This double chocolate cupcake recipe made with cocoa powder and sour cream are simple to make and absolutely delicious.
You don’t need a mixer. Just a few bowls, a whisk, and a spoon. These chocolate cupcakes are easy enough for a weekday treat but special enough to share with family and friends for celebrations.
We love finishing them with a chocolate sour cream frosting. It tastes like a mix between chocolate pudding and buttercream and turns out smooth, glossy, and perfectly spreadable. The frosting gently drapes over each cupcake, adding just the right amount of sweetness.
Key Ingredients
- Cocoa Powder: Use a natural unsweetened cocoa powder like Ghirardelli or Hershey’s, not Dutch-processed.
- Coffee: It might sound odd, but coffee makes chocolate taste better. I use brewed coffee in this recipe. If you are against it, use water instead.
- Butter: I love the flavor of butter in these cupcakes. I use unsalted, but if you have salted butter, simply omit the salt called for in the recipe below.
- Flour: I use all-purpose flour. If you’d like to make these gluten-free, you very likely can do so with your favorite 1:1 all-purpose gluten-free flour blend.
- Sugar: Plain granulated sugar is perfect.
- Eggs: These add structure, moisture, and flavor. For egg-free cupcakes, see these chocolate cupcakes.
- Sour Cream: Full-fat sour cream adds flavor and keeps our cupcakes moist and tender, much like buttermilk does for this chocolate cake.
- Baking Soda: This helps our cupcakes rise.
- Sour Cream Frosting: The frosting for these cupcakes falls between a pudding and buttercream. It’s not as sweet as traditional chocolate buttercream, but it’s still very delicious. You’ll need sour cream, butter, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa powder, vanilla, and powdered sugar to make it.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
Tips for Making Double Chocolate Cupcakes
Tip 1: Bloom your cocoa powder. I do this for nearly all chocolate desserts made with cocoa powder. Mixing cocoa with a hot liquid before adding it to the batter smooths out lumps, adds moisture, and deepens the chocolate flavor.
For these cupcakes, melt the butter, add the coffee, and warm it through. Then remove from the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth.
Tip 2: Fill cupcake liners ¾ full. To get perfectly domed cupcakes, fill each liner about three-quarters of the way full. Too much batter and they’ll overflow. Too little and they’ll bake up flat.
Tip 3: Know when they’re done. These cupcakes are ready when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. You can also gently press the top. If it springs back, they’re done. If it leaves an indent, give them another minute or two.
Tip 4: Make our sour cream frosting. The frosting shown in our photos is a little different than your traditional chocolate buttercream. To make it, we melt butter with chocolate, and then stir in cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and sour cream. It turns out thinner, almost like a thick yogurt or pudding.
More Chocolate Desserts
- My Favorite Chocolate Cake
- Easy Chocolate Cupcakes – made with a vanilla buttercream frosting
- The Best Chocolate Cookies
- Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Double Chocolate Cupcakes
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
These double chocolate cupcakes are wonderfully easy to make. They’re light, tender, and intensely chocolaty. We top each cupcake with a spoonful of our sour cream chocolate frosting, a rich, silky, and perfectly chocolatey frosting with a texture between pudding and buttercream.
We add a bit of coffee to the batter. You won’t taste it, but it brings out the chocolate flavor even more. If you prefer not to use coffee, water works just fine.
You Will Need
Cupcakes12 tablespoons unsalted butter (170g)
¾ cup brewed coffee (175ml)
½ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder, like Ghirardelli or Hershey’s (40g)
1½ cups all-purpose flour (195g)
1½ cups sugar (300g)
1½ teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large eggs
½ cup sour cream (125g)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting4 tablespoons unsalted butter (55g)
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, chopped (30g)
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ¼ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar (115g)
Pinch of salt
¼ to ⅓ cup sour cream (60–80g)
Directions
1Prep: Heat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners.
2Make chocolate mixture: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the coffee and warm through. Remove from heat, then whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Cool for 1 minute.
3Mix dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt until well blended.
4Mix wet ingredients: In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla until well blended.
5Make batter: Stir the warm cocoa mixture into the flour mixture until mostly combined (no need to beat). Add the egg mixture and stir until smooth and well blended.
6Bake: Fill each muffin cup about two-thirds full. Bake 16 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
7Make the frosting: Melt the butter and chopped chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl, then whisk in the cocoa powder and vanilla. Add ½ cup powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, and ¼ cup sour cream. Whisk in the remaining ½ cup powdered sugar, then add a little more sour cream as needed until the frosting reaches a soft, spreadable consistency. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. The frosting will thicken slightly as it chills.
8Frost cupcakes: Check the consistency of the frosting before using. If it’s still too soft, refrigerate for an additional 30 to 45 minutes. Spread or spoon a generous tablespoon of frosting onto each cooled cupcake.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Store frosted cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Frosting: You can make the sour cream chocolate frosting up to a day ahead. Just cover and refrigerate it until ready to use.
- Frosting inspired by Susan Tollefson’s Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting recipe on Epicurious.
- The nutrition facts provided are estimates.
This recipe is my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe very moist added choc chips😁 not because the recipe was not but just for chocolate addiction😋
Dear Adam & Joanne, The cupcake recipe was really easy to make and they tasted fantastic but mine sunk-in, I followed the recipe to the T are there any tips you could give me. Thanks
Cook them a few minutes longer and they should work out
Hi Tanya, It is possible that you needed to bake them a few minutes longer.
Hi Joanne,
I tried your bluberry muffin and it was a hit. Today i will try this chocolate cupcakes, and i have one question to ask to you. Should i mix coffee with water first or just put directly coffee granules to the butter?
Thanks in advanced?
Rannie
Hi Rannie, We actually use brewed coffee for these cupcakes. Just add it to the melted butter. Sorry if the recipe was not clear. I just updated it to say “brewed coffee” instead of “coffee.” All the best! Joanne
Hi Joanne, can I put chocolate chips in these cupcakes and if so, will I have to adjust the rest of the recipe?
Yes, some chocolate chips added would be great. No adjustments should be necessary. We would add around a 1/2-cup of chocolate chips.
I tried this recipe yesterday and it was not moist. Was it supposed to be moist? But still, our church group loved it as I baked a whole batch for them. You’re right, coffee enhanced the flavor of the chcolate that my church friends thought i used dark chocolate 🙂 And it tasted even better the following day 🙂 thanks
So glad everyone enjoyed them. The cupcakes should not be dry — it is possible they baked a few minutes longer than necessary (since cupcakes are so small, they can over bake and become dry).
Yum yum !!!!!! There good
I got this recipe and I can say it was thick batter. And very chocolatey. I love the smoothness of it.I will definitely make this again. They also taste mmmmmm!
Wonderful…..
Going to make these this weekend, I bet they’ll be a hit!
Love this recipe! I’m going to try it and compare it with my (as of now) go-to chocolate cake / cupcake recipe and see what the difference is.
Is it possible though to substitude yogurt for sour cream in the actual batter? Or will it not have the desired effect?
Substituting yogurt for sour cream should work just fine. You will have to come back and let us know if it replaced your go-to 🙂
Hi Joanne, would there by a high altitude adjustment for this recipe? I live at about 4500 feet. Cannot wait to try this – I need to bake 6 dozen for a baby shower! thanks
Hi Judy — This is a tough one since we really have no way to test the recipe at higher altitudes. Here is a great article from All Recipes with tips for baking cakes at higher altitudes. We’re assuming you will need to increase the oven temperature slightly (by 25 degrees F). We also recommend testing the recipe first before making the 6 dozen for the baby shower.
This looks delish! Excited to try them..but is the 3/4 cup coffee in the recipe just straight black coffee? Im not a coffee drinker so wondering just how much coffee goes into the 3/4 cup… a teaspoon maybe? stronger?
Hi Sarah — You could use instant coffee. Take a look at the instructions on the package — instant usually requires a slightly rounded teaspoon per cup of coffee. For regular brewed coffee, one cup of water usually needs about 2 tablespoons of coffee. The coffee does not need to be strong.
Just wanted to let you know i made them last week and LOVED them!! Wouldn’t expect something so quick and easy to put together could be so yummy! Next week i’m going to try the Guinness Chocolate Cake..can’t wait!!
Gotta love a classic like this! Yum!
These look absolutely incredible! Can’t wait to make them ASAP!