I love chocolate…
So naturally, when I started experimenting with baking cupcakes from scratch (several years ago) I began a quest for the perfect chocolate cupcakes. I worked through several dozen recipes and of course, didn’t have too much trouble finding people willing to eat my “experiments.”
I finally found a recipe titled Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake, hmm, “…Perfectly Chocolate”, sounds about right to me! The first time I made it, I used Hershey’s unsweeted cocoa (as the recipe calls for). They turned out pretty good. The next time I made them, I used Ghirardelli brand unsweetened cocoa, and… perfect! The Ghirardelli brand gave a much deeper chocolate flavor. So I’d highly recomend using either Ghirardelli brand unsweetened cocoa, or the best quality brand you can find. You can really taste the difference. Since discovering this recipe, I’ve made it dozens and dozens of times. And every time, it’s delicious! The cake has a nice light and fluffy texture and a rich chocolate flavor.
Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes
(makes 24-27 standard sized cupcakes)
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (best quality available)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (best quality available)
1 cup boiling water
Directions-
Line muffin tin with paper liners. Heat oven to 350*F.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for one minute.
Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin, don’t worry, this is right).
Fill liners 2/3 full with batter. (I usually put the batter into a large measuring cup with a pour spout, and then pour the batter into the liners.)
Bake cupcakes for aproximately 18-22 minutes.
Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.
Recipe source- Hershey’s
Try the recipe HERE for either vanilla or chocolate (my favorite!) cream cheese frosting.
Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe
Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa best quality available
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract best quality available
- 1 cup boiling water
Instructions
- Line muffin tin with paper liners. Heat oven to 350*F.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for one minute.
- Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin, don’t worry, this is right).
- Fill liners 2/3 full with batter. (I usually put the batter into a large measuring cup with a pour spout, and then pour the batter into the liners.)
- Bake cupcakes for approximately 18-22 minutes.
- Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.
Just tried this recipe….same as another…the batter looked perfect until I added the water, there was way too much liquid! They were very gooey and almost not cooked inside even after adding SEVERAL minutes cooking to them. I will try again without the water because they had great flavour.
Great! looks really delicious.=D
when it says use 3/4 cup of flour how much is that in weight??
I've been using this recipe for probably over 12 years ( though I have always called it "deep dark chocolate cake"), but I had forgotten all about it for the last few years. Just made it again yesterday, and it truly is the perfect chocolate cake. This recipe has never failed me.
ssI'm so sad. I made a batch of chocolate and vanilla last night and neither turned out. The chocolate taste good but look terrible and actually pulled away from the liner. The vanilla turned out dry…I feel like a failure. They are for a babyshower so tonight it is to the box mix
This is HILARIOUS! I discovered the Hershey's recipe just a few weeks ago and LOVE IT!! So I clicked your link to see if it was similar to that one…only to find it was the same one. Guess I've got the best recipe already. 🙂 I've made it 3 times to great success (for cakes and cupcakes)… am waiting to try it for a larger cake…
I made them two days ago… just perfect!! Thanks!
Hi, I was wondering if I could use 3 teaspoons of baking soda instead of baking powder? And i was wondering, why does the recipe call for both?
I'd like to make a double (or triple) layer cake instead of cupcakes for my daughter's birthday. Do you have the cooking conversion? Thank you!
Whenever I make these, they form a crispy skin on the top but are amazingly moist and soft inside, what am I doing wrong?! Please help!