This triple chocolate cupcakes recipe makes truly decadent treats. The cupcakes are moist and fluffy with a rich chocolate flavor, and are topped with luscious chocolate buttercream frosting and irresistible chocolate sprinkles.
Whether you're a die-hard chocolate enthusiast or simply in need of a sweet escape, these triple chocolate cupcakes will definitely make you happy.
The highlight of these triple chocolate cupcakes, other than their soft, moist, and fluffy texture is that I used a lot of chocolate sprinkles in them. I added some to the top of the cupcakes before baking them and added some more on each cupcake after frosting them. Hence the triple chocolate loading- chocolate batter, chocolate sprinkles, and chocolate frosting!
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❤️Why you will love this recipe
- It makes super moist chocolate cupcakes with rich chocolate flavor.
- The dark chocolate cupcakes, combined with the rich chocolate buttercream frosting, is every chocolate lover's dream.
- The recipe is easy and ingredients are simple.
- These fluffy chocolate cupcakes make the best triple chocolate cupcake ever!
📋Ingredients
These are made from scratch cupcakes, and are easy to make. The ingredients used are pretty basic too. These are the ingredients needed for the cupcakes:
- Self-raising flour + baking powder + salt + cocoa powder - mix these and sift them together before adding into the batter to break any lumps.
- Granulated sugar (castor sugar) + brown sugar - use of brown sugar gives these cupcakes a lovely depth in flavor.
- Butter - I use salted butter. Unsalted butter will also work fine but you will need to add a small extra pinch of salt in the recipe.
- Eggs - use large eggs.
- Milk - use whole milk for rich cupcakes.
- Vanilla extract - adds a lovely flavor to the cupcakes.
- Chocolate sprinkles - these are sprinkles on the cupcakes right before baking. Can be substituted with mini chocolate chips.
And for the frosting and decoration, these are the ingredients needed:
- Butter - I use salted butter. The salt enhances the taste of the buttercream.
- Powdered sugar (icing sugar or confectioners' sugar) - sift first to break any lumps.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder - sift first before adding into the buttercream to break any lumps.
- Milk - this is optional, and need to be used only if the buttercream is too stiff for piping.
- Chocolate sprinkles
- White and gold sprinkles
*Refer to the recipe card below for full list of ingredients and exact quantities. For best results, use a digital kitchen scale where applicable*
🧾Substitution and Variations
- For this recipe, I used muffin cups. These are slightly larger than the standard cupcake liners, so if you are using the standard cupcake casing or liners, you would need to reduce your baking time accordingly. Test the chocolate cupcakes a few minutes before the baking time is up just to be sure.
- Also, if you wish, you can use chocolate ganache to frost these cupcakes. You can even use the silky dark chocolate ganache to fill the center of each cupcake and turn these cupcakes into quadruple chocolate cupcakes. Use a cupcake corer to core the cupcakes or use a jam knife to cut out a small hole in the cupcakes to fill the smooth dark chocolate ganache centers.
- Chocolate sprinkles on the chocolate buttercream can be replaced with chocolate shavings or miniature chocolate chips.
- Milk for the buttercream can be replaced with heavy cream or skimmed milk.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you do try, please let me know in the comments section below!
👩🍳How to Make
Mixing the batter from scratch
- These triple chocolate cupcakes are made using the creaming method which means butter and sugar are creamed together until light and fluffy before all other ingredients are added one by one.
- To start with, place butter and both the granulated sugar and brown sugar in a large bowl and cream until they turn light and fluffy. This should take a good 2 minutes on medium to high speed. Remember to scrape the sides of the bowl at least once so that the butter and sugars are uniformly mixed.
- Next is the eggs. Add these into the creamed butter and sugar mixture, one at a time. And each time, make sure you beat them until there are no more traces of egg before adding the next one.
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder into a bowl. Fold these sifted dry ingredients into the creamed wet ingredients mixture.
- Alternate the flour mixture with milk. Start and end with the flour mixture.
Baking the cupcakes
- To complete the cupcake batter, add the vanilla extract and give it a good mix.
- Pour the batter into prepared cupcake liners or casings, about two thirds full.
- Top the cupcakes batter with chocolate sprinkles. Add about half a teaspoon on top of each cupcake.
- Bake the cupcakes until done, but make sure you do not over bake them. To test, insert a skewer or cake tester into the middle of the cupcake. If there is not wet batter sticking to the skewer, the cupcakes are ready to be removed from the oven. Let the cupcakes cool completely on a wire rack (cooling rack) before frosting and decorating them with chocolate buttercream and more sprinkles.
Decorating
- For the chocolate buttercream, start by creaming the butter, and then add the sifted powdered sugar gradually in a large mixing bowl of an electric mixer. Next, sift in the cocoa powder and beat on low speed until the frosting is all smooth and creamy before increasing to medium speed. Use a paddle attachment.
- It is important that you sift the cocoa powder into the buttercream to avoid lumps of cocoa powder in your buttercream.
- You can decorate the triple chocolate cupcakes any way you wish. For the design on this page, I used a large star piping tip to pipe my frosting onto the chocolate cupcakes.
- Fill the chocolate frosting into a piping bag (insert the piping tip first before adding the icing). Start with a first round of stars all around the edges of the cupcakes.
- Following that, pipe more stars in the center of each cupcakes to cover the entire top of the cupcake.
- Add chocolate sprinkles all over the stars. And finally, add some tiny white and gold sprinkles on the cupcakes to complete the cupcakes. If you want, you can replace the chocolate sprinkles here with chocolate shavings or finely chopped chocolate.
And that's pretty much how I made and decorated my triple chocolate cupcakes.
🍽️Serving & storage
- Store the cupcakes in an airtight container. These moist chocolate cupcakes last for a good 4 to 5 days at room temperature. If you wish to keep them longer, refrigerate them.
💡Expert Tips
- Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature, especially the butter and eggs. If either one is cold, your cupcake batter has a tendency to curdle. If that happens, mix in the flour until it is no longer curdled before adding any milk. The best way is to avoid the curdling is by making sure butter and eggs are at room temperature.
- These are chocolate cupcakes, so it's important that you use good quality cocoa for best results.
- Overbaking will cause your chocolate cupcakes to be dry, so be cautious with overbaking. Test the cupcakes with a skewer at least a few minutes before the baking time is over. Ideally, the skewer should have a few moist crumbs attached to it (not wet batter).
- An important tip to ensure your cupcakes remain truly moist is to keep them covered while cooling down. Cover them with a kitchen towel while you leave them out to cool down. This will help the cupcakes remain moist and do not dry out.
- The cocoa powder used in the chocolate buttercream will make it stiff. Add some milk to turn it into an easily pipe-able consistency. Alternatively, you can also use heavy cream.
💭FAQs
Why are the cupcakes called triple chocolate cupcakes?
That is because chocolate is used in the cupcakes in 3 different ways. Firstly in the cupcake batter. Secondly in the buttercream and thirdly in the form of sprinkles.
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📖Recipe
Triple Chocolate Cupcakes (From Scratch)
Decadently fudgy cupcakes with delectable chocolate sprinkles and rich chocolate frosting.
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Yield: 10 cupcakes
For best results, use the metrics measurements. US customary measurements have not been tested and are only meant for guide.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 120 g butter
- 75 g granulated sugar
- 25 g brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 100 g self-raising flour
- 30 g cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 4 tablespoon milk
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 5 tablespoon chocolate sprinkles
Frosting & Decoration
- 110 g butter (salted)
- 220 g powdered sugar (sifted)
- 25 g cocoa powder (sifted)
- 2 tablespoon milk (more if buttercream is stiff)
- 5 teaspoon chocolate sprinkles (as required)
- white and gold sprinkles (as required)
Instructions
- Prepare your cupcake casings.
- Preheat oven to 170°Celsius.
- Beat butter and both sugars till light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Fold in the sifted ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with milk, starting and ending with flour.
- Add in the vanilla extract and mix well.
- Pour batter into baking cups until they are about ⅔ full. Sprinkle about ½ teaspoon for chocolate sprinkles on top of the cupcakes batter.
- Bake the chocolate cupcakes for 15 to 20 minutes (depending on the size of the casing you use) or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out without any wet batter sticking to it.
- Remove the cupcakes from oven and let them cool completely before decorating.
- To make the buttercream, cream the butter until soft and creamy. Add the powdered sugar and beat until the buttercream is light and fluffy.
- Sift in the cocoa powder and beat until it is well blended into the buttercream. Add milk if the buttercream is too stiff.
- Fit a piping bag with a large star tip and pipe chocolate buttercream stars all over the top of each cupcake. Add chocolate sprinkles to each cupcake, followed by the white and gold sprinkles as preferred.
Notes
- Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature, especially the butter and eggs. If either one is cold, your cupcake batter has a tendency to curdle. If that happens, mix in the flour until it is no longer curdled before adding any milk. The best way is to avoid the curdling is by making sure butter and eggs are at room temperature.
- These are chocolate cupcakes, so it's important that you use good quality cocoa for best results.
- Overbaking will cause your chocolate cupcakes to be dry, so be cautious with overbaking. Test the cupcakes with a skewer at least a few minutes before the baking time is over. Ideally, the skewer should have a few moist crumbs attached to it (not wet batter).
- An important tip to ensure your cupcakes remain truly moist is to keep them covered while cooling down. Cover them with a kitchen towel while you leave them out to cool down. This will help the cupcakes remain moist and do not dry out.
- The cocoa powder used in the chocolate buttercream will make it stiff. Add some milk to turn it into an easily pipe-able consistency. Alternatively, you can also use heavy cream.
Nutrition
Calories: 388.4kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 3.9g | Fat: 21.1g | Saturated Fat: 13.1g | Trans Fat: 0.8g | Cholesterol: 83.1mg | Sodium: 251.9mg | Potassium: 127.8mg | Fiber: 2.1g | Sugar: 38.9g | Vitamin A: 637.1IU | Calcium: 37.5mg | Iron: 1.1mg
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