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.
I have been using this recipe for about 2 months, however I have a big problem with getting just the right amount of batter into the cups, if I put just a smudge too much they overflow out of the cups instead of just rising to make a pretty dome…any idea what I might be doing wrong?
Hi, I want to try this recipe but was wondering if I could use cake flour vs all purpose flour as long as I used 1cup + 2tbsp for every 1 cup of all purpose flour this recipe calls for?
I’ve only made the recipe as posted, but feel free to try any substitutions you like =)
These cupcakes are AMAZING!!
I would like to make a cake using this recipe but do the measurements need to be changed?
This recipe can be used for a cake, using the recipe as is. Of course you’ll need to adjust the baking time, depending on the size of your pans. The cake is baked when it has a slight dome, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs, but no wet batter.
Hi, I was just wondering if its okay it use canola oil instead of vegetable oil or will it alter the taste?
Canola oil will work just lovely!
Well, I knew I loved the cupcakes and thought I would try making a little double layer 6″ cake for Fathers Day for my BIL
Did NOT work…….I think this is too soft for a cake. I baked it for almost 50 min at 350 in 6″ pans that were filled a little more than half way,
I an say it came out of the pans ok…but trying to frost them….they are just too wiggley…they dont firm up like a cake. UNLESS Im doing something wrong……I think Ill stick to CUPCAKES with this recipe….those are AWESOME!
Ansa
Ansa- I have made cakes several times with this recipe, but as you said, the cake is quite fluffy and delicate. I usually freeze my cake layers (wrapped well in plastic wrap) before frosting them, this give you a more durable surface to frost.
Have you made this as a cake instead of cupcakes? If so, what temp and how long? I've made the cupcakes twice and they are perfect!!!
can someone please tell me how to make the little flower on top of the cupcake??? LOVE it!
Tried this recipe today and it was just perfect ..Thank you so much 🙂
I made the recipe… but they came out flat, not so cute looking… what did i do wrong? Writing from South America.
I found that if you didn't cool the cup cakes enough they stuck to the wrapper. When the cakes cooled enough, they shrink a little and release better. Just my two cents on this…