mix is actually so difficult to replicate lol
You must mean to use the Dutch-processed cocoa for the chocolate frosting recipe, too, right? I see in the explanation section that you mention using natural unsweetened cocoa powder for both the cupcakes and frosting will work as well.
Thanks!
Hi!
I wanna make these recipes for my nieces bday
I need 36 cupcakes total, can I just times the recipes by 3 to get 18 of chocolate & 18 of vanilla with no issues?
Hi! Yeah that should be fine 🙂
What can I use instead of sour cream?
I usually do Greek yogurt but plain yogurt or creme fraiche should be fine!
Why doesn’t the recipe call for the sour cream to be at room temperature like it does for the milk and egg or egg white?/
Because I don’t bring my sour cream to room temperature. It’s a small amount and insignificant but you can if you want to
Great recipe. However, it took me too long to notice that the weights do not double like the volume measurements when adjusted, so my cupcakes are on the smaller side. Maybe you could add a feature to double or triple both the volume and the weights?
Just ruined two batches of cupcakes beacsuse i use the metric measures, an was choosing to x2 the batch, and did not see that it didnt double the metrics. So i just 12 cupcakes with all the same measures as for 6 cupcakes, exept for the egg. That was double.