These homemade chocolate cupcakes with raspberry frosting will remind you of an indulgent raspberry truffle. We start with super moist chocolate cupcakes which are made from simple everyday ingredients and pack a TON of chocolate flavor. Though chocolate buttercream is our usual go-to topping for these cupcakes, you’ll especially love them with this extra creamy frosting made with fruity raspberry preserves.
Welcome to our favorite chocolate cupcakes on the planet, a base recipe we enjoy topping with everything from chocolate ganache to peanut butter frosting. They’re moist, super soft, fluffy, sponge-like, and fudge-like all at the same time. This recipe is an example of how often I mix and match recipes to create new ones. And I encourage you to do the same! How about spreading this Nutella frosting on our homemade brownies? Or the swirled frosting from these marble cupcakes on our red velvet cupcakes? You can even find today’s exact raspberry frosting recipe on these lemon raspberry cupcakes, too.
Tell Me About These Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting
- Flavor: These cupcakes are wonderfully chocolate-y and get all their flavor from natural unsweetened cocoa powder. This rich chocolate flavor pairs beautifully with the fresh tartness of raspberry frosting. If you love raspberries and chocolate together, you’ll enjoy how we decorated this flourless chocolate cake. Yum!
- Texture: The combination of oil, brown sugar, and buttermilk (or buttermilk substitute) makes these the moistest chocolate cupcakes we’ve ever made. The batter is thinner than you would expect and it helps create their spongey, yet rich texture.
- Ease: For the cupcakes you need 2 bowls, 1 whisk, and 1 spatula. That’s it! Since we aren’t creaming butter, you won’t need to break out your mixer—though you absolutely can (you will need it for the frosting). The frosting starts a similar way to this vanilla buttercream. Use your favorite raspberry preserves to add delicious fruity flavor—we use and recommend Bonne Maman brand.
By the way, this recipe transfers beautifully into cake pans to make a 6-inch cake.
Overview: How to Make Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting
The full printable recipe is below, but let’s walk through it quickly so you understand each step before we get started.
- Prepare. Preheat your oven and line your 12-count muffin pan.
- Make the cupcakes. Whisk the dry ingredients. Separately, whisk the eggs, sugar, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla. Combine and add buttermilk as directed below. This batter is very easy to prepare.
- Spoon into liners and bake. Fill only halfway otherwise the cupcakes will overflow.
- Make the frosting. Start with room temperature butter to ensure it softens and creams properly.
- Frost cooled cupcakes. You can use a piping bag/tip or swirl the frosting on the cooled cupcakes with a knife or small icing spatula. While piped frosting is always impressive, there’s a simplistic charm with a handmade swirl—I just used a knife for the frosting in these photos!
If it’s ever helpful, here are my 10 Tips for Baking the Best Cupcakes. Have fun!
More Raspberry Recipes
- Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins
- White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Bars
- Raspberry Pistachio Linzer Cookies
- Dark Chocolate Raspberry Coffee Cake
- Chocolate Raspberry Crinkles
- Raspberry Streusel Bars
- Chocolate Raspberry Cake
Chocolate Cupcakes with Creamy Raspberry Frosting
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 14 cupcakes
- Category: Cupcakes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These homemade chocolate cupcakes with creamy raspberry frosting taste like an indulgent, perfect little raspberry truffle.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1/2 cup (41g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder*
- 3/4 cup (94g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature*
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup (80ml) vegetable oil (melted coconut oil works too)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (120ml) buttermilk*
Raspberry Frosting
- 3/4 cups (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature*
- 3 and 1/2 cups (420g) confectioners’ sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) heavy cream*
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt, to taste
- 1/2 cup (165g) thick raspberry preserves or jam*
- raspberries for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a 12-count muffin pan with cupcake liners. Line a second pan with 2 liners—this recipe makes about 14 cupcakes. Set aside.
- Make the cupcakes: In a large bowl, whisk the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together until thoroughly combined. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla together until completely smooth. Pour half of the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Then half of the buttermilk. Gently stir—about 5 stirs. Repeat with the remaining wet ingredients and buttermilk. Stir until *just* combined; do not overmix. The batter won’t be very thick.
- Pour/spoon the batter into the liners—fill only halfway to avoid spilling over the sides. Bake in batches for 18-19 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting. For around 30 mini cupcakes, bake for about 11-13 minutes, same oven temperature.
- Make the frosting: Beat softened butter on medium speed for about 3-4 minutes until completely smooth and creamy. Add the confectioners’ sugar, cream, vanilla extract, and salt with the mixer running. Increase to high speed and beat for 1 minute. Add the raspberry preserves and beat until thick and creamy, about 2 full minutes. Add more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin, is separating (due to the fruity jam) or looks too wet. And then add more salt to offset added sweetness.
- Frost cooled cupcakes however you’d like. I simply used a small frosting knife to frost the cupcakes. Top with fresh raspberries if desired.
- Leftover cupcakes keep well covered tightly at room temperature or in the refrigerator for 3 days. I recommend a cupcake carrier for storing and transporting decorated cupcakes.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Cupcakes can be made ahead 1 day in advance, covered, and stored at room temperature. Frosting can also be made 1 day in advance, covered, and stored in the refrigerator until ready to use. Decorate/assemble cupcakes immediately before serving. Frosted or unfrosted cupcakes can be frozen up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-count Muffin Pan | Cupcake Liners | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Small Icing Spatula | Cupcake Carrier (for storage)
- As a Cake: Use a 9-inch cake pan. Fill only halfway—there will be extra batter to make some cupcakes. I am unsure of the exact bake time for the cake. Around the 30 minute mark. 350°F (177°C) temperature.
- Cocoa Powder: Do not use dutch-process cocoa. Dutch-process is treated with an alkali to neutralize its acids and therefore will not react with the alkaline baking soda in the batter. Natural unsweetened is paired with the brown sugar and buttermilk to react with baking soda and maintain the proper balance of acid and alkaline as the cupcakes bake.
- Room Temperature Ingredients: Room temperature eggs are required for the cupcakes. To bring eggs to room temperature quickly, put them in a glass of warm water for 5-10 minutes. For the frosting, here is a photo of perfectly softened butter for making frosting. It’s not too soft, not melted in the slightest, slightly firm but not cold.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk is required for this recipe. You can make your own DIY buttermilk substitute if needed. Add 1 teaspoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup. Then add enough whole milk to the same measuring cup until it reaches 1/2 cup. (In a pinch, lower fat or nondairy milks work for this soured milk, but the cupcakes won’t taste as moist or rich.) Stir it around and let sit for 5 minutes. The homemade “buttermilk” will be somewhat curdled and ready to use in the recipe.
- Heavy Cream: Heavy cream provides an extra creamy frosting. Feel free to use half-and-half or whole milk instead.
- Raspberry Preserves: I prefer Bonne Maman jams and preserves. You can find this brand at all major grocery stores. I do not suggest fresh or frozen raspberries with this butter based frosting.
Reader Comments and Reviews
This was probably the best cheese cake I have ever made (baked or not baked). I used a Biscoff cookie crust. I also did a simple layer of raspberries and pistachios (on the inside)
and topped it with home made whip, whole berries, and more pistachio garneshed with mint leaves.
Can I substitute raspberry jam/preserve for strawberry? will the flavour profile still work?
Hi Radia, Yes definitely.
Can this frosting be used on a 9” round cake?
Hi Julie, how many layers is your cake?
Can the frosting be made ahead, frozen, and then thawed a couple days before using it?
Hi Tom, yes, just thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Hi! Questions about the frosting:
1. I followed the recipe exactly and it almost looked curdled. What did I do wrong?
2. It melted very easily once at room temp (inside, 70F) even after being chilled in the fridge and piped over chilled cupcakes. I was not able to pipe with any kind of tip, the ridges it made initially just melted. Do I add more sugar to make it more stable?
3. Would freeze dried raspberries make it more stable since there’s less moisture? Would it also make the frosting less sweet?
TIA!
Hi Olivia, we’re happy to help troubleshoot. Was your butter a bit too soft perhaps? For frosting, you want butter that is not too soft, not melted in the slightest, slightly firm but not cold. And did you use heavy cream or a lower fat option? Heavy cream is best for the creamiest frosting. You can certainly try adding a bit more confectioners’ sugar to help thicken any frosting that looks too thin. Or, you can use freeze fried raspberries instead of strawberries in our strawberry buttercream frosting. Hope this helps!
Thanks for the help! I’ll try with colder butter next time. If that doesn’t work, I’ll do freeze dried – loved your other recipe with freeze dried strawberries!
Hi!
I was wondering if I could use this raspberry frosting recipe for your 3 layer lemon cake
Would it be the right amount or would any modifications need to be made?
I also made your strawberry cupcake filling (which turned out delicious!) and was wondering if this frosting would be sturdy enough to build a dam around the filling (for a cake)
Thank you so much!
Hi Alishba, yes, you can use this frosting on our lemon layer cake. You may want to 1.5x or 2x the frosting depending on how heavily you’d like to frost. It should work well as a dam, too. Let us know how it goes!
Thank you for all of your great recipes, Sally! One question: because we are using natural cocoa powder, can I omit the baking powder? It seems like when I have made chocolate cupcakes with natural cocoa powder with baking powder and baking soda, they have always sunk. I recently made a batch without the baking powder due to realizing that natural cocoa powder needs an acid like buttermilk and cocoa powder which is included in this recipe. Wanted to know your input as to why my cupcakes were sinking when I had the baking powder but when I omitted, they turned out perfectly!
I am going to double the recipe, need 2 dozen cupcakes. Should I double the frosting as well or should there be enough to frost the 24 cupcakes, will be piping the frosting. Thanks!
Hi Marsha, you will need twice the amount of frosting as well. We do always recommend making separate batches of cupcakes for best results instead of multiplying.
thanks so much!
Do you have a recipe for German Chocolate cupcakes.?
Hi Joyce, Here is our recipe for German Chocolate Cake. Follow the recipe notes to see how to turn it into cupcakes. Enjoy!