Double Chocolate Valentine’s Cupcakes

We love chocolate cake and this is one of our very favorites! This decadent cake has become our “go-to” chocolate cake for any occasion! It’s rich and moist, super easy to make, calls for no eggs, and can be dressed up or down. Sometimes we make it with a fun twist and other times we leave it simply and divinely chocolate! It also makes a great batch of 2 dozen cupcakes! This time we had fun making Valentine’s treats for all of our lovies! ❤️❤️❤️

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You have so many options with this basic cake recipe, and we’ve made a lot of them from Reese’s Chocolate Layer Cake with Chocolate-Peanut Butter Frosting, to Black & White Cake with chocolate cake and vanilla buttercream frosting, and even Mint Chocolate Cake with pieces of dark chocolate mint folded into the cake batter. It’s also delicious with bits of English Toffee sprinkled on top of the frosting!

Since Courtney’s been on furlough from Broadway, we’ve really been missing our jaunts to Amy’s Bread. It’s our favorite bakery in New York City! They have so many amazing sweet and savory baked goods. But, our absolute favorite is their Black & White Cake, which is a dark chocolate cake with delicious vanilla buttercream frosting. It’s just the BEST, most delicious cake in all of The Big Apple! We’ve tried our best to make this just as tasty for you to try at home!

You can either use one full recipe of chocolate frosting or one full recipe of vanilla, or half a recipe of each to frost 24 cupcakes.

You can make a 3-layer 8-inch cake, or a 2-layer 9-inch cake, or 24 cupcakes with this very same recipe.

Double Chocolate Valentine’s Cupcakes

Servings 24
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Frosting Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

Cake Batter

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder the better quality, the better the flavor
  • 2 teaspoons. baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups cold water
  • 1 cup canola oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

  • 2 cubes unsalted butter 1 cup, softened to room temp
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 5-6 cups powdered sugar +/-
  • 2 tablespoons milk plus or minus for desired consistency
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • Valentine’s Day Sprinkles

-OR-

    Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

    • 2 cubes unsalted butter 1 cup, softened to room temperature
    • 5-6 cups powdered sugar +/-
    • 2 tablespoons milk +/-
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    • Valentine’s Day Sprinkles

    Instructions

    • Line cupcake tin with cute cupcake liners … appropriate for the occasion.
      You will either need a cupcake tin that holds 24 or use two tins with 12 each.
      Or, you can bake the cupcakes in two batches if you only have one 12-cupcake tin!
      Or, just make half a recipe! That's an option too, but you won't be sorry if you make the whole batch! I'm just telling you right now!
    • Lightly spray inside of the cupcake liners with cooking spray.
      This helps when you want to peel the liners off the cupcakes while eating them!
    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
    • Place all dries (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt) in a large mixing bowl and blend well with a wire whisk.
      In a large 4-cup measuring cup or small bowl, mix oil with water and vanilla and add to dries, mixing thoroughly with a whisk or wooden spoon.
    • Divide batter evenly among 24 cupcake tins.
      Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the batter in each cupcake liner.
    • Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops of the cupcakes hold their shape when you gently push with your finger.
      (Using a cake tester is tough because the chocolate chips will remain gooey until the cupcakes are completely cooled.)
      Check at 15 minutes and if you need a little more time, bake only and 2 minutes at a time.
      Cool completely and remove from the pan.
    • *Note-if you use the decorative cardboard baking cups, they take at least five minutes longer to bake than they do in a cupcake tin.

    To Make Frosting

    • Place softened butter in a large mixing bowl.
      Beat until creamy with an electric beater.
      For the chocolate frosting (but not for the vanilla version) sift the cocoa powder into butter and cream together.
      (Beware … cocoa powder can fly right out of the bowl:)
      Remember not to add cocoa powder for the vanilla buttercream frosting! Add powdered sugar alternately with milk, until you reach the desired spreading consistency.
      Reserve 1/4 cup powdered sugar for the last addition, in case you've added too much milk!

    How to Frost the Cupcakes with a Decorating Bag and Tip

    • You can simply frost the cupcakes with a knife, but for fun and decorative swirls of frosting, spoon the frosting into a pastry bag, outfitted with a coupler and #32 decorating tip.
      (For really big swirls of frosting, use the #322 decorating tip.) If you don't have these, either a French tip, an open star tip, or a closed star tip work really well for this recipe.
      Starting at the outside edge of each cupcake, push frosting through the tip in a circular fashion, ending in the middle with a little star.
      Sprinkle the tops of each cupcake with your festive Valentine's sprinkles.

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