These moist triple chocolate cupcakes are literally loaded with chocolate. The cupcake batter has cocoa powder in it and the cupcakes are topped with chocolate sprinkles before baking.
Once baked, these decadent treats are decorated with dark chocolate buttercream. More sprinkles are added to complete the cupcakes. How is that for triple chocolate loaded cupcakes?
These cupcakes are pretty easy to make. They are soft, moist, and fluffy and last well at room temperature for a good 3 to 4 days. I chose to decorate the cupcakes with chocolate buttercream. And this frosting, I must say, pairs really well with the chocolate cupcakes.
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!
Table of contents
How to Make
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
- Granulated sugar (castor sugar) + brown sugar
- Butter
- Eggs
- Milk
- Vanilla Extract
- Chocolate Sprinkles
And for the frosting and decoration, these are the ingredients needed:
- Butter
- Powdered Sugar (icing sugar or confectioners' sugar)
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Milk
- Chocolate sprinkles
- White and gold sprinkles
Mixing the batter from scratch
These triple 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 brown sugar in a large bowl and cream both 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 sugar 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.
- 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.
Notes
Ingredients at room temperature
- Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature, especially the butter and eggs. If either one is cold, your cupcake batter will curdle. If that happens, add some flour until it is no longer curdled.
- The best way is to avoid the curdling by making sure butter and sugar are at room temperature.
Use good quality cocoa powder
- These are chocolate cupcakes, so it's important that you use good quality cocoa for best results.
Do not over bake
- 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).
Baking time depends on the size of the cupcakes
- 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.
Keep the cupcakes covered while cooling down
- 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.
Storing the cupcakes
- 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.
Add milk if the buttercream is stiff
- 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.
- 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. 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.
Like this easy chocolate cupcake recipe? Here are my other recipes you might want to check out
- Vanilla Cupcakes from Scratch - A Homemade Recipe
- How to Color Sprinkles the Easy Way
- Sprinkles Cupcakes Decorating Ideas
- Super Moist Vanilla Cake - A Made from Scratch Recipe
- Chocolate Cake Recipe - the Best Ever!
- Happy Birthday Cupcakes - Elegant Cupcakes for Mom
Recipe (Printable)
Here is the printable version of my triple chocolate cupcakes recipe. And while you are at it, don't miss my recipe notes right above. They contain absolutely useful tips for the best, dark and fluffy chocolate cupcakes ever!
Triple Chocolate Cupcakes (From Scratch)
Decadently fudgy cupcakes with delectable chocolate sprinkles and rich chocolate frosting.
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Yield: 10 cupcakes
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 two thirds 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.
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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And that is pretty much my recipe for chocolate cupcakes from scratch.
Happy Baking 🙂 🙂
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