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.
Hello 🙂
I was wondering if this recipe could be altered slightly for lemon cupcakes for Mother's Day?
Awesome! Love all your treats…can't wait to try more. Shared a couple on my blog today. Thanks for the inspiration!
Blessings,
Holly
http://hallelujahsbyholly.blogspot.com/2011/05/homemade-chocolate-cupcakesyum.html
Hi there Glory, Was wondering if this cupcake recipe would work as a giant cupcake cake… if you know what I mean… the gals LOVED it after our night at the hot springs…
Oh my goodness… totally absolutely delicious… just baked my lot… & its absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! Will bake a 2nd batch now for our gals' night out to the spa… (My 1st batch was "sacrificed" to the kids… since it looked really bad (even though it tasted divine) as I didn't estimate filling 2/3s properly… so they overspilled out of the cupcake holders… Ooopss…! So if you're attempting this cupcake, make sure you definitely take note & fill 1/2 to 3/4 full as they do rise a fair bit! LOL!) Hope you don't mind me reposting (& referencing you) on my blog too… 🙂 Thanks heaps!
Hello there! I just wanted to say that all of your baked goods are absolutely lovely. This has been my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe for ages and I thought I would post here that, if anyone wants to make this treat a little bit healthier, you can substitute fat-free plain yogurt for the oil and therefore have a practically fat-free cake! And there is absolutely no flavour difference from what I (and my taste testers) can tell between the two.
Happy baking!
– Eve
these are delicious!!do u happen to have a vanilla recipe you would like to share?
hi there..ive made these HEAPZ of times and everytime ive made them they rise unevenly..can anyone help with this matter?what do i have to do to get them to rise perfectly?
Sweet baking boutique-
I'm glad you enjoyed the recipe. I've made this recipe probably 100 times and I've never had a problem with it sticking to the liners, so I'm not quite sure what the problem may have been. My only suggestions might be to bake them a few minutes less, or try a different kind/brand of liners.
Happy Baking!
Hi I made these today with nutella frosting and hard chocolate covered and they were super delicioussss! the only problem I had was i think since it was so liquid it stick to the liners soooooo hard. It was a little difficult to take the liners off. any help?
Hi! I used this recipe and your vanilla creamcheese icing recipe last week to make some cupcakes, and everyone loved them and are ordering me to make more!
Thanks for the recipe and keep up the great work! (: