Super Moist Chocolate Cupcakes

Indulge in these decadent super moist chocolate cupcakes, bursting with an abundance of rich chocolate flavor in every bite! Crafted from humble everyday ingredients, this effortless cupcake recipe is destined to become your new go-to favorite. For optimal results, opt for natural cocoa powder and buttermilk. Elevate the experience even further by pairing these chocolate delights with luscious chocolate buttercream frosting—guaranteed to send your taste buds into overdrive!

Today we’re diving deep into what I like to call a “foundation recipe.” Basic chocolate cupcakes which are, indefinitely, anything but basic.

I shared this recipe 3 years ago as chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting, but I want to walk you through the process (1) with step-by-step pictures, (2) with careful explanations, (3) and I want to emphasize one VERY crucial instruction. If you skip this instruction, your entire batch will be ruined. Trust me, the evidence has landed in my trashcan time and time again. It’s not pretty.

Today’s chocolate cupcakes are for true chocolate fans. I’m talking about those of you who don’t qualify an item as dessert unless there’s chocolate involved. Strawberry shortcake is a dessert impostor and forget about apple pie. That’s some sort of health food, right?

You need 2 bowls, 1 whisk, and 1 spatula. The base of these chocolate cupcakes, and what is responsible for the super-moist texture, is oil. Like double chocolate muffins, we’re not creaming butter here, so there is no need to break out the mixer. Though you can absolutely use a hand or stand mixer if it’s easier for you.

We’re also achieving an incredibly moist texture with buttermilk. Just like in these cream-filled chocolate cupcakes, buttermilk also gives us the best flavor. I don’t typically have buttermilk in the fridge, so I sour whole milk instead. Check out my recipe notes for how to do that one.

Another tip? Make sure you’re using natural unsweetened cocoa powder, not dutched cocoa. Why? Here’s the difference between dutch-process vs. natural cocoa powder. And if you really want to learn today, here is the difference between baking soda vs. baking powder and why I use both in these chocolate cupcakes.

So there’s 1 bowl for dry ingredients and 1 bowl for wet ingredients. Gently mix the two together. The batter isn’t as thick as you would think. We don’t really want a super thick chocolate batter because that would yield a cupcake similar to brownies. Dense. We don’t want dense! We want spongey, cakey, and rich.