• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

RecipeTin Eats

Fast Prep, Big Flavours

Small book

My cookbook "Dinner" now available!

  • My RecipeTin
  • My cookbook!
  • Recipes
  • Recipes By Category
    • Christmas ⭐️
      • Starters
      • Mains
      • Sides: Warm & Hearty
      • Sides: Light & Fresh
      • Desserts
      • Breads
      • Christmas Leftovers
    • Iconic + cult classics
    • Mains
      • Chicken
        • Chicken mince
      • Beef Recipes
        • Ground Beef (Mince)
      • Pork
      • Lamb
      • Turkey
      • Shrimp / Prawns
      • Salmon
      • Fish recipes
      • Salad Meals
    • Quick and Easy
    • Soups
    • One Pot
    • Stews
    • Slow Cooker
    • Sides
      • All
      • Salads & veg
      • Show Off Salads
      • Rice (all)
      • Fried rice recipes
      • Rice (plain)
      • Potato
    • Pasta
      • All
      • Pasta bakes
      • Pasta salads
    • Sweet
      • Cakes
      • Candy
      • Cheesecakes
      • Cupcakes & Muffins
      • Cookies
      • Puddings & Cosy Desserts
      • Bite Size
      • Pies
      • Slices & Bars
      • Frosting & Icing
      • Ice cream
    • Cuisine
      • Asian
        • All
        • Stir fries
        • Noodles
        • Soups
        • Chinese
        • Japanese
        • Korean
        • Thai
        • Vietnamese
      • French
      • Greek
      • Indian
      • Italian
      • Mediterranean
      • Mexican
      • Middle Eastern
      • South American
    • Dietary
      • Gluten Free
      • Low Calorie
      • Vegetarian
    • Other Categories
      • BBQ
      • Breakfast
      • Burgers
      • Cocktails
      • Party Foods
      • Rice Recipes
      • Roasts
      • Sandwiches & Sliders
    • Cookbook recipes
  • Collections
  • About
    • Me
    • RecipeTin Meals
    • Free Recipe Books
    • Contact
    • Nitty Gritty
      • Policy: Use of Recipes & Images
      • Privacy & Disclosure
Home Baking

Best EASY Chocolate Cupcakes (no stand mixer)

By:Nagi
Published:5 May '17Updated:9 Nov '20
212 Comments
Recipe v Video v Dozer v

The Best EASY Chocolate Cupcakes are moist, have a tender crumb, are deeply chocolatey and made without an electric beater. No waiting for butter to soften, no creaming, the batter is simple and quick to make. Excellent emergency cupcakes!

After Vanilla Cupcakes? Here they are!

No stand mixer required to make the Best EASY Chocolate Cupcakes. Moist, deeply chocolatey with a tender crumb, these are unbelievably fast & easy. www.recipetineats.com

Chocolate Cupakes

Using the term “BEST” is not something I do lightly.

I do feel a bit uncomfortable saying that these are the BEST Easy Chocolate Cupcakes. But in the cupcake world, I truly do believe these to be the best that can be for a simple no-standmixer, no creaming butter recipe.

I was back and forth about which cupcake recipe to share. I was tempted to go for a “100% perfect” version which requires a stand mixer / electric beater to cream butter. And I wanted to be able to talk to you about how perfect they are.

But you know what? The Perfect version is not the one I make the most. This Easy version is. It’s my “go to”, the one I can make right now, without waiting for butter to soften, without pulling out my hand beater. And the difference between this Easy version and the Perfect version is so insignificant, I don’t care.

And so it was settled. I went for the Easy version. 🙂

No stand mixer required to make the Best EASY Chocolate Cupcakes. Moist, deeply chocolatey with a tender crumb, these are unbelievably fast & easy. www.recipetineats.com

No stand mixer required to make the Best EASY Chocolate Cupcakes. Moist, deeply chocolatey with a tender crumb, these are unbelievably fast & easy. www.recipetineats.com

These Chocolate Cupcakes are…

  1. Soft and tender, not crumbly. Like Red Velvet Cake – it should be “velvety”;

  2. Moist;

  3. Actually taste of chocolate (unfortunate many lack this!);

  4. Delicate, but still be sturdy enough to support a generous pile of frosting; and

  5. Have a sweet dome, shaped such that it looks nice enough if you just dust with icing sugar / powdered sugar, but flat enough to pipe on tall swirls of frosting.

Being the quick and easy version these are, you’ll notice that the surface of the dome does have some small cracks on it. But for the easy of this recipe, it is a very small price to pay.

Besides, no cupcake ever leaves my kitchen without frosting!!!

No stand mixer required to make the Best EASY Chocolate Cupcakes. Moist, deeply chocolatey with a tender crumb, these are unbelievably fast & easy. www.recipetineats.com

Best frosting for Chocolate Cupcakes

Hard to go past chocolate-on-chocolate, but I will put forward some non chocolate options too!

  • Chocolate Buttercream – I realise how ironic it is that I’d feature these cupcakes with tall swirls of buttercream frosting which calls for both softened butter and and stand mixer! 😂 But hey, frosting is worth the effort. 😇 Pipe on swirls, or spread on with a knife;

  • Speedy Chocolate Fudge Frosting (pictured below, in recipe card) – made with cocoa powder mixed with melted butter, then thickened with icing sugar/frosting until it’s a spreadable consistency, this frosting is quite rich so I’d recommend just spreading onto the cupcakes rather than piping tall swirls;

  • Decadent Chocolate Ganache Frosting – made with melted chocolate and cream, this is a deluxe chocolate frosting that I use for my sinfully decadent Chocolate Fudge Cake. Once melted, it’s cooled until it thicken into a spreadable consistency. I don’t recommend piping this on in tall swirls, it would be overly rich I feel!

  • Vanilla Buttercream – White frosting on chocolate cupcakes looks striking and makes for a lovely flavour combination! Use the recipe in my Vanilla Cake recipe – it will frost 12 cupcakes generously (tall swirls) though if you just want to smear it on then you can halve the batch; and

  • My Secret Less-Sweet Fluffy Vanilla Frosting – this frosting is magical! It’s like a cross between whipped cream and buttercream. Far less sweet and fluffier than buttercream, and it’s also 100% silky smooth (buttercream will always have a faint grit to it, the icing sugar/powdered sugar never fully dissolves). Dense than whipped cream, and unlike whipped cream, it holds its form for days.

No stand mixer required to make the Best EASY Chocolate Cupcakes. Moist, deeply chocolatey with a tender crumb, these are unbelievably fast & easy. www.recipetineats.com
Chocolate cupcakes with speedy chocolate fudge frosting
No stand mixer required to make the Best EASY Chocolate Cupcakes. Moist, deeply chocolatey with a tender crumb, these are unbelievably fast & easy. www.recipetineats.com
Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream
No stand mixer required to make the Best EASY Chocolate Cupcakes. Moist, deeply chocolatey with a tender crumb, these are unbelievably fast & easy. www.recipetineats.com
Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream

I’ve shared the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting in a separate post because I think it’s worthy of being a separate recipe. 🙂 Also because I’ve done a video for that too – I didn’t want to cram it into the cupcake recipe video.

The weekend is here!! Do I hear chocolate cupcakes calling your name?? I think I do….. 😉 – Nagi xx


WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

Best Easy Chocolate Cupcakes recipe video!

Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.

Best Easy Chocolate Cupcakes

Best Easy Chocolate Cupcakes

Author: Nagi
Prep: 15 minutes mins
Cook: 20 minutes mins
Total: 30 minutes mins
Baking, Cupcakes, Dessert
Western
4.99 from 75 votes
Servings12
Tap or hover to scale
Print
  • 104
Recipe video above. These cupcakes are deeply chocolatey, they're moist - and stay moist for 3 days - and have a terrific tender crumb. It's extremely simple to make - no creaming butter, no beater required. By far the best chocolate cupcakes I've ever had made with such little effort!

Ingredients

Dry:

  • 3/4 cup plain/all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup caster sugar (super fine sugar, or sub with normal white sugar)
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda / bi carbonate soda (Note 1)
  • Pinch of salt

Wet:

  • 120g / 8 tbsp unsalted butter , cut into 1" / 2cm pieces (1 US stick / 1/2 cup)
  • 60g / 2 oz dark chocolate , preferably 70%+ cocoa, broken into pieces (Note 2)
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder , preferably Dutch processed (Note 3)
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil (or other neutral flavour oil)
  • 2 large eggs (55 - 60g / 2 oz each)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 tsp white vinegar

Chocolate Fudge Frosting:

  • 120g / 8 tbsp unsalted butter , cut into 1" / 2cm pieces (1 US stick / 1/2 cup)
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder , preferably Dutch processed
  • 2 1/2 cups soft icing sugar / powdered sugar (NOT pure icing sugar)
  • 3 - 4 tbsp milk (any)
  • Sprinkles and other decorations, if desired

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan). Put oven rack in the middle of the oven.
  • Place 12 cupcake liners in a cupcake tin.
  • Sift Dry ingredients into a bowl. Whisk briefly.
  • Place butter and chocolate in a separate, large heatproof bowl. Microwave for 45 seconds, mix, then microwave for another 30 seconds. Mix until chocolate is melted and smooth (keep microwaving in 20 sec bursts if chocolate not melted).
  • Add cocoa powder and mix.
  • Add milk and oil, then eggs, vanilla and vinegar. Whisk until smooth.
  • Add flour mixture and whisk until lump free.
  • Divide mixture between cupcake liners. I use a ice cream scoop for this. They should be just over 3/4 full.
  • Bake for 18 - 20 minutes, or until skewer inserted into the cupcake in the middle of the tray comes out clean.
  • Remove from oven and immediately transfer to cooling rack (spoon or knife helps).
  • Once cool, spread with frosting and decorate with sprinkles if desired. Alternatively, use Chocolate Buttercream Frosting!

Speedy Chocolate Fudge Frosting:

  • Melt butter then mix in cocoa powder until smooth.
  • Add icing sugar and milk. Mix until smooth. Use milk to adjust consistency if required - it should be a soft spreadable consistency (like peanut butter).

Recipe Notes:

1. You can substitute the bi carb with 1 1/2 tsp baking powder. The cupcake is not quite as fluffy, but it is still lovely and soft.
2. Use dark chocolate purchased from the baking section of the supermarket, not eating chocolate. You can use any dark chocolate you want, but a good quality one with 70% or more cocoa (will say on packet) will give a better chocolate flavour.
3. Dutch processed cocoa has a more intense chocolate flavour than normal cocoa. However, you can use normal cocoa if you want.
Using a normal cocoa and normal dark chocolate will still yield a lovely chocolate tasting cupcake. It is just that by using 70%+ chocolate & Dutch processed cocoa powder makes a more intense chocolatey flavour. 🙂
4. For BAKING NERDS: Mixing cocoa powder with hot butter (or hot water, as is usually done in recipes) makes it "bloom", enhancing the chocolate flavour. Also, I add the milk and oil first into the melted butter mixture to bring the temperature down so you can add the eggs without worrying about the heat from the butter "cooking" the eggs!
This recipe is deliberately and specifically made with both oil and butter. Butter for flavour, oil for moisture.
Cup sizes in the US are slightly different to those in the rest of the world. For most recipes, the difference is immaterial and won't affect the recipe. For baked goods, it can matter. I have made this recipe using US cups, Australian cups (same as UK, EU) and weight measures and noticed no difference in the results. I find this recipe pretty forgiving compared to most cupcake recipes - because it's made like a quick bread / muffin batter.
5. The Frosting recipe makes enough to slather each cupcake quite generously - around 2.5 tbsp per cupcake. If you want less, use the SCALER (hover over servings) to reduce the butter to 70g - this will make enough frosting to just spread frosting on each cupcake.
6. These cupcakes stay beautifully moist for 3 days, in an airtight container. If it is very hot where you are, refrigerate them (because of the frosting) but ensure they are brought to room temperature before serving. They also freeze great (even with he frosting) - I've made so many in recent weeks, I've been freezing tons of them!
7. Nutrition includes the Chocolate Fudge Frosting.

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 97.5gCalories: 408cal (20%)
Keywords: chocolate cupcakes, easy chocolate cupcakes
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @recipe_tin.

 


LIFE OF DOZER

No chocolate cupcake for Dozer. Bad for you! How about a giant bone instead? (Mind you, it’s a dry aged one from a fancy butcher. Got it for free! 💪🏻)

Previous Post
Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls
Next Post
Thai Coconut Chicken

Hi, I'm Nagi!

I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative!

Read More

Free Recipe eBooks

Join my free email list to receive THREE free cookbooks!

Related Posts

Close up of Mini chocolate cakes

Mini chocolate cakes

Freshly made Melting Moments

Melting Moments

Overhead photo of Bursting Blueberry Crumb Cake

Bursting Blueberry Crumb Cake

More Baking

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Cooked this? Rate this recipe!




212 Comments

  1. Melissa says

    November 23, 2023 at 10:08 pm

    5 stars
    This is literally the most amazing cupcake recipe I’ve ever tried. The cupcakes are SO light and fluffy and not overly sweet

    Reply
  2. Vas says

    October 1, 2023 at 6:38 pm

    5 stars
    Amazing

    Reply
  3. Agnès says

    September 19, 2023 at 10:24 am

    5 stars
    Made these for International Chocolate Day because it was chocolate day and I love chocolate. And I was not disappointed, moist and delicious and lucky there was plenty as they disappeared too quickly! I will be making them again for the weekend with a Black Forest twist, pipped whipped cream with a cherry on top. Drooling already ❤️

    Reply
  4. Alicia says

    August 1, 2023 at 1:02 am

    5 stars
    Absolutely incredible!! By far the best cupcake recipe I’ve ever used, thank you so much for sharing 🙂

    Reply
  5. Cheryl Chin says

    May 2, 2023 at 11:02 am

    5 stars
    Thank you Nagi, for this easy and delicious Chocolate Cupcake Recipe. I so much appreciate you. God bless you.

    Reply
  6. pamela says

    April 28, 2023 at 11:10 am

    i find it frustrating that i have no answer to my comment and my comment is not shown on this page.

    Reply
  7. Pam says

    April 22, 2023 at 7:34 pm

    Left a comment over a week ago,not posted and no reply ?what is the reason for this ,I asked a pertinent question re the recipe .

    Reply
  8. pam says

    April 21, 2023 at 8:32 am

    no answer as yet to my comment

    Reply
  9. Pam says

    April 18, 2023 at 11:45 am

    4 stars
    Hi Nagi, love the mixture and taste of the cakes. i had a lot of mixture, could easily have made 15. i am an Aussie and i am wondering if your cup cakes are what we would call muffins here. my cakes looked like joined mushrooms and needed at least 10 mins more cooking. i tidied them up and they were eaten in no time when iced. . would appreciate your views. ta.

    Reply
    • Lara says

      August 10, 2023 at 12:21 pm

      5 stars
      My cupcakes came out perfect and I got exactly 12. However I did buy the Multix Large Party Pans which are deeper than the standard patty pans but not as wide as muffin ones. And therefore the time suggested was also perfect. Hope that helps 😊

      Reply
    • Lisa says

      May 15, 2023 at 5:06 pm

      5 stars
      Nagi is a very busy lady, she can’t personally reply to everyone’s comments!!
      Sounds to me like you either mismeasured something or just filled the cup too much. Should be about 3/4 full.
      I made them yesterday and they came out perfect- I did get a couple of extras from the mixture too so must be generous.

      Reply
      • Pam says

        May 15, 2023 at 5:43 pm

        Thank you .i still think almost a month is too long for a reply. I will try again as the mix was good and only fill to 3/4.

        Reply
  10. Pauline Evans says

    April 8, 2023 at 3:38 pm

    5 stars
    These are so easy and delicious!

    Reply
  11. Farah says

    April 5, 2023 at 10:14 pm

    5 stars
    I don’t particularly like chocolate cakes on their own but my son does so we’ve made these a few times and they always turn out great. So easy and freeze really well. I’ve added 3/4 to 1 cup of frozen fruit (raspberries or cherries are my favorite) which makes them infinitely better in my opinion. They just need an extra 10-15 min in the oven. Love the ermine frosting – which can also be fruited up with some puree added towards the end 🙂
    Thanks for an awesome recipe!

    Reply
  12. Susan says

    February 14, 2023 at 10:32 pm

    5 stars
    I’ve made these a few times with my preschooler daughter – perfect every time! The fudgey frosting is my go to for everything icing now and easy to adapt. Thanks Nagi x

    Reply
  13. Kellie says

    February 13, 2023 at 3:03 pm

    5 stars
    They turned out gorgeous 💕🍦💕

    Reply
  14. Julia says

    December 9, 2022 at 2:11 pm

    5 stars
    I have just made these. They look amazing, and quite domed like others have said. But mine are very hard and crunchy on top, like all the sugar has risen and formed a crust. What would have caused this? I’m hoping when I put the buttercream on it will soften/moisten them up a bit. Any advice?

    Reply
  15. Lou says

    November 18, 2022 at 8:39 pm

    5 stars
    My 5th? I think time making these absolutely stunningly moist cupcakes. I normally don’t go for chocolate cakes as they are quite dry but these are an absolute dream! I often hollow out the middle, add salted caramel sauce in the centre, top with chocolate buttercream and drizzle more caramel on top. Amazing!!

    Reply
  16. Samantha says

    November 13, 2022 at 6:04 am

    5 stars
    I made this and forgot to add the chocolate and chocolate powder! Guess what, they turned out as amazing vanilla flavoured cupcakes!
    And so easy to make as no mixer needed.
    Its a keeper, thank you!!

    Reply
  17. Mee Chee says

    November 7, 2022 at 12:21 am

    5 stars
    Hi Nagi,
    May I ask, if I can substitute the caster sugar with brown sugar? Will there be any impact or I need to reduce the amount as brown sugar tend to be moist than caster sugar?
    Hear from you. Thanks!

    Reply
  18. Cathy says

    October 11, 2022 at 12:20 pm

    Can you use milk chocolate in the recipe?

    Reply
  19. Tami says

    October 8, 2022 at 11:32 pm

    5 stars
    so light and yummy, the best cupcakes ever!

    Reply
  20. Jess says

    October 5, 2022 at 4:01 pm

    Seriously amazing, I had extra mix and made minis and they were the perfect bite size ( I cooked these for 10mins).
    I love these so much if I was to make a cake instead of cupcakes would you cook this for around 40 mins at 160 fan.

    Reply
    • Rose says

      December 4, 2023 at 5:31 am

      Hi Jess, I would like to bake it in the mini version (the pan of 24). Would you still recommend 10 minutes baking time at 160C with fan?
      Many thanks.

      Reply
Older Comments

Primary Sidebar

Hi, I'm Nagi!

I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative! Read More

Free Recipe eBooks

Join my free email list to receive THREE free cookbooks!

Meet Dozer

Official taste tester of RecipeTin Eats! Meet Dozer
As Featured On
  • Goodfood
  • Food Network
  • Better Homes Gardens
  • Taste
  • Nine
  • Network 10
  • BuzzFeed
  • Daily Telegraph
  • Women's Day

Never miss a recipe!

Subscribe to my newsletter and receive 3 FREE ebooks!

Subscribe
Recipes
  • All Recipes
  • By Category
  • Collections
About
  • About Nagi
  • About Dozer
  • RecipeTin Meals
Related
  • RecipeTin Japan
  • Food Bloggers Central
Help
  • Contact
  • Image Use Policy
© RecipeTin Eats 2023
  • Privacy Policy & Terms
Site Credits
Maintained by Zao Designed by Melissa Rose Design Developed by Once Coupled
All Rights Reserved

Subscribe to my newsletter

Sign up and receive 3 FREE EBOOKS!