- I wanna show you how to make perfect chocolate cupcakes.
These are moist, fluffy,
and there's a surprising secret ingredient
that makes them super chocolatey.
Check this out.
(upbeat music)
Oh.
Whoa. Nope.
(grunts)
Hey, everybody.
It's Natasha of NatashasKitchen.com.
Seriously, everybody who tries these cupcakes loves them,
and wait until you try that buttercream chocolate frosting.
Mm, mm.
I'm totally craving cupcakes, so let's get started.
(hands tapping)
This recipe comes together fast,
so go ahead and preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
First, whisk together your dry ingredients.
That's one-and-a-half cups of all-purpose flour,
a cup of granulated sugar,
one-third cup of unsweetened cocoa,
one teaspoon of baking soda, and half a teaspoon of salt.
Thoroughly whisk that together,
breaking up any big clumps of cocoa.
In a second mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients.
We'll start with our secret ingredient,
which is one cup of warm coffee.
Also, add one tablespoon of white distilled vinegar
a third cup of light olive oil or vegetable oil,
one room temperature large egg,
and two teaspoons of real vanilla extract.
Thoroughly whisk together your wet ingredients.
Then pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients.
Now you're gonna whisk those together
until no dry streaks of flour remain.
The batter will still be a little bit loose
and slightly lumpy.
You don't want to overmix this batter.
Once it's just combined, stop mixing.
Line a 12-count muffin or cupcake tin with paper liners.
Now, fill each liner about two-thirds full.
It's important that you don't overfill.
Filling the liners two-thirds full ensures
that you get that beautiful, perfect dome
on top of every cupcake.
I like using my trigger-release ice cream scoop
to make portioning cleaner and easier,
and I will link to this and all the tools we use
in this video in the notes.
You can see that batter is still slightly lumpy,
and that's exactly what you want.
Just like with the waffles recipe, if you over-mix,
you develop those gluten strands,
and it can result in a tough cupcake.
Once all of your batter is divided evenly
between the liners,
place that on the center rack in a preheated oven
and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit
for about 18 to 22 minutes.
I find that 20 minutes is just right in my oven.
Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center
comes out clean.
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Once they're out of the oven,
cool the cupcakes in the pan for five minutes,
then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely
to room temperature before adding frosting.
You never want to frost a warm cupcake
because the frosting will melt.
Once those are nearly at room temperature,
we're gonna get started on the frosting.
This is my favorite chocolate buttercream frosting.
It's so simple, and it comes together in six minutes.
You'll need one cup or 16 tablespoons
of softened, unsalted butter,
and the key to perfect buttercream
is to make sure your butter isn't overly softened.
You never want it to be melted,
or the buttercream won't come together properly.
I've had this butter sitting at room temperature
at about 70 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour and a half.
Use a handheld mixer or a stand mixer
fitted with the whisk attachment
and beat the butter on high speed for three minutes
or until it's creamy and lightened in color.
Next, add three cups of confectioner's sugar
and half a cup of unsweetened natural cocoa powder.
Also, three tablespoons of heavy whipping cream,
two teaspoons of real vanilla extract,
and I'll link to this homemade version in the notes.
It's just two ingredients.
Also, add a quarter teaspoon of salt,
and make sure you do not skip the salt
because it really balances the sweetness of the frosting.
Start beating that on low speed
until the sugar is incorporated,
so you don't end up in a cloud of powdered sugar.
Then scrape down the bowl and increase to medium-high speed,
beating for another three minutes.
I like to scrape down the bowl while mixing
to make sure everything is really well blended.
(upbeat music)
All right.
That's what I call a six-minute chocolate buttercream.
It's so easy.
Okay...
And it refrigerates and freeze as well, too.
Bonus.
All right, we're gonna transfer that to a piping bag,
pipe it onto our cupcakes,
and finally enjoy that taste test
that I've been waiting for.
Okay. I'm excited.
All right.
We're gonna fit this with a large open star tip,
and this is a Wilton 1M
'cause I really like how that pipes onto cupcakes,
if I can get that in there right.
I know what I'm doing.
I'm just excited for the taste test.
All right, I've got that in there.
And fill it up.
Ooh, look at that.
Look at that texture.
It is so nice.
This pipes beautifully onto cupcakes and cakes.
It is excellent.
And if you wanted to thin it out,
you could add a little bit more heavy cream,
but I think it's just perfect the way it is.
Oh, Yum. Yummers.
I just wanna haumph.
It's so yummy.
And make sure,
make sure you don't skip that little bit of salt in there
because it really balances the frosting.
Oh, yummy, yummy, yummy.
And it's super subtle, so don't be afraid of the salt.
Okay. Prime our bag here.
Okay.
And our cupcakes are about at room temperature, almost.
You wanna make sure they're at room temperature
before you put on the frosting,
but for the sake of this taste test,
we're gonna cheat a little bit.
Okay, here we go.
And this will make enough frosting
to generously frost 12 cupcakes.
You can probably stretch it to 24
if you just use a little bit of frosting.
Just saying.
Okay, it's time. It's time.
And I'm scared 'cause now I have to bite into this.
But I'm ready. I can do this.
I got this. I got this.
Okay. Let's peel this back.
Oh, and it is so moist and tender inside,
but the wrapper still comes off pretty easily, which I love.
Okay, here we go.
Oh my god. Here we go.
Mmm, mmm.
Oh.
Mmm! (laughs)
This right here is every chocolate lover's dream.
I love that the cupcake isn't too sweet
because the sweetness of the frosting makes it just right.
Oh, yummy yum.
And this is how my husband likes to eat his cupcakes, okay?
He likes to take off,
just kind of break off half the bottom,
or you can cut it off to keep it prettier,
and then, ooh, just sandwich it like this,
and then you have a cupcake sandwich.
It's pretty brilliant, I have to say.
Good job, honey.
Okay. We're gonna do this again.
Oh, this is so good.
The crumb is soft and moist at the same time.
This is super decadent.
I mean, that buttercream chocolate frosting
is everything right now. (laughs)
Oh, it's gonna become a new favorite.
Seriously, try this.
This is one of the easiest chocolate cupcake recipes.
It's hard to mess this up, folks.
I mean, you mix together the wet ingredients,
the dry ingredients, put them together,
and pop them in the oven.
Wham, bam. You got yourself some cupcakes.
Mmm. (laughs)
Okay, let's just do another taste test for good measure,
just to make sure they're good, you know?
Mmm. Mmm.
I feel like I need a disguise.
Oh.
Mmm. Oh.
(man speaks indistinctly)
Mm-hmm. Oh, it's on my whiskers?
Oh, shoot.
I'm not used to having whiskers. (laughs)
Okay.
I'm gonna go and eat this cupcake in private.
I hope you love this recipe.
Make it, and you will get lots of compliments.
And we'll see you on our next video.