My Go-To Chocolate Cupcake Recipe
I’ve finally found it. A go-to chocolate cupcake recipe. This recipe yields consistent results every time I make it. I get exactly 12 domed chocolate cupcakes. And the batter is so easy to throw together. You don’t even have to get the mixer dirty.
I owe a huge thanks to Megan from Delicious Dishings. I had asked her about her favorite chocolate cupcake recipe and she recommended the one found in Joanne Chang’s Flour cookbook. Now, Megan worked at Flour, so I thought she might be a little biased. But then I made the cupcakes for my birthday. And ever since then, every time I need a chocolate cupcake, I just go to this recipe. And believe me, I’ve made quite a few chocolate cupcake recipes.
These cupcakes don’t have any random ingredients that you might not have on hand like sour cream or coffee, which means I can whip them up whenever a craving hits. Do note that the batter has to sit for an hour (or up to three days in the fridge) to allow all the dry ingredients to soak up the liquid ingredients. So be sure to give yourself plenty of time to make these cupcakes. Believe me, they’re well worth the wait.
Chocolate Cupcakes
Yield: 12 cupcakes
Ingredients:
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut up
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Directions:
In a heatproof bowl, combine chocolate and cocoa powder.
In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the granulated sugar, butter, and water, stirring occasionally, until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Pour the butter mixture over the chocolate and whisk until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth.
Whisk the milk, egg, extra yolk, and vanilla into the chocolate mixture until combined.
In a bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until blended. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and whisk until smooth.
Let the batter sit at room temperature for 1 hour or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake for 30 minutes or until the tops spring back when pressed lightly with a fingertip. Set on a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
Recipe from Joanne Chang, as seen in the Flour cookbook
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I love it! Where did you get the jars? Now I totally wanna do this for xmas gifts!
/Clara
I looked everywhere and just couldn’t find them. I ended up ordering them from Amazon. They weren’t very cheap so that was a bummer…
Ah bummer. What size are the jars? I wonder if Ikea would have them? Whats the amazon link?
/Clara
I ordered them from here. You want the wide mouth jars so the cupcakes fit and the 1/2 pint size is perfect.
The yellow cupcakes didn’t rise much so I added more frosting to fill the jar and the chocolate ones rose quite a bit so they had less frosting. My sister said that the chocolate one had the perfect amount of frosting or could use a smidge more, so you want a cupcake that has at least a small dome.
haha, i’ve never seen that before 🙂 love it!
OH FUN! I’ve seriously always thought about doing this and never did. I’m starring this post to remind myself at Christmas. Too cute!!
I have been dying to try this ever since I saw it last year on someone else’s blog. They actually baked the cake in the jar and then iced it like a cupcake. I am going to have to order some of those iddy jars! Too cute!
Hmmm…might have to do this for Christmas instead of those “ingredients in a jar” thing we were thinking of.
I really want to try this, but I keep reading online that you shouldn’t put frosting in the jar because it will get moldy by the time it reaches its destination. I’m sure you would have heard if it was moldy when it got to your friend right? I would just be so embarrassed if that happened. Any help?
Renee – I’ve done this twice and both times haven’t heard of any mold. I froze the cupcakes/frosting in the jars prior to shipping them. I also shipped in the winter. My one sister even didn’t go get her package from the office until a week after it arrived and it was still good. I would guess she ate her cupcakes about 10 days after I sent them. I’m not sure if shipping in warm weather will have an impact on potential mold…
Alright I’ll definitely give it a try then. It will make for a very good Easter present for my faraway friends =)
Oh that’s a good idea!! I might have to order some more jars and do the same myself…
What a clever idea! I would love to get a cupcake in the mail! 🙂 Maybe I’ll send out Valentine’s Day Cupcakesnext year!
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Love these!! We have featured you on our blog. http://cutecupcakesallthetime.blogspot.com
Did you freeze them before shipping? The jars looked frosted…
beantownbaker — February 24th, 2013 @ 10:21 am
I did freeze them. They defrosted as they were shipped. I’ve done it with and without the freezing depending on the weather and whatnot.
What shipping method did you use? Overnight or Express???