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.
Can I just say that these cupcakes are delish! I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder and they turned out fantastic. They were perfectly chocolatey! I did find that I didn't need to bake them as long though. I found that out after my first batch was done. This will definately be a recipe in the KEEP file! 🙂
What would your baking istructions be to bake this in the oven in 2 8" cake pans instead of cupcake pans?
Hi there. Just wanted to say that since finding your blog (only a few weeks ago) I have baked your chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, and have frosted them with your vanilla cream cheese icing, peppermint icing and peanut butter icing. I have also made your mini cinnamon sugar cupcakes. Needless to say I am constantly running to the store for more ingredients, am making my friends, family and co-workers VERY happy and am a hit at parties. Thanks for this wonderful blog and these fantastic recipes…they have turned out perfectly every time!
Hi I made these the other week–and they were delicious–but I had trouble with them cooking out over the cupcake papers. So much so, that I had to throw away my first batch. The second batch I then didn't fill the papers as full, and it worked better, but It still seemed to run out over on a few of them. Any tips or suggestions? The batter seems so very runny….wondering if that's why?
Hi, I made these yesterday but the vanill cream cheese frosting turned out too runny even though I followed your instruction step by step. Please can you tell me what I might have done wrong?
I tried these but they didnt come out right. They had sink holes in the middle of them. Any idea of what I did wrong. I realized I used sweet cocoa instead od unsweeten maybe that were I went wrong.
These look great! I will be making a batch this week. I do have a question, why all-purpose flour instead of cake flour like your vanilla cupcake recipe?
OMG, these are fantastic!! I used this recipe to make some Black Forest cupcakes on the weekend and they turned out amazing. Normally I prefer vanilla cake over chocolate, but I do believe this recipe has converted me : )
Thanks for posting this…
Thanks so much for the recipe! I used it to make some cupcakes for my daughters birthday and they turned out fabulously 🙂
Hi!!! I tried this recipe and the cupcakes were delicious! Thanks!!! (: The only problem I have is that the top of the cupcakes became really sticky after they cooled. Do you have any idea why?