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.
hi glory
if I wanted to make half the amount of cupcakes can I just exactly halve everything in the recipe?
thanks
Sure! =)
Hi, I tried this one and its delicious, as of now i can’t find vanilla extract within our area i only have almond extract. can i substitute this for vanilla extract?
Thanks and hope you can help me on this
Ina, I’m not sure if I would use almond extract in this recipe. You might look on-line to purchase the vanilla extract, or you can look on-line for recipes to make your own. Happy baking!
Hi 🙂
Thanks for all your posts 🙂 I’ve tried your vanilla cupcakes so far and they’re awesome!!! For these cupcakes, how far in advance do you reckon I can bake them? I need to find a recipe where the cupcakes will still be fine to be eaten on the 3rd day as have other commitments on the day before they’ll be eaten. Thanks in advance for your reply 🙂
Kim
Hi Kim, In general I like to serve baked goods as fresh as possible, but in the case of this recipe, it does last quite well. You should be fine baking them two days in advance. I would wait to frost them either the night before, or the day of your event.
Wow, they look awesome!!! Saturday I have my birthdayparty, I’m sure I’m gonna make them tomorrow or tonight for my party!!!
Thanks a million!
Hi,
I tried the vanilla cupcake recipe and love it! However, I would like to make a chocolate edition using almost same ingredients so there aren’t so much leftover raw materials. This chocolate cupcake recipe uses self-raising flour instead of cake flour. Can I do a one-to-one replacement? Thanks!
I tried them! They are great! My only problem was that they were not of the same height and the top was not perfect like urs. How can i achieve perfect ones like urs? I did fill them up as similarly as possible
Hi Farzana, There is no real secret, just a bit of practice I guess. For this batter I usually fill a large measuring cup with a pour spout, and pour the batter into the paper liners. I just do my best to eye-ball it. It doesn’t really matter if they are not all perfect, because once they are frosted no one will know! =)
I halved this chocolate cupcake recipe and they turned out perfectly! Moist, fluffy and just enough chocolate flavour. This will be my new ‘go to’ recipe from now on.
THANKS!
oh my goodness.. I used this recipe and made 2 9” cakes.. accompanied by your chocolate cream cheese frosting.. this is the best chocolate cake I have ever eaten in my life.. can’t wait to try out your vanilla cupcake recipe next
Hi Glory! I tried your perfect vanilla cupcake recipe and it was really perfect!
Thanks for sharing and this will be my vanilla cupcake recipe for life.
I’m so excited to see your chocolate cupcake in this recipe and wonder if I can
Do the same recipe as the vanilla cupcake by using buttermilk (butter with lemon juice) and use oil instead of butter? Hope to hear from you soon. Can’t wait to try it tmr and update you 🙂
Cheers
Joy
Hi Joy, This recipe calls for oil (just as the vanilla recipe), and you can just follow the recipe as is, using regular milk. Buttermilk is not needed in this case. Happy baking!