Perfectly Moist Chocolate Cupcakes / Cakes

These Perfectly Moist Chocolate Cupcakes are my favourite cupcakes! They are moist and light and have a great taste. You can use the batter to make cupcakes or cakes.

I usually make bigger cupcake batches. I freeze some of the baked cupcakes so that I always have them handy for a quick dessert. Also, I prefer making a mix of regular cupcakes and mini cupcakes as, of course, the adults always go for the mini size and less calories ( wishful thinking! :-)).

You can frost these chocolate cupcakes with the 1-minute mascarpone & Nutella frosting I posted before. I usually frost 12 big cupcakes and 12 mini cupcakes at a time so the ingredients listed in this frosting recipe are enough for these. But if you’d like to make frosting for all the cupcakes below or for an 11 inch (28 cm) round cake, adjust the quantities in the recipe by multiplying everything by 2.5.

Ingredients

6 eggs
415 g sugar
220 ml vegetable oil
220 ml brewed coffee, room temperature
380 g yogurt
450 g all purpose flour
75 g cocoa powder
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 Tbsp baking soda
a pinch of salt

This makes enough batter for 36-40 big/regular cupcakes OR 72-80 mini cupcakes OR a 28 cm (11 inch) round cake. You will also need cupcake/muffin pans and cupcake liners or a cake pan lined with parchment paper.

Directions

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) with ventilation or 165°C (330°F) without ventilation.

Use a stand mixer to beat the eggs with the sugar and a pinch of salt for 10 minutes on medium-high speed.

If you don’t have a stand mixer, beat the egg whites and a pinch of salt with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Add the sugar and beat until dissolved. Fold in the egg yolks with a spatula.

In the meantime, place cupcake liners in your pans. Also, sift together the dry ingredients – flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.

After you’ve mixed the eggs and sugar for 10 minutes, turn the mixer’s speed to low and slowly pour the oil over the egg mixture while the mixer is running. Do the same to incorporate the coffee and yogurt.

Then, carefully blend in the flour mixture using a spatula. Add it in three batches rather than all of it at once.

Place the batter in your cupcake pans using an ice cream scoop.

Bake the big/regular cupcakes for 20-22 minutes, the mini cupcakes for 13-15 minutes. If you’re making a cake, the baking time depends on the size of your pan but start with 40 minutes and bake it until it passes the toothpick test (i.e. insert a toothpick in the centre and if it comes out clean then it’s ready).

Bake the mini cupcakes for 13-15 minutes.

If you prefer your cupcakes / cakes even more moist, then use a sugar syrup. You can make this by bringing 200 ml water and 5 tablespoons of sugar to a boil. Once the sugar is dissolved, add 1 tablespoon of rum extract or hazelnut extract and turn off the heat. Let it cool off and moist your cupcakes/cakes.

Frost your cupcakes/cakes and enjoy! The tip I used to decorate these cupcakes is Wilton 1M. If you don’t like the 1-minute frosting recipe, you can find plenty of other options on this page.