Mini Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting June 27
I love baking for parties. Primarily this is because I like getting feedback from big groups of people, friends and family on any baked goods that I make because I often like to try out new recipes on these occasions. It’s also fun to bake large quantities of food, or to decorate extra-large cakes from time to time. The only challenge - aside from deciding what to make in the first place - is that some recipes are just too small to work well for a party. A recipe can usually be doubled, and multiple batches can be baked, but it’s easiest if you can just work from one recipe.
These mini chocolate cupcakes are easy to make and the recipe makes enough for 4-dozen mini cupcakes! At first, when you realize that each cupcake is only about two bites, it doesn’t seem like 4-dozen will actually feed that many people. After all, when you put out full-size cupcakes, each guest usually takes a whole one. The thing about parties is that people rarely eat that much dessert and, while they might take a full size cupcake, not everyone eats the whole thing. Everyone eats a whole mini cupcake (no waste) and not everyone goes back for seconds, so you probably won’t even need to provide extras.
I like this recipe because the cupcakes turn out very moist with a good, deep cocoa flavor to them. If your oven won’t hold the pans to bake all the cupcakes at once, or if you don’t have enough mini cupcake pans to make 48 cupcakes at a time and need to wait for a pan to cool before reusing it, don’t worry about it. The batter can sit around for a little while without adversely affecting the cupcakes’ ability to rise in the oven. The first batch might be a bit poofier, but some down time (as long as you don’t play with the batter while it’s sitting around and get it overmixed), shouldn’t hurt it one bit.
Cream cheese frosting is always a hit and it’s easy to work with, so that’s what I used for these cupcakes. Feel free to use any other kind of frosting that you’d like, however.
Mini Chocolate Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp instant coffee powder (optional)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk (low fat is ok)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350F. Line 48 mini muffin cups with paper liners.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa power, instant coffee powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until just combined and no streaks of flour remain.
Distribute batter evenly into prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
Turn cupcakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
6-oz cream cheese, room temperature
6 tbsp butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp milk or cream
2-3 cups confectioners’ sugar
In a large mixing bowl, cream together cream cheese and butter. Beat in vanilla and milk (start with 1 tbsp and add additional if you wish to thin the frosting), then add in the confectioners’ sugar gradually until the frosting reaches your desired consistency (make it a bit stiffer if you wish by adding additional sugar).
Fill a pastry bag with a star tip, or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off, and pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes.
Makes 4-dozen cupcakes
nickki Jun 28
Wow, they look absolutely delicious! Bet they taste like little mouthfuls of heaven. If only I wasn’t out of vanilla extract, I’d be making these right now! x
beth Jun 28
These look so cute and delicious too!
dawn Jun 28
I would pop those in my mouth like bon bons. They look amazing.
janelle Jun 29
ok, i made these last night….DELICIOUS!!!! the bad part, i wanna eat em all up!!!
Joe Jun 29
I love mini desserts Nic - these look great!
Jenny Jul 1
Makes me want to like the page.
Gerry Jul 1
they all look so lovely and yummy! i must try baking it myself. can anyone tell me:
Buttermilk - what is the difference w/buttermilk and fresh milk. can i use fresh milk ?
confectioner’s sugar - are they icing sugar?
Gerry Jul 1
they all look so lovely and yummy! i must try baking it myself. can anyone tell me:
Buttermilk - what is the difference w/buttermilk and fresh milk. can i use fresh milk ?
confectioner’s sugar - are they icing sugar?
Missy Jul 4
Will try making this soon! By the way, can I use olive oil for the veg oil?
Erika Jul 7
I’m wondering where you get instant coffee powder? The coffee aisle at the market?
Thanks!
Louvelette Jul 7
looks good…i will definitely try baking these cupcakes =)
Brittany Jul 11
Those look delicious! The thing I love about mini cupcakes is that they feel like such a guilt free indulgence because of their tiny size! The only problem is that I usually end up justifying more of them . . . the taste buds prevail again!
deanna Jul 30
hi BB,
i tried to bake this recipe 2 days ago and the batter was very dry. the batter was not the usual cake consistency type. i noticed there isnt any egg in the recipe. the cup turned out bitter and floury-taste. what is wrong with my effort? i did follow exactly all the steps required. thanks. i will not give up on this recipe. cheers