Quick-Baked Mini Chocolate Cupcakes
Soft, moist, and perfectly bite-size, these mini chocolate cupcakes come together in 22 minutes! Because of their tiny size, these mini cupcakes bake quickly-they need just 12 minutes in the oven. This tried-and-true homemade recipe makes 24 cupcakes! Enough when you need just a small amount but can also be easily doubled for a larger batch.
What’s better than cupcakes? Bite size cupcakes! In pastry school we made a lot of cakes and fancy desserts, but cupcakes, especially mini sized, have always held a special place in my heart (and stomach).
Pro tip: To decorate mini cupcakes easily use a piping bag with a star tip to pipe the frosting. It’s much harder to frost mini cupcakes with just a spatula because they are so tiny!
These mini chocolate cupcakes are fluffy and moist, with a rich chocolate flavor. They can be made without buttermilk, so they’re perfect for people who don’t have any on hand or don’t like the taste of it.
A fun mini cupcake recipe is always good to have in your back pocket. They are almost like perfect dessert appetizers and are great for a crowd because they are so bite sized! You can also make a vanilla version with my homemade mini vanilla cupcakes. If you like cookies too (who doesn’t!) then try my mini chocolate chip cookies!
You can also use any of my recipes or cupcake ideas and turn them into minis. See instructions on how to below!
This mini cupcake recipe is a scaled down version of my chocolate filled cupcakes but without the filling. You can frost them with classic vanilla frosting, but don’t stop there!
Try them with any of my easy homemade frosting recipes.
Ingredients
HOW TO MAKE MINI CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
Prepare for baking: Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a mini muffin tray with mini muffin liners. Set aside.
Mix the dry ingredients: To a medium-sized mixing bowl, add the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Use a whisk to fully combine the ingredients.
Add the wet ingredients: To the same bowl, add the yogurt, water, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Whisk the mixture until a smooth chocolate cupcake batter forms. Make sure you pay attention to any dry mixture that may get trapped on the bottom.
Bake the cupcakes: Fill each mini muffin liner 2/3 of the way. Bake for 12 minutes or until the center is set. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting with your favorite buttercream frosting recipe.
Baking time for Mini Cupcakes
The baking time for mini cupcakes is shorter than a regular sized because they are so small. When I bake mini cupcakes, no matter what the recipe is for, the baking time is 11-12 minutes. Regular sized cupcakes bake from 18-20 minute, to adjust the time for mini cupcakes it would be no longer than 12 minutes on 350° F.
TIPS FOR RECIPE SUCCESS
- Measure your flour properly. Use a scale for the most precise measurements or spoon flour into your measuring cup, then level it off with a knife.
- When mixing the batter, make sure you don’t overwork the batter. Overworking the batter will result in a tough cupcake.
- Don’t over bake the mini cupcakes or they will easily become dry.
- If you don’t have yogurt on hand, sour cream can be substituted, just make sure you’re using full-fat dairy for the best texture.
- The eggs, butter, and yogurt should be at room temperature before beginning to bake. Room temperature ingredients mix together more easily and produce a more consistent cupcake.
- Only fill the muffin liners 2/3 full to prevent them from overflowing while baking.
- If you don’t have espresso powder, you can omit it from the recipe.
Quick-Baked Mini Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
- ½ cup sugar, (100g)
- ½ cup all purpose flour, (60g)
- 4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, (21g)
- ½ tsp espresso powder, (optional) (1g)
- ¼ tsp baking soda, (1.5 g)
- ¼ tsp baking powder, (1g)
- ¼ tsp kosher salt, (1.5g)
- 1 egg, (50g)
- ¼ cup plain yogurt, or sour cream (57g)
- 3 tbsp water, (39g)
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil, (12g)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract, (2.5g)
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a mini muffin tray with mini muffin liners. Set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl add the ½ cup sugar, ½ cup flour, 4 tbsp cocoa powder, ½ tsp espresso powder (if using) ¼ tsp baking soda, ¼ tsp baking powder, and ¼ tsp kosher salt. Whisk to combine.
- Add the 1 egg, ¼ cup yogurt, 3 tbsp water, 1 tbsp vegetable oil, and ½ tsp vanilla extract and whisk until a smooth batter forms. Make sure you whisk well, some dry ingredients can get trapped on the bottom of the bowl.
- Fill each muffin liner 2/3 of the way and bake for 12 minutes.
- Cool completely, then frost with any of these frostings.
2/3 CUP for mini cupcakes – don’t use that much for regular cupcakes. Do you mean fil 2/3 rds of the mini muffin liner? Can’t wait to try these, Glad to find your site
You are right Sharon! Thanks for catching that, I have updated the recipe. The mini muffin tins don’t even fit 2/3 cup 🤣
Super easy to make, came out beautiful! So DELISH.
Thank you so much for the great recipe, I will definitely make them again and again
Thank you so much Lisa!! So appreciate you writing a review and 5 star rating yay!