Moist and fluffy chocolate cupcakes filled with silky chocolate ganache and topped with creamy milk chocolate buttercream frosting!
If there’s one thing in this world that consistently produces pure joy, it’s gotta be CHOCOLATE. There’s nothing that sparks that dopamine rush quite like a good slice of chocolate cake, a warm brownie, or a rich chocolate truffle.
Moreover, I don’t think you can ever be over-the-top when it involves chocolate. That’s why I decided to make cupcakes with not one, not two, but THREE times the chocolate goodness!
Why You’ll Go CRAZY For These Triple Chocolate Cupcakes
Moist and Deep Dark Chocolatey Cupcakes: The cupcakes bake up exquisitely moist, light, and fluffy. They have a more intense chocolate flavor that isn’t cloyingly sweet, which balances out the sweetness of the frosting.
Chocolate Ganache Center: The cupcakes are filled with a silky smooth chocolate ganache, adding a little extra decadence to every bite.
Fluffy Milk Chocolate Frosting: The frosting is incredibly smooth, creamy, and delightfully fluffy. It pipes like a dream, and serves as the perfect crown for these chocolate gems.
Cupcake Ingredient Notes
Dutch-Processed Cocoa: In order to achieve that deep dark chocolatey flavor and almost black hue, you need to use dutch-processed cocoa powder. It has a more intense richness than natural cocoa powder, and it also balances out the sweetness of the cupcake. My go-to is always “Hershey’s Special Dark 100% Cocao”, and you can find it in most grocery stores.
Instant Espresso: Instant espresso powder is one of the secrets to enhancing the flavor of chocolate. And trust me, you won’t taste the coffee at all. Just enough is added to intensify the chocolate and highlight its distinct flavor. If you don’t have instant espresso powder, you can use 1/2 cup strongly-brewed coffee in place of the teaspoon of espresso powder and 1/2 cup hot water.
Vegetable Oil AND Sour Cream: For that perfectly moist crumb, I like to use a combination of vegetable oil and sour cream. Even though butter provides the best flavor, it tends to create denser, heavier cupcakes. Oil creates a moist crumb that’s much lighter and prevents the cupcakes from drying out. Sour cream replaces some of the flavor lost from the absence of butter, and it adds a creamy richness to the cupcakes.
Frosting Ingredient Notes
Unsalted Butter: I use unsalted butter since it gives me control over the amount of salt added. Room temperature/softened butter creams better with the rest of the ingredients. However, if you forgot to let the butter sit out, you can “cheat” by gently warming it in the microwave at 10-second increments until it’s soft enough to leave a slight impression when pressed. Make sure to beat the butter for a good minute or two until it’s light and creamy.
Milk Chocolate: You can use chocolate bars or chocolate chips. Just make sure that your melted chocolate hasn’t already begun to set/harden when it’s time to add it to the frosting. If the melted chocolate is too cool, you’ll end up with specks of chocolate throughout your frosting. However, if the melted chocolate is too warm, it’ll melt the frosting when added. To put it simply, the chocolate should be liquid-smooth and around room temperature when mixed into the frosting. I also recommend scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl frequently to ensure that all of the chocolate is completely incorporated into the frosting.
Heavy Cream: To avoid broken/curdled frosting, the heavy cream needs to be brought to room temperature before it’s added to the frosting. Pouring cold cream directly into room temperature frosting can cause the butter to seize, resulting in a cottage cheese-like texture. If you do end up with curdled frosting, there’s a simple fix! Just transfer a few tablespoons of the frosting to a microwave-safe bowl, and heat in the microwave in short intervals of 8-10-seconds until it melts into a liquid. Add this melted frosting back in with the rest of the frosting, whipping until nice and smooth.
Why does my ganache look grainy or oily?
The main culprit is usually overheated heavy cream. When the cream is too hot, it melts the cocoa butter in the chocolate too fast, causing the fat to separate from the liquid. Luckily, this is VERY fixable. All you have to do is stir in a little bit of hot water. I would add a teaspoon at a time, stirring between each addition, until you’ve reached a smooth and glossy texture. This fix has worked for me every single time!
How do I make chocolate curls?
You don’t need anything fancy. Just a vegetable peeler and a chocolate bar. Simply run the peeler along the edge of the chocolate bar to create those nice tight curls. I only had thin chocolate bars, but thicker chocolate bars will result in larger, wider curls. Make sure your chocolate bars are room temperature (not cold) since it produces smoother curls that don’t break.
Triple Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
Chocolate Ganache:
- 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped or chips
- ½ cup heavy cream
Chocolate Cupcakes:
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
- ½ cup hot water
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (dutch-processed)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup milk
- ¾ cup sour cream
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Milk Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
- 5 ounces milk chocolate
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ⅓ cup heavy cream, room temperature
- Chocolate curls*
Instructions
Make the Ganache:
- Place the chocolate into a medium bowl. Pour the heavy cream into a glass measuring cup, and heat in the microwave until it just begins to simmer, about 30-40 seconds. Pour hot cream over the chocolate, cover with plastic wrap, and allow it to sit for a few minutes. Remove the plastic wrap and stir until smooth. Transfer to refrigerator to cool and thicken.
Make the Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF degrees, and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. Add the espresso powder to the hot water, and stir until fully dissolved; set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, both sugars, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined. Add the milk, sour cream, oil and the espresso liquid, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla, stirring until just combined.
- Pour batter into cupcake liners, filling 2/3 of the way. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the Frosting:
- Place the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in the microwave until smooth and melted. Set aside to cool slightly**.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, salt, and vanilla on high until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar, a half cup at a time, until fully incorporated.
- Stop the mixer and use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl. Add the melted chocolate and beat frosting on high for a minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, add the heavy cream, and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Transfer frosting to a large piping bag fitted with a star tip. I used Wilton's 1M tip.
To Assemble:
- Using a paring knife, carve a cone-shape piece out of the center of each cupcake. Try to cut only about halfway deep. Fill each cupcake with the ganache. Pipe the frosting on top of each cupcake. Finish each cupcake with chocolate curls. Serve and enjoy!