Dark chocolate cupcakes with salted caramel frosting are so moist and delicious, I bet you can’t eat just one 😋! These miniature, hand held chocolatey bites are so rich and decadent they can’t be resisted! If you like dark chocolate, you’re going to love this recipe!
The dark chocolate batter, made from scratch is super moist! It works great for either chocolate cupcakes with salted caramel frosting or a full size cake with a chocolate ganache drizzled over the top. I’ve used it both ways, all you have to do is adjust the cooking time.
For this recipe, I made mini cupcakes, which only take about 15 minutes to bake. For a full size bundt cake, it takes 40-45 minutes to bake.
In my efforts to make the moistest batter possible, I used half white granular sugar and half brown sugar, I used only the yolks of the eggs, and I added some sour cream.
For a little something special, I added almond extract, and to kick it up a notch, I added some strong black coffee, which always goes great with chocolate.
Keep in mind that baking is a science. There needs to be the proper balance between flour, leaveners, fats, and liquids. As long as you measure the ingredients carefully, the process is pretty simple.
This is a super easy one bowl recipe. You don’t have to mix the wet and dry ingredients separately. Add the dry ingredients to a bowl and whisk, then add the remaining wet ingredients all at once, in the same bowl, and mix.
How to Make Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
In a large bowl, whisk together 1 cup white granulated sugar, 1 cup light brown sugar, 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour, 1 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder, 2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp salt.
Add 4 egg yolks, 1 cup buttermilk, 1 cup strong black coffee, 1/2 cup flavorless oil, 1 tsp almond extract, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Mix with an electric mixer until combined. Stir in 1 cup sour cream.
Line a miniature cupcake pan with paper wrappers. I used a 2 1/4″ cupcake pan from Ikea. Fill each wrapper 3/4 full and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the cupcakes to cool. The recipe makes 32 miniature cupcakes, so you may have to work in batches.
Salted Caramel Frosting
With an electric mixer, beat together 4 ounces room temperature cream cheese, 1 stick of room temperature butter, 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup caramel sauce, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, and 1/2 tsp salt.
To keep it simple, I used store bought caramel sauce, but you could easily make your own caramel sauce by adding 1 cup of sugar and 1/3 cup water (or enough to moisten the sugar) to a sauce pan and cook over medium heat, without stirring, until a golden brown syrup forms. Turn off the heat and stir in 3/4 cup heavy cream and 2 Tbsp butter.
Add the frosting to a piping bag or a resealable plastic bag and snip off the corner. Pipe the frosting on to the cooled cupcakes. Enjoy!
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Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup strong black coffee
- 1/2 cup flavorless oil
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup sour cream
For the Frosting:
- 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 stick butter room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup caramel sauce
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
For the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a mini cupcake pan with paper wrappers and set aside. I used a 2 1/4" cupcake pan from Ikea. This recipe makes approximately 32 mini cupcakes, so you may have to work in batches.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the white granulated sugar, brown sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the egg yolks, buttermilk, coffee, oil, almond extract, and vanilla extract and mix with an electric mixer until thoroughly combined.
- Stir in the sour cream.
- Fill each cupcake wrapper 3/4 full with batter and bake 15 minutes.
- Allow to cool before frosting.
For the Frosting:
- In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, mix together the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, caramel sauce, vanilla extract, and salt until smooth.
- Add the frosting to a piping bag or a resealable plastic bag with a corner snipped off. Pipe the frosting on to the cooled cupcakes.
Is there any way to make the frosting a little more stable at room temperature? It is absolutely delicious and I am making these babies (standard size) for my friend’s baby sprinkle. Since it’s a drive-by sprinkle due to the pandemic, I need to serve each car individually from her front porch. The best I could come up with thus far is storing them in a cooler and serving them from there.
I’m glad you like the recipe! Cornstarch is a stabilizer. Although I haven’t tried this, you could add a Tbsp of cornstarch to the frosting mixture. Powdered sugar typically has cornstarch in it, so you could also add more powdered sugar, but depending on your taste it might become too sweet.
Niki, these little dark jewels look so crazy good I can hardly stand it. I desperately need one of these right now. I wanted so bad to just grab it out of the computer and take a bite. Yu-u-u-umy!!!
Thank you, Kristy! It’s hard to eat just one 😋