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!
Tristin
These cupcakes were really good and easy to make thank you for the recipe. My family loves my baking and especially these.
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Carolina
OMG! I just baked a batch using your recipe and it’s amazing! Thank you!
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Hope
How important is the coffee?
Celebrating Sweets
You can swap the coffee for hot water. It just intensifies the chocolate flavor. Enjoy!
Kelly
My husband LOVED these cupcakes. Is there any way to translate this recipe into a full cake? His birthday is in a few weeks and he requested these cupcakes but in a full cake format, haha. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you! 🙂
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them! This recipe is fairly similar to the Hershey’s chocolate cake recipe. If you try it I’d recommend swapping hot coffee for the boiling water. Enjoy!
Kelly
Great, I’ll give it a try, thank you!
Cupcake Lover
These cupcakes are moist and delicious! Thanks for the recipe! 🙂 I am made a oreo cookies and cream frosting for them soo good!
Allison
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Siri
I don’t have oven but still want to bake,so can i bake them on stove using cooker
Allison
You need some type of oven to bake them.
Tapaswini Patra
Really easy recipe, made these to celebrate my baby’s 8th month completion. With the COVID situation, we won’t have guests over, so this small batch recipe is great for just the two of us. Just want to highlight that this recipe would yield 12 mini cupcakes. I am a newbie to baking and cooking in general, so would really appreciate if there is any video you can post detailing the frosting steps ( decorating the cake)
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Here’s a helpful video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd-EJ_94tsE
Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Joy
Glad I made these. My neice loves chocolate we made these together and they came out great! I didn’t add coffee I will next time I make them for adults. Great moist cupcakes and VERY good icing.
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Jaynel
These are the lightest, spongiest chocolate cupcakes I’ve ever made. Followed the cupcake recipe exactly and they came out superb! From one batch/recipe I got 24 mini cupcakes. Great recipe!
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Mikayla Boucher
I’m a little late to this recipe but I was looking for something small to bake and I absolutely loved this! My entire family and I agreed these are the best cupcakes we’ve had! I was a little
unsure if the frosting was going to turn out correct because I used confectioners sugar instead of powdered sugar, but it turns out they are almost the same thing. These cupcakes were rich and so much better than boxed cake batter! Just made these today and they are already half way gone!
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂