Super fudgy Brownie Cupcakes with crinkly and chewy tops. Frosted with creamy, silky dark chocolate buttercream. Very easy to make.
We all love brownies, right? I see that my brownies, peanut butter brownies, and also the brownie cookies are always among the top posts.
Now imagine them in the shape of cupcakes with crinkly and chewy tops and frosted with ultra-creamy and silky dark chocolate buttercream. If this isn’t mindblowing, I don’t know what it is.
Please find the full recipe below. Just for visualization, I provided some photos throughout the baking process.
This is how the batter looks like:
Fill up the cupcake liners until they are almost full like in the picture below:
Here you see the baked and unfrosted brownie cupcakes:
Here you see the consistency of the buttercream:
FAQ's
Butter or oil?
There are different theories about the better moisturizer. Is it butter or oil? Both butter and oil brownie cupcakes have their raving fans.
In general, oil leads to fudgier and denser texture in baking goods compared to butter. On the other hand, butter adds a deep, buttery taste to baking goods.
I like both but find the butter suits this recipe better. Due to a lot of recipe testing, I perfected this recipe over years. Trust me, these cupcakes are as fudgy as they were made with oil but we have the big advantage of the deep and rich flavor the butter.
Cocoa or chocolate?
Well, that’s the next hard question, isn’t it? You will find recipes with melted dark chocolate, with cocoa, or a combination of both.
It depends on how you want them to be. Cakey, chewy, or fudgy? Of course, not just the chocolate is responsible for these textures but it is a very strong contributing part of it.
Adding cocoa powder is in most cases my personal favorite. It provides a rich and deep chocolate flavor. Adding melted chocolate instead of cocoa would require adding a lot of melted chocolate to reach the same intense chocolaty flavor.
When choosing cocoa instead of chocolate you need to add more butter. So brownie cupcake recipes with melted chocolate usually contain less butter than those made with cocoa.
Tips for success
The key to super fudgy cupcakes is to follow the instructions step by step. There are a few golden rules to follow.
- First and foremost, if you overmix or overbake them, they will turn out cakey instead of fudgy.
- Although a fudgy texture is the best, in my opinion, I wouldn’t completely freak out when I miss the timer and overbake them slightly. The taste is the same, right? So you would have super delicious but cakey cupcakes.
- Read here about more crucial tips to get super fudgy results.
Now, let’s chat about the buttercream. Oh, my word. So delicious! It has a great chocolate taste and is so silky and creamy that it’s almost unbelievable.
The chocolate buttercream is very easy to make. It contains just 4 ingredients. Butter, powdered sugar, melted dark chocolate, and cocoa.
To get super creamy and fluffy buttercream, let the butter come to room temperature. Then mix it until it is super creamy. Then add powdered sugar. Mix again until it's creamy. Beat in chocolate and cocoa and mix until the buttercream is super fluffy.
You can pipe or spread the frosting on top of your cupcakes. It’s up to you.
You may also like White Chocolate Cupcakes, or S'mores Cupcakes.
Brownie Cupcakes Recipe
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 cup butter, melted and cooled (226g)
- 2 cups granulated white sugar (400g)
- 4 large eggs
- 2 vanilla beans* (or 2 tsp pure vanilla extract)
- 1 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder (84g)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (120g)
- 1 tsp salt
Frosting
- 1 cup butter, softened (226g)
- 2 cups powdered sugar (240g)
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled (6oz / 175g)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line two 12 cup muffin pans with 13-14 cupcake liners. Set aside.
- Cupcakes: In a large mixing bowl stir together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla* just until combined. Don't use a hand or stand mixer otherwise you have too much air pockets in the batter, and this makes them cakey instead of fudgy. Stir by hand with a whisk. Sift in flour, cocoa, and salt and stir just until combined. Spoon batter with an ice cream scoop into the liners and fill almost full. I got 13 cupcakes.
- Bake for 22-26 minutes until the tops look crinkled and a toothpick centered in the middle comes out slightly dirty. Don't overbake them or they are getting cakey. I baked mine for exactly 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Then carefully remove from pan and transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.
- Frosting: Beat butter on medium-high speed until soft and creamy, about 3-4 minutes. Sift in powdered sugar and beat on medium-low speed until fully combined and smooth. Add chocolate and mix on medium speed until combined and creamy. Frost cupcakes and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Video
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Anna
I have baked for 30 years and this is one of the best things I've ever tasted! Made some mint frosting and together they were just divine! Thank you for the recipe!
Sabine
Mint frosting sounds delicious. Thank you so much for your feedback.
Rjane
I use the frosting on this recipe in exchange of putting streusel on your banana chocolate muffins recipe. It tastes wonderful! I’m amazed how even if I interchange frostings on the different bakes, your recipe still works! Thank you so much for sharing this to us! I hope youll never stop. Bless you Sabine! 🧡🤎
Sabine
Thank you so much for your nice feedback, Rjane. I'm happy that my recipes work well for you.
Nour
It's literally AAAAAMAZING. It's so chewy from the outside and moist from the inside. Like OMG I'm definitely going to do it over and over again. Thank you so much for the recipe. Xx.
Sabine
Thank you so much! I'm glad you love the recipe!
Mary
Can I add walnuts to this? Do the ratios change?
Sabine
Yes, absolutely. Go ahead with the recipe as it is and fold the chopped walnuts (I guess anything between 1/2 - 1 cup would work wonderfully) into the batter before transferring to the muffin pan. I hope that helps!
Mary
Oh Yayy! Making this today for the daddy in this family! Thanks!
Adrienne
These were amazing!! I never think homemade brownies taste as good as the ones from a box but this recipe definitely proves me wrong. Followed the recipe exactly and they were fudgy and the icing was great! Will definitely be making again.
Azra Peer
I loved them, I used brown sugar and brown butter instead and it was much more fudgier and richer. Everytime i try your recipe i enjoy them and the outome is just so perfect. ♡♡♡
Irene
This is the 3rd time I'm making these and they are just perfect ?. This time I put Nutella on top instead of the butercream due to lack of time. Amazing..... Thank u so much ???
H
This is now my go-to brownie/brownie cupcake recipe! Thank you for the great recipe 🙂
Kim Billhimer
I love chocolate so does my son .He'll. love these.
Sabine
I'm absolutely sure about that 🙂