This is the perfect recipe for a small batch of 6 soft and fluffy chocolate cupcakes. The cupcakes are quick and easy (made in one bowl) and topped with vanilla buttercream frosting.
We love small batch recipes! These cupcakes join our Small Batch Brownies and Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies. Prefer a vanilla cupcake? Try our Small Batch Vanilla Cupcakes.
These cupcakes are
Quick and easy: The batter comes together in one bowl, in minutes!
Soft and fluffy: These cupcakes have a beautiful dome and a fluffy texture.
Flavorful: The chocolate flavor is enhanced with a bit of coffee (more on this below) and rounded out with smooth vanilla frosting.
Perfect for small celebrations: Celebrating with just a few people? This recipe is a great option that won’t leave you with a bunch of leftovers.
Recipe overview
*Full recipe below in recipe card*
Make the cupcakes:
- Combine dry ingredients.
- Add egg, oil, milk, and vanilla.
- Add hot coffee.
Divide the batter between six lined muffin cups.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the cupcakes have puffed up and a toothpick inserted into the cupcakes comes out clean.
Make the vanilla buttercream frosting:
Combine butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk.
Assemble:
Pipe or spread the frosting onto each cupcake. Topped with sprinkles or chocolate shavings.
Special ingredient: hot coffee
Maybe you’ve seen espresso powder or instant coffee added to cookies or brownies to enhance the flavor? We’re using the same technique here. Adding coffee (instead of water) helps intensify the chocolate flavor in these cupcakes. And using hot coffee helps to draw out even more rich flavor from the cocoa powder.
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Recipe
Small Batch Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ cup hot coffee, see note
Vanilla frosting:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk, half and half, or cream, plus more, if needed
Instructions
Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 6 muffin cups or place 6 liners in a muffin pan. Set aside.
- With a stand mixer or hand mixer, combine sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add egg, milk, oil, and vanilla extract and beat until well combined, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary. Add hot coffee and beat until just combined. Batter will be thin.
- Divide evenly between 6 prepared muffin cups. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the tops spring back when you touch them, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting:
- Beat butter and powdered sugar for several minutes, until smooth. Add vanilla extract and milk, and beat for several more minutes, until light and fluffy. If the frosting seems a little too thick, beat in a splash of milk. If it seems too thin, add another tablespoon of powdered sugar.
- Frost the cooled cupcakes using a decorating tip or a butter knife. Garnish with sprinkles or chocolate shavings, if desired.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
dana
These are soo good and pretty! Thanx for sharing the recipe! ?
Celebrating Sweets
You’re welcome. I’m glad that you like them!
Tejashree
Hi..
An Excellent recipe..
1 cup = ? grams?
Thanks.
Celebrating Sweets
Are you referring to flour? I believe one cup = 128 grams.
Marina Emmatty
I think I have mini muffin tray so I got 12 mini cupcakes…so cute and so yummy!!
Celebrating Sweets
Yay! Thanks for letting me know!
Lauren
These are awesome! Boyfriend & I were craving cupcakes so I found this recipe & we made it on a whim, and they were exactly what we were hoping for. I’d love to make it again in the future, but it would be fun to experiment with it a little bit and get some unique flavors for different occasions — what are some interesting combinations or substitutions we could try with this recipe? Thanks in advance!
Celebrating Sweets
Hi, Lauren. I’m so glad that you liked them. As for switching up the recipe – you could add a peanut butter cup into the cupcakes and top with peanut butter frosting (see here), you could top them with strawberry frosting (here), or you can try my Small Batch Vanilla Cupcakes. Enjoy!
Lily
Hello~! Thank you for the recipe ^_^ , btw i want to ask you about the milk you used in this recipe. Was it fresh milk, condensed milk or sweetened milk?
Celebrating Sweets
Just regular milk, preferably whole or 2%.
Marsha
Just made these for an after dinner dessert for my family of four. They were delicious and the kids loved them, nice and airy. I ended up with exactly 6 perfect sized cupcakes. I didn’t use the frosting recipe since I was out of icing sugar, but found some leftover gingerbread house frosting in a packet. It worked good enough for our purposes. Can’t wait to try the frosting next time!
Celebrating Sweets
Perfect! Thanks for stopping by to let me know. I’m so glad that you enjoyed them. 🙂
Fatima
Cant believe i made them. They are so so so soft and very easy to make. Feeling like i discovered a country lol
Will be making this forever.
Celebrating Sweets
Ha! Yay! I’m so happy to hear that. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Julie Payne
Just wanted to let you know that I tried these, but I did make three adjustments. They were yummy, First one was that I have to be on a Gluten-free diet so I substituted 70 gm. of my gluten-free flour ( which does have both xanthum gum and guar gum in it) for the 1/2 c. All purpose flour. I used buttermilk instead of reg. milk and increased the baking soda by about 3/8t. instead of 1/4t.. They have a wonderful, crumb. and taste really good. I was looking for a small batch of cupcakes because my husband and I are getting ready to go on vacation and I had already made a batch of goodies to take. Thur. is my birthday and while I usually do not make myself a cake., I decided that I would like something sweet to have after dinner. I also nearly forgot that I had discovered that I did not have a rounded or heaping 1/4C. of cocoa so I added some dutch cocoa. Now you may think that I made too many changes to it to still be your recipe, but I want to thank you for figuring out the amounts needed to do a small batch. They were yummy!
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad that you enjoyed them. Thanks for sharing your changes. Happy birthday!
Nilam
I tried this recipe but my cupcakes are sinks inside why this is happening
Celebrating Sweets
Were your baking powder and soda fresh? Did you measure the flour correctly? If any of that was off it would prevent the cupcakes from rising.
Laasya
Can You use Hersheys special dark cocoa powder? ( dutch processed cocoa powder)
Celebrating Sweets
I have never tried it. I believe that there could be a chemical reaction, although the baking soda might offset that. I can’t say for sure. If you try it, please let me know how it goes.