Over the top, Perfect Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes for any occasion. Ultra rich, smooth, slightly addicting and an easy chocolate cupcake recipe to pull together!
Table of Contents
Cake to Cupcake
Hershey’s developed this fantastic chocolate cake and I’m not one to typically mess with perfection. But, I did.
I’ve been baking this rich, chocolate cake for years, with good, consistent results. But after learning that coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate, I just had to mess with perfection. Plus, who doesn’t love a mocha cupcake?
The espresso takes this cake to a new level of richness and makes the chocolate even bolder. It is the best chocolate cupcake recipe I have in my repertoire and one I return to again and again.
How to Make Perfect Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes
- Add sugar to a mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt into the sugar bowl. Whisk, and set aside.
- In a small bowl, beat the eggs, oil, milk and vanilla. Add this mixture to the sugar/flour mixture of the stand mixer bowl. Using the paddle attachment, mix the ingredients on low just until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add the boiling water and
- With mixer off, pour in the espresso and boiling water. Mix by hand until all ingredients are incorporated. Portion into cupcake cups and bake.
- To make the icing, cream the butter, add the powder sugar and cocoa powder while alternating with 2-3 TBS of milk at a time reserving the last two TBS for consistency adjustment.
- Once the Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes are cool, top with icing!
Have fun with the icing! This is the joy of cupcakes including these Espresso Cupcakes! I use a large closed star tip to make my rosettes. Cupcakes can be garnished with so many different things. I like to add cocoa nibs which give an added layer of texture. But I’ve also used shaved chocolate, chocolate jimmies, sprinkles or nothing at all! Whatever you top your mocha cupcakes with, have fun!
For Chocolate Lovers Only
This easy chocolate cupcake recipe IS for the chocolate lover. It’s rich, decadent and will leave you wanting another and another. It’s a perfectly balanced cupcake too in that there’s not too much icing per cupcake – read: overly sweet.
I use unsweetened dutch cocoa in this recipe. However, if you prefer a more mellow cake, but still with good chocolate flavor, use natural, unsweetened cocoa powder.
If a two layer cake is more of what you after, you can bake the mocha cupcake batter in two 9″ cake pans. Simply bake the cake for 30-35 minutes instead of the 25 minutes the cupcakes require. Be sure to spray your pan, line with parchment and spray with oil again. This will ensure an easy release.
A Few Recipe Notes
- This Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes recipe makes 27 cupcakes, an odd number, yes, but the batter can rest while some of the cupcakes are baking. Once the first or second batch is out of the oven, the remaining batter can be baked.
- For this mocha cupcake recipe, I use whole wheat unbleached white flour (aka ivory wheat). I like that it’s whole grain, it has a sturdy texture and I keep it stocked in my pantry. But, this coffee cupcake recipe can be made with unbleached white flour as well. The texture will be different, but will still make a tasty cupcake.
- The recipe calls for 1/2 C espresso and 1/2 C water. For a stronger, bold coffee flavor, omit the water and use 1 C of very hot strong coffee.
- A few kitchen tools I use to make baking these Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes a snap (these are affiliate links):
More Chocolate Recipes to Love
-
- Spiked Orange Hot Chocolate
- Chocolate Banana Quinoa Muffins – from Kitchen Confidante
- Double Chocolate Devils Food Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream
- Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies – gluten free + vegan
Perfect Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes
Ingredients
For The Cake:
- 2 C Sugar 15 3/4 oz
- 1 3/4 C Whole Wheat Unbleached White Flour * see note 10 1/4 oz
- 3/4 C Unsweetened Dutch Process Cocoa 3 1/4 oz
- 1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda 1/4 oz
- 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder 1/4 oz
- 1 tsp Salt 1/4 oz
- 1/2 C Coconut Oil Melted and Cooled (4 oz)
- 2 Large Eggs at Room Temperature
- 1 C Milk at Room Temperature 8 oz
- 3 tsp Vanilla Extract 1/8 oz
- 1/2 C Boiling Water **See Note 4 oz
- 1/2 C Espresso or Strong Coffee 4 oz
For The Icing:
- 2 sticks Sticks of Unsalted Butter at Room Temperature 8 oz
- 2/3 C Unsweetened Dutch Process Cocoa 2 oz
- 2 1/2 C Powder Sugar 8 5/8 oz
- 1 Tbs Vanilla Extract 1/8 oz
- 1/4 C + 2 TBS Milk at Room Temperature 3 oz
Instructions
For The Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Add sugar to a mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt into the sugar bowl. Whisk, and set aside.
- In a small bowl, beat the eggs, oil, milk and vanilla. Add this mixture to the sugar/flour mixture of the stand mixer bowl. Using the paddle attachment, mix the ingredients on low just until incorporated, about 30 seconds.
- With mixer off, pour in the espresso and boiling water. Mix by hand until all ingredients are incorporated. A few lumps are ok. The batter will be runny. Let batter rest for 5 minutes.
- Line muffin pan with cupcake cups. Fill each cup to 3/4 full. Use a #20 ice cream scoop to make portioning a snap! One scoop per cup. Or, fill each cup 3/4 full, about 3 Tbs. Bake cupcakes for 25 minutes (but start checking for doneness at 22 minutes using the toothpick test).
- Once out of the oven cool cupcakes, in pan, on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Then remove from pan and let cool completely before icing.
For The Icing
- In a stand mixer, using a paddle attachment, cream the butter until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- While the butter is creaming, sift together the powder sugar and cocoa powder. Once the butter is creamed, add the sifted cocoa and sugar alternatively first with all of the vanilla extract, then with 2-3 TBS of milk at a time reserving the last two TBS for consistency adjustment. The icing should be spreadable, not too stiff or loose.
- Once the cupcakes are cool, pipe the icing on the cupcakes. Store in a covered container at room temperature for up to three days.
Notes
*Unbleached white flour may also be used instead of Whole Wheat White, but the texture will be slightly different.
**Omit the water and use 1 C of very hot strong coffee for a BIG bold espresso flavored cupcake!
Adapted from Hershey's.
The BEST chocolate cake/cupcake recipe ever! I did sub the regular white flour as well as the strong brewed coffee as it states you can do at the bottom. I also like to use Hershey’s special dark cocoa powder as I love a bold chocolate flavor. I have made these cupcakes 3 times with consistent results, lots of compliments, & requests for the recipe! Thank you for sharing!
Hi T.Mac! Thank you for your note and giving the recipe a go! SO happy to hear everyone’s enjoying the cake. A reminder that it’s time for me to make these again!
These cupcakes are delicious! I love how easily they come together, and the cupcakes themselves are moist with great flavor. For the icing, I dissolved 2 teaspoons of instant coffee into the milk, which made the icing deliciously coffee-ish, and it tastes almost more like a ganache than a sweet icing.
Thanks for the recipe!
So happy to hear Isa! Thank you for your note and instant coffee tip! Love it!
On your recipe it says 2 oz sticks of butter – is that 2 four ounce sticks? Want to make sure I use the right about for the frosting:)
Hi Kahle! You’re right… 2 sticks (it should read 2 sticks, 8 oz). Thank you for your note. I hope you enjoy the recipe and have fun creating them!
These look amazing! Do you think this recipe would be enough to make a layer cake? Thanks!!!
Hi Katie! Easily. I’ve actually scaled this recipe down to make two 6″ cake rounds, but I didn’t write the recipe down. You could probably get away with using two 7″ or 9″ round pans. Fill 1/2 – 3/4 full (but not more) and you’ll need to bake them a bit longer. I would say to start checking them at around 25-30 minutes using the toothpick test. I hope this helps and you enjoy the recipe!
Wowza! This was delicious! Loved my first from scratch chocolate cake. Full cup of coffee in the batter and 1 cup less sugar in the buttercream. Stunning! Of course, it helped that you made it in my kitchen…thank you! When I make it on my own I will try the iced espresso instead of milk in icing. Soooooo good!
SERIOUSLY YUMMY! Made half recipe for my kiddos today just before my lunch break. I reduced the sugar to 3/4c for half recipe since I used regular cocoa powder (no one sell hershey here). The result is 14 delicious cupcakes . Had no chance to do the frosting since we only have 5 cupcakes left after the lunch break. Thanks Traci!
Hey Hayu! Thank you for your note on halfing the recipe! Hooray…! I’m so pleased you and your kiddos loved the recipe :D . No doubt you had no chance to ice them.. they are sooo good as is!
Great recipe! I’ve been making and decorating cakes for years but this was the very first cupcake recipe I attempted to make from scratch and I was very pleased! The was hesitant with the runny batter so I made 12 cupcakes with the exact recipe and 12 with 3 extra tbs’s of flour.. The original recipe they were very moist but the cupcakes concaved in the middle and the batter with the extra flour seemed a little more dry but cooked flat which I liked. Any ideas to come up with a happy medium of still deliciously moist and flat on top ? I also am thinking to get a stronger coffee flavor I may try coffee extract and all coffee instead of coffee and water :) thanks again !!
Hi Jennifer! Thank you for your note. I’m sorry you had trouble with the recipe. You can replace the water with strong coffee – that would be delicious. The batter is a runny batter as noted. Concave cupcakes in the center could have occurred due to several reasons: > An under-preheated oven. Do you have a thermometer for your oven? > If the oven door was opened too early in the baking process to ‘check’ the cupcakes. > Expired baking powder/soda. > Over-mixing the batter. I hope you’ll use the ones that sank for bonbons http://vanillaandbean.com/boozy-chocolate-bon-bons/ . I hope this helps!
Thank you so much. I made this recipe again with regular flour and they are absolutely delicious ! I was wondering if you knew approximately how many calories are in your recipe per cupcake ?
Hooray! So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe, Jennifer! I don’t know the calorie count, but you can plug the recipe into this calculator to find out: https://www.caloriecount.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php Thank you for your note!
I made these cupcakes for my coworkers the other day and wow, all 24 of them were demolished! I have never made chocolate cupcakes so good and the frosting makes you want more. I love this recipe and will use them every time I make chocolate cupcakes. Thank you for sharing!
Hooray! Thank you so much for sharing, Joy. This makes my day! :D
HI, I love trying new chocolate cake recipes! Especially ones that contain coffee. However, I have a question…do you use brewed coffee and hot water, or coffee grounds? I can’t wait to try!
Hi Glynda! Use 1/2 C Boiling Water AND 1/2 C brewed coffee or espresso (no coffee grounds). I’ll make a note in the recipe! I hope this helps!
See the picture, but cannot get the recipe to sho up.
We made these yesterday and they were absolutely delicious!! Perfectly moist and tender, deeply chocolatey and rich, and the frosting is so silky smooth! Thanks for the great recipe, Traci! We’ll definitely be making them again soon!
Hooray! This is great Adam and Ryan. Thank you for sharing here and on IG! :D It’s one of the first recipes I blogged about because it’s solid and one of my most favorites! I use the cake for so many other recipes too. Your description is spot on! We love this one too! :D
Made these this weekend and they were wonderful. I used vegetable oil instead of coconut and it was fine. I did find the batter to be a little runny, so I added a couple of tablespoons of flour to make it a bit thicker (in the future could add less water).
I made the icing into chocolate coffee buttercream by subbing the 2 tablespoons of milk for iced coffee.
These were absolutely divine. Thanks for sharing!
Hii! I was wondering if you think using canola oil would also work? Cant wait to try it! Thanks
Hi Sara! I think canola will work just fine. Thanks for asking and stopping by. I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Sooo I couldn’t find the hersey cocoa powder, and i was to short in time to buy it on Amazon. So I used a regular cocoa powder, with canola oil. I wanted them to taste expresso a bit more, so i filled them with expresso buttercream and topped them with dark chocolate ganache !
Made some mini cupcake for a friend’s exposition. SUUUUPER cute and delicious ! Thanks again for your recipe !
Hi Sara! Oh this is fabulous! You are welcome! I’m inspired by your adaptations of buttercream stuffed and ganache topped (ohhhh ganache!)! Thank you for sharing your success and adaptations! Well done!
Hi Sarah, Did you have to change the measurement or cook time when using canola oil, or was it an even swap?
yum, yum, yum!! I’ve been using the Hershey’s cake recipe for years as well. I love it and use it as the base for most of my chocolate cake/cupcake recipes. Adding espresso powder is a great trick!
Hi Faye. Yes, I agree, Yum, Yum, Yum! It IS a great recipe. It’s almost no fail!
Hi Traci;
This is Mother Finch from Columbia, SC, and what an informative, helpful website you have got goin’ on! The Photos are so clear and tempting, and that is one fine Photographer you have!
Carrie arrives Wednesday evening, and we will be trying these healthy recipes. Thanks for a fine job!! All the Best to You, Rob and Kitties! Barbara
Hello Ma Finch! Thanks for stopping by! Thank you for your kind comments. Hope you enjoy the recipes! And have a wonderful visit! Best to you!
Thank you for including a recommend bake time for those preferring to make it as a cake. I always have the hardest time with that!
Hi Jessica! Would love to hear how your cake turns out!
These cupcakes look incredible! Everything about them.
Pinning!
Thank you Abbie!
Ohh…Love adding coffee to chocolate. What a great idea. I’ll do this sometimes with my chocolate smoothies – throw in a shot or two of espresso and some cinnammon. YUM! Maybe these will be great for our B-Days?? One could only hope.
We’ll make it so!
Fantastic pictures and commentary. My mouth is watering and I can’t wait for more!!!! Congratulations, Traci. You are a star who has caught her dream.