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.
It looks so marvelous!
Please give us the secret of your smooth cream/icing !!
I tested a lot of different recipe and I get one nice for easter with small chocolat eggs 😉
I never leave comments- but these were SO good I just had to. I followed the recipe exactly and they are divine!! I also made your vanilla icing to go with them, which was also incredible! I topped some with coconut, which pushed them way over the edge! Thanks so much for sharing this.
wow they look good cant w8 2 make em delicious
i made these cupcakes today and was a bit disappointed….although they were moist, on the other hand they were also very dense….i expected something light…..i followed the recipe to the T and im not very happy with the result…what could have been wrong…???
Oh my. I will NEVER buy boxed mix again. I made these for a friend who was going through a rough time and of course had to sample before I gave them away. So moist and decadent. I used a chocolate buttercream frosting.
P.s. since I didn’t have whole milk, but had 2/3 cup of buttermilk, I used that and 1/3 cup 2%. Perfection….thanks for the recipe.
You may have answered this already but what changes would you make to the recipe to make this into a layer cake. Also you said they would freeze well. Is that with the icing too?
LOVE this cupcake recipe! Just made them today and they turned out soooo moist! This recipe is a keeper for sure! Thank you so much for this excellent recipe! 😀
I just tried them out as a Valentines Day treat. They taste great, thanks for sharing! 🙂
hi wow these cupcakes look amazing im going to make it with the choclate frosting tommrow for valintines days cant wait and I was just wondering how did you make the red lovehearts on the choclate cupcakes thankyou
Glory, Absolutely the best recipe in my book! So glad I found it!