Edited to add: I made these chocolate cupcakes with a Nutella buttercream. If you love Nutella, you have to check them out!
…I think the title says it all. These cupcakes actually live up to their lofty name. The cake part is really moist with a strong chocolate flavor, and topping them with dark chocolate ganache and a drizzle of white chocolate simply puts them over the top.
Stef over at Cupcake Project actually added mini chocolate chips to the batter and then filled the cupcakes with chocolate mousse (which sounds amazing) but even without those added chocolate layers, these were definitely quite decadent and rich chocolate cupcakes. Next time your favorite chocoholic has a birthday or some other special occasion I recommend making these!
Recipe:
- 1/2 C butter, room temperature
- 1 1/4 C sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 3/4 C flour
- 1/2 t baking powder
- 1/4 t baking soda
- 1/4 t salt
- 1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 C milk
- 1 t vanilla
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a mixing bowl, beat butter until softened and smooth. Add sugar and beat for a few minutes, until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each until well combined.
In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. In a separate small bowl, combine milk and vanilla.
Add about 1/3 of dry ingredients to butter and sugar and mix until combined. Add about 1/2 of wet ingredients to mixture and mix until combined. Continue alternating dry and wet, mixing in between (finish with the remaining dry ingredients).
Fill cupcake tins about 1/2 full (don’t overfill – you only need 1/2) and bake for around 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Also don’t worry – these will come out flat, but that’s perfect for smoothing on a layer of ganache.
- 3.5 oz of dark chocolate
- 1/3 C heavy cream
- 2 oz. white chocolate
Melt chocolate in microwave or on the stove, stirring frequently. Pour into a plastic sandwich bag or pastry bag. Cut a very small hole in the tip of the bag and slowly pour over harden ganache – get creative with it!
74 Comments on “Better Than Sex” Chocolate Cupcakes
1Pingbacks & Trackbacks on “Better Than Sex” Chocolate Cupcakes
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[…] hunting around, I chose this recipe for the cupcakes and this recipe for the peanut butter frosting. My only gripe was that I […]
Kes
July 13, 2011 at 1:20 pm (13 years ago)These are so cute! And such a simple recipe. I’ll definitely make some tomorrow. Thanks!
Stephanie
July 13, 2011 at 4:14 pm (13 years ago)@Kes – it is an easy recipe! Enjoy and let me know how you like them!
Foodness Gracious
July 13, 2011 at 3:14 pm (13 years ago)Hmmm, a bold statement but they do look very exciting, even erotic dare I say…..:)
Stephanie
July 13, 2011 at 4:14 pm (13 years ago)@Foodness Gracious – it is a very bold statement but I think it works in this case! 🙂
Tori @ The Shiksa in the Kitchen
July 13, 2011 at 3:48 pm (13 years ago)These look awesome! Love the pretty drizzle on top. 🙂
Stephanie
July 13, 2011 at 4:15 pm (13 years ago)@Tori – thanks! I think the white chocolate drizzle really makes them look nice too.
janet@fromcupcakestocaviar
July 13, 2011 at 3:49 pm (13 years ago)Oh my, these look sooooo good. Thank you for making my hips even bigger 😛 Buzzed this!
Stephanie
July 13, 2011 at 4:15 pm (13 years ago)@Janet – haha thanks for the buzz!
Maggie @MaggieCooks
July 13, 2011 at 4:08 pm (13 years ago)Yummy! They look decadent and so good! I’m making them as soon as possible! 🙂 buzzed ya!
Lindsey@Lindselicious
July 13, 2011 at 4:18 pm (13 years ago)With a name like that how can I not want one… or two! These look super yummy!!
Stephanie
July 13, 2011 at 7:42 pm (13 years ago)@Lindsey – they were awesome! Luckily I made them for a birthday party so I could only eat 1. I could’ve eaten them all!
Ann
July 13, 2011 at 6:17 pm (13 years ago)I think the name DOES say it all! I’d like……um…..multiple!
Stephanie
July 13, 2011 at 7:42 pm (13 years ago)@Ann – yes, I could’ve eaten them all! Luckily they were earmarked for a party.
kita
July 13, 2011 at 6:31 pm (13 years ago)Can I be my own chocoholic? These sound like I have got to try them, you know – that awesome name and all 😉
Stephanie
July 13, 2011 at 7:43 pm (13 years ago)@kita – of course! How silly of me to forget the most important chocoholic. Gotta look out for yourself! 🙂
Erin @ Dinners, Dishes and Desserts
July 13, 2011 at 7:52 pm (13 years ago)Great cupcakes! I need to throw a party or something to have a reason to make them! They sound amazing!
Stephanie
July 15, 2011 at 6:23 pm (13 years ago)@Erin – yes, find any excuse you can! Celebrate Friday and just make them 🙂
Jennifer (Delicieux)
July 14, 2011 at 1:00 am (13 years ago)What a bold name! The cupcakes look fantastic though. I love anything chocolate 😀
Stephanie
July 15, 2011 at 6:23 pm (13 years ago)@Jennifer – thanks! If you love anything chocolate, you should give them a try!
veronicagantley
July 14, 2011 at 3:53 am (13 years ago)The name says it all! Yum!
Stephanie
July 15, 2011 at 6:23 pm (13 years ago)@veronicagantley – it sure does! They’re something special.
Medeja
July 14, 2011 at 5:19 am (13 years ago)Ok..this title really convinced me to try them :)))
Stephanie
July 15, 2011 at 6:23 pm (13 years ago)@Medeja – it definitely catches your eye. Give them a try and tell me what you think!
Magic of Spice
July 14, 2011 at 1:26 pm (13 years ago)They do look delightful 🙂
Stephanie
July 15, 2011 at 6:24 pm (13 years ago)@Magic of Spice – thanks! 🙂
Danielle
July 14, 2011 at 2:14 pm (13 years ago)I just recently made these for someones birthday at work..great recipe!
Stephanie
July 15, 2011 at 6:25 pm (13 years ago)@Danielle – that’s great! I love it too.
Heidi @ Food Doodles
July 14, 2011 at 4:00 pm (13 years ago)Wow those look good 😀 Love the ganache and white chocolate on top. Awesome 🙂
Stephanie
July 15, 2011 at 6:25 pm (13 years ago)@Heidi – thank you!
Sasha @ The Procrastobaker
July 15, 2011 at 6:40 am (13 years ago)Ive never had the infamous ‘better than sex’ cake ive seen around, but these little cupcakes look down right dangerous (in a brilliant way of course!) so rich but i think i would eat far too many of them! Beautifully clear photo too, very tempting post indeed! 🙂
Stephanie
July 15, 2011 at 6:27 pm (13 years ago)@Sasha – thank you! They’re dangerous…if you don’t want to eat them all, have a plan for giving them away set up ahead of time!
tinytearoom
July 16, 2011 at 3:22 am (13 years ago)LOL. I love the name of these cupcakes. I’ve been looking for a good chocolate cupcake recipe. judging by the name… this should be the one.
Stephanie
July 16, 2011 at 9:30 am (13 years ago)@tinytearoom – you should try them if you’re looking for a good chocolate cupcake. Come back and tell me what you think! 🙂
Elyse @The Cultural Dish
July 17, 2011 at 4:56 pm (13 years ago)Better than sex eh? I’m in! haha
Stephanie
July 20, 2011 at 10:03 am (13 years ago)@Elyse – haha well, maybe not quite…but really really good! 😉
Sandra
July 18, 2011 at 5:57 pm (13 years ago)No need to wait for a special occasion for this sinful treat!
Stephanie
July 20, 2011 at 10:06 am (13 years ago)@Sandra – absolutely not! It’s never a bad time for chocolate.
Sweet Life by Mel
July 22, 2011 at 7:01 pm (13 years ago)Just finished baking these… mine were a massive fail 🙁 Definitely not the recipe – but the baker! I forgot to put in the baking powder! Can you believe it? Such a silly mistake. Oh, well. I will try again as even though they sunk – they still tasted great 🙂
P.S. Wrote about these over @ my blog: http:www.sweetlifebymel.blogspot.com, hope you don’t mind 🙂
Stephanie
July 22, 2011 at 7:09 pm (13 years ago)@Sweet Life by Mel – oh no! What a disappointment. Some of Cupcake Project’s readers have had problems with these cupcakes sinking, so if you try them again (with baking powder) and they still don’t work, let me know. I’ve made the recipe twice with no problems (they just came out flat, which is supposed to happen) but I want to add a disclaimer if others have problems. Thanks Mel!
Sweet Life by Mel
July 23, 2011 at 2:26 am (13 years ago)@Stephanie – I’m hoping it was just the baking powder… I did however cover them in chocolate buttercream frosting and they were still amazing!!
Joy
July 23, 2011 at 3:51 pm (13 years ago)The cupcakes look so good. I’m sure they are better than sex.
Caitlin
July 24, 2011 at 2:20 pm (13 years ago)My cupcakes fell in.. I almost cried when I pulled them out!:( I don’t know what I did wrong, except my oven may be a little on the hot side.
Stephanie
July 24, 2011 at 6:36 pm (13 years ago)@Caitlin – oh no! That’s so disappointing! A few Cupcake Project readers complained about the same thing, while others have raved about this recipe. Do you think you may have over mixed the batter? Or is your baking soda expired? Check out these tips from Stef at Cupcake Project about sinking cupcakes: http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2007/01/how-to-keep-cupcakes-from-collapsing-in.html
Liz
July 25, 2011 at 4:30 pm (13 years ago)Another fabulous cupcake recipe! My family would go nuts for these~
Stephanie
July 27, 2011 at 10:09 am (13 years ago)@Liz – you should make them! 🙂
Holly
July 31, 2011 at 6:11 pm (13 years ago)I made these tonight, 3 dozen and they over filled and they all sank in. I didnt leave any ingredients out, I used all purpose flour. I think my only mistake was over flowing the cupcake liners??
How “full” did you fill them?
Stephanie
July 31, 2011 at 7:39 pm (13 years ago)@Holly – you only need to fill them half way. Some people have been having issues with this recipe sinking but others rave about it. Stef from Cupcake Project and I have been trying to figure out what has been going wrong for some. How full did you fill them? Do you think you could’ve over mixed the batter or your oven is running hot?
Holly
August 1, 2011 at 7:00 am (13 years ago)@ Stephanie –
I totally overfilled them, I am remaking them tonight and will only fill them 1/2 way. Thanks!
Stephanie
August 1, 2011 at 1:34 pm (13 years ago)@Holly – oh ok. Let me know how they turn out this time. Good luck!
kk
August 25, 2011 at 7:19 am (13 years ago)These turned out great. Tops were flat but not sunken in. I baked for good 23 min. Will definitely use this recipe again. Thanks!
Holly
September 1, 2011 at 6:47 am (13 years ago)I re-made these cupcakes filling the cups only half filled and they turned out perfect. These are by far my fvorite chocolate cupcake recipe. Thanks for the input!!
Stephanie
September 1, 2011 at 2:22 pm (13 years ago)@Holly – that’s great! I’m so glad the recipe ended up working for you. It’s my favorite too!
Ivonne
September 5, 2011 at 11:59 pm (13 years ago)Hey everybody!
I am having a bit (a lot actually) of trouble with my cupcakes :S
While in the oven they rise and all of the sudden they just get ugly liked a kind of sucked in thing :S it looks HORRIBLE but taste AWESOME.. 🙂 so uhmm 1/2?
is anybody else having the same problem or is it just me? this is my second time doing this.. Tips maybe?
xo
ivonne
Stephanie
September 6, 2011 at 8:48 am (13 years ago)@Ivonne – did you fill the cupcake tins only half full? It’s hard to tell what’s going on – some people love this recipe, some can’t get it to work. It could be variable oven temperatures, over mixing the batter, or over filling the cupcakes.
Here are some tips about keeping cupcakes from collapsing: http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2007/01/how-to-keep-cupcakes-from-collapsing-in.html
Ivonne
September 6, 2011 at 9:33 pm (13 years ago)Yeah! They didn’t overfilled them or over-mixed! I think it might be my oven :S I’m so frustrated, this is my third attempt and same results! But the batter is DELICIOUS! I’m not giving up though.. >=)
Ivonne
September 6, 2011 at 9:35 pm (13 years ago)And thanks @stephanie, for taking the time and answering every single one of us!
audrey
October 15, 2011 at 3:51 pm (13 years ago)I tried these cupcakes today and they are more like brownies but a bit too dry inside. I think it would be a good idea to add some chocolate chips in there for moisture.
sher
November 10, 2011 at 11:10 am (13 years ago)OMG. i’m baking these to bring over a friend’s house tonight. and if the cupcakes are anything like the batter, then OMG. this is a definite keeper. thanks for sharing this — i’m thinking of putting a little orange liqueur into the ganache if i can find it. i may even post about this tomorrow if they come out as delicious as i think they will (and i of course will link back to the source!)
YUM!
Danielle
February 5, 2012 at 8:44 am (13 years ago)they taste amazing! but mine ended up stuck to their wrappers. ;3; i don’t know what happened!
Stephanie
February 6, 2012 at 10:10 pm (13 years ago)@Danielle – that’s strange. What kind of liners did you use? I’m not sure if you’ve read the other comments but these cupcakes have had wildly mixed results.
Galine
February 23, 2012 at 12:43 pm (13 years ago)THESE WERE AMAZZZZZZZZZZZZIIING!!!! So delicious! Wow! You are very very right about only filling half way, even though I thought it didn’t look like enough, the raised nicely. The ones where I had more than half rose rather funny (Corners rose while middle stayed leveled…sort of like a wall around them, haha)
I was silly though and combined this with another recipe (Adding Lindor to the middle after 5 mins.) which made some of them break apart when taking out. OOPS!!! However, still worked with some and next time if I choose to add the lindor, I’ll put them in after perhaps 10 minutes, so that the bottom has a better chance of cooking/holding it all in 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!! I made them for my husband’s birthday & doubt they will disappoint! 🙂
Stephanie
February 23, 2012 at 8:03 pm (13 years ago)@Galine – so so glad you love the recipe! I hope your husband loves them! Enjoy 🙂
Rose
March 16, 2012 at 12:13 pm (13 years ago)Hi Stephanie,
I was wondering how you would store these cupcakes? And also, I was wondering if I could bring these babies in school as well. How do you think these cupcakes will last in the Arizona heat? And have you ever tried to pipe or whip up the ganache and drizzle on the white chocolate instead of just glazing each one? Do you think that would be a great combination?
Sorry for all the questions! I’m just really curious because I have yet to find a really mindblowing chocolate cupcake that doesn’t require a lot of hassle. And do you know any recipes that have a really moist chocolate cupcake that is domed? All of the moist chocolate cvupcakes I’ve tried baked out flat, unfortunately.
Stephanie
March 16, 2012 at 5:31 pm (13 years ago)@Rose – Just so you know: I’m thinking about editing this post, because although some people have raved about this recipe, some have issues with the cupcakes collapsing. I can’t figure out why it goes so well for some but not for others.
To answer your questions, if you let the ganache completely cool and set up, it should be a nice consistency for piping. I’m not sure how hot it is in Arizona right now, so I can’t really speak to that. Keep them in the fridge in between traveling and hopefully they won’t melt. I don’t have a great chocolate cupcake that’s domed. I know that Stef at Cupcake Project has been working on the ultimate chocolate cupcake and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with. I will definitely try out her recipe and share it here on my blog.
Mary E
April 4, 2012 at 12:38 pm (13 years ago)I JUST pulled these out of the oven and they are heavenly! Mine came out perfect without collapsing! I filled them half full and could have even filled them more and they would have still turned out great! For those that are having issues with them collapsing, it could also be a matter of where you live…when I lived in Colorado a few years ago I could never get homemade cupcakes or baked goods to come out right. Now that I’m in Texas it’s much easier! Thanks so much for this delicious and EASY recipe 😉
JINI
April 12, 2012 at 5:06 am (13 years ago)Hi , this looks delicious . My sons 1st birthday is this sunday and i am thinking of trying it. is it possible to use superfine flour or the ones for specially for making cake?
Stephanie
April 12, 2012 at 9:26 pm (13 years ago)@JINI – different flours have different amounts of protein. I haven’t tried using cake flour in this recipe, but I know that in general you can substitute cake flour for all-purpose flour by using 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour for every cup of all-purpose flour.
emilie
June 11, 2012 at 12:16 pm (12 years ago)A++ The name sold me. I did the batter, but my own icing. And to be honest, these may be the best cupcakes ive done. Heavier than most chocolate cakes, a little like a brownie. I added a tbsp of Grand Marnier in one batch and in the other Coffee Liqueur. As icing i found some old butter cream type, heated it up. And i was drinking a banana, strawberry smoothie juice i just bought. Me being creative enough as it is, i dump some of my drink in the icing (Which made hint of a creamy strawberry shortcake icing). Top with a raspberry on the Grand Marnier batch and black berries on the other, it was my proudest baking moment. Lemmie say, it was fncking awesome. Thank you.
Katie
June 21, 2012 at 1:11 am (12 years ago)I’ve made these twice (with chocolate chips, without the white chocolate drizzle) – both times fantastic. The first time they were perfect, the second time most of them deflated. I used a different brand of baking powder the two times I made them, so maybe that was the issue? I also used two different kids of chocolate chips – but I can’t imagine that was the issue. The second time I know I used medium eggs (we have a hard time getting large ones), I don’t know what I used the first. I also took them out at 23 minutes the second time – maybe longer baking set them more the first time?
Lauren
September 11, 2012 at 9:31 pm (12 years ago)So sad these looked awesome. Mine overflowed (i filled it less than halfway) and deflated once I poked it with a toothpick to make sure it was done. Oh well….
Melida Arrieta
December 2, 2012 at 6:50 pm (12 years ago)Dark chocolates and milk chocolates are the best. –
<a href="My very own internet page
http://www.prettygoddess.com/index.php?board=9.0
Alicia
January 12, 2013 at 10:06 pm (12 years ago)I cannot believe how amazing and moist these were. Actually the perfect cupcake, thank you.
Sarah
January 25, 2013 at 8:01 pm (12 years ago)I made these today and mine turned out absolutely perfect! I am glad that I saw the note about them being flat because I would have thought I screwed them up. I actually like the fact they are flat because it is going to be easier to decorate. Thanks so much for the recipe!