Brown Sugar Chocolate Cake Cupcakes
Brown sugar and sour cream help make these cupcakes moist and delicious. For a brown sugar chocolate cake, double the recipe and bake in 3 9 inch round pans.
Servings 18 cupcakes
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened (120 grams)
- 1 ½ cups light brown sugar packed (300 grams)
- 2 large eggs (100 grams)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups sifted cake flour (about 1 ¼ cup before sifting) 150 grams, measure after sifting or weigh
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder I used natural** (30 grams)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup sour cream
- ¾ cup hot coffee
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened at room temperature
- 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate melted and just slightly warm (not hot)
- ¼ cup cooled coffee
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups confectioners' sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line about 18 cupcake cups with paper liners. You may need more or fewer liners depending on how deep your cupcake cups are.
- With an electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and beat well, then add the eggs and vanilla and mix until fluffy, scraping bowl often, about 3 minutes.
- Sift together the already sifted cake flour, cocoa and baking soda, then whisk in the salt.
- Add ½ of the sifted flour mixture, then ½ of the sour cream and mix. Repeat with the remaining flour and sour cream. Drizzle in the hot coffee and mix until smooth. The batter will be thin.
- Pour batter into cupcake cups coming a little over halfway full (almost ⅔, but not quite). Bake on center rack for 22-25 minutes or until cupcakes spring back when touched. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for just 3 minutes, then carefully remove them from the pan and let cool on a wire rack.
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- With an electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the room temperature cream cheese and softened butter together until creamy.
- Drizzle in the melted chocolate, beating until smooth. Add the coffee and vanilla, then begin gradually adding the confectioners' sugar 1 cup at a time, beat until frosting is smooth and creamy.
Notes
The yield will vary depending on what size cupcake liners you use. I like to use 2 x 1 ¾ inch cupcake cups which are slightly taller. For this size cupcake, you'll get 16.
Also, I used natural cocoa powder for the cupcakes in this photo, but the original version calls for Dutch. In cupcakes the two were interchangeable, but if you are making these as a cake you might want to stick with Dutch.