These mini cupcakes have rich chocolate flavor and are perfectly moist. If you have read my blog then you know that cake is one of my favorite foods. Cake is my favorite sweet treat and potatoes are my favorite savory food. I do love a lot of different food, but if I had to choose a sweet and savory favorite these are them.
We are chocolate lovers so we use Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Frosting on these delicious and moist chocolate cupcakes. It is so easy and has deep chocolate flavor. I mean, you really can’t have too much chocolate, can you?! You can use your favorite frosting. Sour cream, cream cheese, vanilla, marshmallow, caramel, coffee, or even fruit flavored frosting would be delightful on these little gems too!
I bought my mini muffin pan a long time ago and it was a good investment because we love this type of two-bite mini cakes and muffins. They are so fun for birthday parties and get-togethers. We ended up buying a second mini muffin tin so we could make more than 2 dozen mini cupcakes (or muffins) at a time. Did you know that you can buy a package of mini liners and there are like 300 in the package? That is a lot of paper liners!
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Ingredients
See recipe card for exact amounts.
Ingredient Notes
All you need are simple ingredients you may already have on hand.
Milk – we use whole milk. Buttermilk, 2%, low fat or skim will also work. Dairy free milk such as soy or almond milk can be used.
Chocolate Chips – I use whatever I have on hand. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate or semisweet chocolate chips will work.
Flour – good ol’ all purpose flour works best, I do not use cake flour. I have not tried this recipe with a gluten free flour blend.
Sugar – regular granulated sugar is perfect.
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – your favorite brand or even the store brand works great in this recipe.
Baking Soda – this ingredient helps the cupcakes rise.
Salt – salt helps enhance the flavor as well as affecting the tenderness of baked goods. Eileen over at Baking Sense has a great article explaining about salt in cake.
Eggs – I always let eggs come to room temperature before using them in baked goods, this helps the little cupcakes rise.
Oil – we always have canola oil on hand, you can use vegetable oil instead.
Vinegar – white vinegar helps give us nice and fluffy chocolate cupcakes.
Vanilla – make sure you are using pure vanilla extract and not imitation vanilla.
How to Make This Easy Recipe
- Preheat the oven to 350° and line a mini cupcake pan with mini cupcake liners.
- Put milk and chocolate chips in a medium microwave safe bowl and heat in the microwave for 30-60 seconds, whisk until the chocolate chips are melted.
- Whisk the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl; the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients; the eggs, oil, vinegar and vanilla and mix until combined.
- Divide batter between 36 muffin cups. I use a small cookie scoop. It’s a little messy but that is okay!
- Bake 9-11 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly before removing the from the pans. Let cool completely on a cooling rack before frosting.
Recipe Note: As you can see in the photo the batter is thin so it’s kinda messy getting it into those mini muffin liners. It will cook and after a little soaking it comes off the muffin tin just fine. I run a knife around the edge of any cupcake that is stuck to the pan because I was sloppy. I am a home cook and I do my best to make everything perfectly but that just isn’t reality. This day I was just not as neat as some days. You have those days too, right?!
How Long is Cake Good For?
For best results store it in an airtight container on the counter, or in a cupboard, for up to 3 days. Angie over at BakingHow lays it all out for you when it comes to storing cake and frosting. If you like your cake to be cold then you can store it in the refrigerator. We prefer our cake at room temperature so we just leave it out.
What We Love About This Recipe
- These are mixed in one bowl. You do have to melt the chocolate chips in a separate bowl but I love this type of batter where you just mix everything together in one bowl.
- We mix them by hand so no electric mixer is necessary.
- I just love mini desserts like this because they have a shorter baking time and cool quickly. That means I get to eat them sooner 😉.
Regular Sized Cupcakes You might Like
Chocolate Topped with Caramel Frosting and Bacon
Mini Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/2 tsp white vinegar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
For the frosting
- 1/2 cup butter one stick
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
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Instructions
Make the cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350° and line a mini cupcake pan with paper liners.
- Put milk and chocolate chips in a medium microwave safe bowl and heat in the microwave for 30-60 seconds, whisk until the chocolate chips are melted.1/2 cup milk, 1/4 cup chocolate chips
- Whisk the dry ingredients in a large bowl; the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt.1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients; the eggs, oil, vinegar, vanilla and milk mixture and mix until combined.2 eggs, 1/2 cup canola oil, 1/2 tsp white vinegar, 1/2 tsp vanilla
- Divide batter between 36 muffin cups (I use a small cookie scoop).
- Bake 9-11 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool slightly (about 5 minutes) before removing them from the pans. Let cool completely on a cooling rack before frosting.
Make the frosting
- Melt butter either in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl or in a small pan over low heat on the stove top.1/2 cup butter
- Sift powdered sugar and cocoa.2/3 cup cocoa powder
- In a large bowl combine the melted butter with the cocoa.3 cups powdered sugar
- Stir the vanilla into the milk.1 tsp vanilla
- Alternately add the powdered sugar and milk to the butter mixture stirring until well combined, with a rubber spatula, after each addition.
Frost the cupcakes
- Frost cupcakes with a piping bag or knife.
Does the melted chocolate chips in milk go in the cupcake mix or frosting mix? Not clear in the recipe.
Thank you
Hi Marian, there aren’t chocolate chips in the list of ingredients or instructions for the frosting.I did leave the milk/chocolate mixture out of the instructions for the cupcakes and have edited to add it to the dry ingredients when you add the other wet ingredients. Thank you!