If you’ve been searching for the ultimate chocolate cupcake recipe… look no further. These moist chocolate cupcakes are topped with the most divine chocolate frosting you’ve ever had!

Chocolate on chocolate on chocolate, what could be better? These cupcakes will be your new go-to: ultra moist and topped with a cloud-like chocolate buttercream. Don’t forget the chocolate sprinkles!

I’ve gotten a number of questions and comments on my ultimate chocolate cake recipe about whether it’d work for cupcakes.

Normally cake recipes can be scaled down to cupcake-size pretty easily, and this recipe is no exception. Still, they turned out so fabulous that I figured they more than deserved their own post!

The recipe isn’t exactly halved, I tweaked a few proportions just to make a slightly thicker batter that’d be easier to scoop into cupcake papers (although the batter is still quite thin compared to a lot of recipes). It’ll still rise beautifully in the oven, with a gentle dome that’s perfect for frosting.

The only other change I made was to use hot coffee in place of the hot water (I often add a bit of espresso powder to chocolate cakes to intensify the richness of the chocolate flavor; the coffee here serves the same purpose). That said, you can certainly use water instead.

These cupcakes are nothing short of incredible, and I’ll reiterate that this frosting is absolutely divine.

I called it chocolate fudge frosting in the original recipe, but chocolate cloud frosting or chocolate silk frosting are probably more appropriate monikers (it’s so light and creamy it’s ridiculous!)

(more…)