Moist, rich, and delicious homemade chocolate cupcakes in less than 35 minutes…yes please! Eliminate all of the added ingredients in boxed versions and create an even better tasting cupcake with minimal effort. Keep your pantry stocked with baking essentials and you’ll always have what you need on hand.
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Recipe Overview
What You’ll Need
Ingredients
- 1 â…” cups granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- â…” cup natural cocoa powder
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch (optional)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup canola or vegetable oil
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk (room temperature)
- 2 teaspoons + a dash vanilla extract
- â…” cup whole milk (room temperature)
- 1 cup hot coffee, may substitute warm milk
Instructions
- Place rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350F.
- Line two 12-count muffin tins with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add oil, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and stir until batter is combined (it will be dry and crumbly, but all of the flour mixture should be moistened before moving on to next steps).
- Slowly add milk while mixing and mix until batter is uniform and completely combined.
- Slowly add hot coffee or milk and stir until liquid is fully incorporated into the batter and you have a smooth texture. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is well-combined. The batter will be thin, this is normal.
- Evenly divide batter into lined muffin tins, fill liners between ½ and ⅔ of the way full, this is about 3 Tablespoons of batter or less per cupcake liner.
💡Over-filled liners will result in cupcakes with flat tops, and they may cave in while cooling. - Transfer one pan of cupcakes to preheated oven and bake for 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs or clean.
- Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes in baking pan before carefully removing to cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before frosting. Repeat step # 8 for your second cupcake tin.
Final Thoughts
Sometimes the thought of making something from scratch can be intimidating or maybe it just feels like it’s easier to grab a box mix and add the required ingredients. Honestly, once you start baking items from scratch in most cases, you’ll find it to be just as easy and much more cost effective. Keeping your pantry stocked with baking essentials is easy because once you purchase them, they typically last through several batches of your favorite sweet treats. Try my cookie dough frosting recipe for the most amazing cupcake flavor combo.
If you are still hesitant to try but you want that homemade texture and flavor, you can check out my Boxed Cake Mix Hack on Pinterest.
-Hey Ivy