Chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate frosting, an easy chocolate cupcake recipe I made when I was still fairly new to baking. Step by step recipe below.
In a recent survey on the left sidebar of this blog, I had asked what makes you visit me. Is it easy recipes, step by step recipes, the food pictures, food photography tips or anything else. A vast majority of you liked the step by step recipes so I dug up this one from the drafts. I made these chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate frosting when I was going for this barbecue party and I volunteered to bring dessert.
The basic recipe for these chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate frosting is from Joy of Baking. I changed the frosting recipe to make it more colourful. I also wanted something I can carry with me and just spread on at the party since packing it after frosting would just make it a mess. Also, I didn’t have icing bags or pipes!
Love cupcakes? So do I!
Vegan avocado chocolate cupcakes
White chocolate pomegranate cupcakes
Chocolate cookie brownies (delicious!)
So, let’s get started on these chocolate cupcakes, shall we?
- ½ cup (50 grams) cocoa powder
- 1 cup (240 ml) boiling hot water
- 1⅓ cups (175 grams) all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup (113 grams) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup (200 grams) white sugar, powdered
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- White chocolate chips or bars - ½ cup melted in a bowl over a bowling pan of water
- Butter - 2 tbsp
- Icing sugar - 1 tbsp (optional)
- Milk - 2 tbsp or enough to make it spread-able
- Salt - a pinch
- In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature.
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Then in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth.
- Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients little at a time, combining well without lumps. Don't over-mix.
- Next, add in the vanilla extract. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (180 degrees C). Lightly butter, or line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.
- Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full with batter and bake for about 16-20 minutes or until risen and toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.
- Melt ½ cup white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water.
- Add milk, butter, sugar and salt to this and combine well.

The first thing to do is mix 1/2 cup (50 grams) cocoa powder and 1 cup (240 ml) boiling hot water until the cocoa powder is well incorporated. Set aside and let it cool to room temperature.
In another bowl, mix 1 1/3 cups (175 grams) all purpose flour, 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt. You can use a sieve for this but I just used a spoon and mixed it for 2-3 mins until combined well.
Now its time to bring out the butter, sugar and eggs. Combine 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter at room temperature, 1 cup (200 grams) powdered white sugar and beat well. If you have an electric beater, beat this mixture for a good 3-4 mins. If using a hand beater, beat for 7 mins.
Then add 2 eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Also mix in 2 tsp vanilla extract at the end.
Add this mixture, little at a time, to the flour mixture and mix well in one direction, without any lumps.
I think it would be better if you add the dry mixture to the wet one little at a time. This should prevent lumps better. The mixture above took over 1o mins to be mixed properly without lumps.
Next, add the cooled chocolate-water mixture to the above (you can add this in one shot or little by little) and mix well for another 5 mins.
That’s when we get our chocolate cupcake batter!
Grease muffin/cupcake liners and place in the tray.
Pour the batter up to more 3/4 of the way. I could have poured more batter than this because at the end, my cupcake wasn’t as chubby as I wanted it to be.
To Prepare the Frosting while the Cupcakes are Getting Baked
Melt 1/2 cup white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. What you see above is a picture of when I microwaved them. Don’t do that, the bottom of the bowl will burn and the whole thing won’t melt like you expect!
Add milk, butter, sugar and salt to this and combine well.
Slather frosting on the cupcakes when they are done and bite!
For chocolate cupcake recipe with white chocolate frosting in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Urdu etc please use the Google translate button in the sidebar.
Naga, it worked!:-) slight judgement error in size of pan etc, but it came out well. used a smaller pan and the batter was above half level and bottom center was taking time to cook, and top layer became too brown, not totally burnt though! After convection cooking, when I realized except for bottom center, all portions were well done, I MW cooked under 70% power for 5 min, and it was done! 🙂 R and A loved the cake, and so did I. Hoping to try more recipes soon:-) luv ~Shreya
just like sig i do not have the patience for the step-by-step shots! kudos to you – this is a great post for those who are still beginner bakers. nice post nags!
Oh I know that thing, step by step pictures, washing hands a zillion times, but surely the camera takes a toll. Nice pictures Nags.
Looks yummy and really chocolatey. Thanks for those step by step recipes.
I always add the dry ingredients bit by bit to the wet since its easier to get a lump free batter that way.
Also, those spongy kind of cake recipes need the dry ingredients to be "folded" into the egg mixture so that the batter doesn't lose all the air that has been incorporated by beating the eggs.
Just one more thing – I have always melted both white and dark chocolate in the microwave – just that I zap it for 10-15 seconds at a time only. Remove and stir and zap again and then repeat till the chocolate melts fully. No burning this way….
Miri
Nice pics..lot of patience Nags..:)
Gorgeous cupcakes! I wish I had the patience to take step by step pix… but i'll say this, it really helps ! I am SCARED of baking and this is really helpful! Thanx!
wow! great post ..its soo tempting …Can i grab one dear !!looking soo delicious ..hey nice clicks toooo:)
Varunavi – as long as you make sure the muffin tray is microwave-able it shouldn't be a prob 🙂
i m drooling over this one too….bookmarked this too!
Thanks Nags, tried these, came out great 🙂
oh nags!! where on earth you find such awesome recipes? Really… mouth-watering!!!
i m drooling over this one too….bookmarked this too!
Hey Nags..I am making these cupcakes today and while noting down the recipe I noticed that in the recipe part you have missed adding the flour to the wet mix…its there in the step by step pics though.Just thought of letting you know..
Done! Thanks Divya 🙂
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Thanks Nags, tried these, came out great 🙂
Its just so Delicious!!!Your blog is really nice and lovely…
Sweetie – now that you are done with the challenge – I dedicated something for you in my blog post today 😉
Halo! Awesome looking … sad they'rnt eggless 🙁
Anyways Nags thanks for dropping by..
and pls do take part in the Event!
yum yum yum yum … don't knpw what to say beyond this .. Iam cravinf for some baked goodies right now
Me making cup cakes today…but ahem…out of a box ok?? You planning an event let me know will send them over..U have too much patience to take all these pics?? Lucky TH I say…
Aww looks so delicious! Party time! Really appreciate your patience and efforts for posting with step by step pics! Whenever I do something like this my hands will be a total mess which forbids me from going anywhr near the camera! And then I feel too lazy to wash n wipe n click few pics. Wonder how you managed to do it. Hats off to you 🙂
Nags,
Thanks, will look out for one this weekend, and will try this recipe first! 🙂
Dharini
Lovely. Thanks will save me on father's Day.
Nags, as usual u take care so much pain in explaining things so well, ur patience is admirable too…beautiful pics , lovely mouth watering cupcakes
Chocolaty cupcakes..looks yumm, kudos to you for your step by step pictures, very helpful!!
Will try out soon,should we measure the sugar and then powder it
Thatis a huge bite there in the pic 🙂
if i had thecup cake iwould also eat them like that.
Delcious and yummy.
Wish i had them with my coffee.
Nags, a very humble and great effort of you! Send me some cupcakes please! 🙂
Wow nice cup cakes nags and i liked the snap by snap explanation and u have got lot of patience.
btw can i use the cup cake mould which u have used in my microwave, i find it very difficult without the mould to bake cup cakes.One time i can put only 4-5 cup cakes and it takes 1-1/2 hr to bake 15 cup cakes
beautiful, Nags! 🙂
Nags is back with step by step recipes people…Yo!!
Hehe…lovely pictures Nags,esp the first one.Call it cliche or anything,but I repeat-Cupcakes haven't looked better anywhere else:).
I haven't experimented much with chocolate cupcakes,will try out this one.
wow! great post ..its soo tempting …Can i grab one dear !!looking soo delicious ..hey nice clicks toooo:)
Nags.. great post.. tho i have to say that u have some patience to do this:-) When i start baking esp. I just want to get done.. how many breaks do you have to take? cupcakes look nice & decadent.
Renuka – powder before measuring please 🙂
who wants frosting with such a yummy cake ? I wont be able to wait for it to be done – forget taking so many pix. You have done a great job!
Thats a great job done for giving step wise pictorials,I know how difficult,esp when handling flours!!
i generally melt chocolate in the microwave..just need to keep an eye on it an dkeep stirring it every 15 secs or so..its way easier!! n why r u soo stingy with the frosting..i want more!!! :D:D
I'm the type to go for dark chocolate frosting with that, but with a chocolate cupcake, I'm extremely happy! Awesome pics and a great post, Nags. 🙂
Looks yummy and chocolaty….hats off to ur patience girl…..this is gona help all the new bakers.Great clicks too:)
These days flat is beautiful, nobody wants to be chubby! So be happy! I like the step by step pics, the very STRAIGHT angle, the cupcakes and the group photo of all the ingredients. NIcceeee…
Varunavi – as long as you make sure the muffin tray is microwave-able it shouldn't be a prob 🙂
Gorgeous cupcakes! I wish I had the patience to take step by step pix… but i'll say this, it really helps ! I am SCARED of baking and this is really helpful! Thanx!
i also wash hands endlessly in between cooking!!
Sometimes i feel like getting mad at it!!
wow this looks so yummy!!
I was craving for the cake scene morning and now i am gonna grab it !!
Also your step description is great and very much helpful.
Wow that wonderful step by step details.. love to have one nags.. really u have lot of patience.. wish to have one..
Nice pics..lot of patience Nags..:)
YUMMY!!! I Love the white chocolate frosting!! 🙂
Miri – That's very useful, thanks!
Dharini – I use a very archaic oven that does its work perfectly for me. So i am really not an expert. If your MW has a good oven combo then that works too. otherwise, check out ur nearest appliance store. anything that has an upper baking temp of 220-250 C with a control knob is good to me 🙂
Sj – I caught the 'dig' but am just going to ignore it and say THANKS 😀
Nags ,
The cupcakes look yummy and u'r step by step pictures are tooooo good
Hi Nags,
I ve been a silent visitor to your blog all this while, and I also started cooking picking recipes from here. I started baking also recently, but I use just a microwave. I want to graduate and move on to cake ovens. Can you suggest what sort of an oven, brand , features etc.. that I should look for? That would be very helpful.
And great job on the blog.
Thanks,
Dharini
Looks yummy and really chocolatey. Thanks for those step by step recipes.
I always add the dry ingredients bit by bit to the wet since its easier to get a lump free batter that way.
Also, those spongy kind of cake recipes need the dry ingredients to be "folded" into the egg mixture so that the batter doesn't lose all the air that has been incorporated by beating the eggs.
Just one more thing – I have always melted both white and dark chocolate in the microwave – just that I zap it for 10-15 seconds at a time only. Remove and stir and zap again and then repeat till the chocolate melts fully. No burning this way….
Miri
Oh I know that thing, step by step pictures, washing hands a zillion times, but surely the camera takes a toll. Nice pictures Nags.
Nice! Wish I had the patience to take step-by-step pics! How many times do you wash your hands in between? Or does your camera end up a sticky mess at the end of it all? 🙂
Yes, I wash and wipe my hands a zillion times and get exhausted at the end of it. but I love giving out the commentaries with the pics. Its fun!
just like sig i do not have the patience for the step-by-step shots! kudos to you – this is a great post for those who are still beginner bakers. nice post nags!