Super fudgy Brownie Cupcakes with crinkly and chewy tops. Frosted with creamy, silky dark chocolate buttercream. Very easy to make.
These Brownie Cupcakes are mindblowing!
We all love brownies, right? I see that my Homemade Brownies, Peanut Butter Brownies, and also the Brownie Cookies are always among the top posts. So, you scream, and I scream for ice cream, ah, no, I meant brownies. Woohoo!
Now imagine super fudgy brownies in a 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.
I think you already know that you are in a chocolate-lovers zone on my blog. Chocolate is one of my weak points. But brownies?
Brownies are for me chocolate with a better configuration. Let me explain. It’s like a car. The car you want to buy is great, but you can configure it to bring it to the next level. So the chocolate is the car, and with a mindblowing configuration, you get these super fudgy Brownie Cupcakes. Does that make sense?
What’s about this Brownie Cupcakes recipe?
- they are super fudgy
- intense chocolate flavor
- 1 cup of cocoa in the batter!
- super creamy and silky dark chocolate buttercream frosting
- Chocolate brownies topped with even more chocolate? C’mon!
Brownie Cupcakes with butter or oil?
There are different theories about the better moisturizer in brownies. Is it butter or oil? Both butter and oil brownies 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.
In vanilla cakes, I tend to add half oil and half butter to get the best of both worlds.
My brownie recipes always contain butter instead of oil. Trust me you don’t miss anything from adding butter instead of oil. The texture of my brownie recipes is super, super, super fudgy! Due to a lot of recipe testing, I perfected my brownie recipes over the years.
So we don’t have any disadvantages of adding butter but have the big advantage of the great taste. Butter gives the brownies a deeper and richer flavor and complements the chocolate just perfectly.
I know I talk the whole time about brownies instead of Brownie Cupcakes. But guess what? These ARE brownies. Just baked in cupcake liners.
I tried different versions of Brownie Cupcakes. My first attempt was more like a regular chocolate cupcake recipe. But they weren’t fudgy at all. Finally, I ended up with trying to bake my Homemade Brownies recipe in cupcake liners and boom. This was it.
I did just two little tweaks.
#1 I left out the chopped chocolate in the brownie batter because we have an irresistible chocolate frosting crown on top of the cupcakes, right? But feel free to add chopped chocolate or chocolate chips to the batter if you want to.
#2 I used just white sugar instead of brown and white sugar.
Brownie Cupcakes with cocoa or chocolate?
Well, that’s the next million dollar question, isn’t it? You will find recipes with melted dark chocolate, with cocoa, or a combination of both.
This is more of a personal preference. It depends on how you want your brownies to be. Cakey, chewy, or fudgy? Of course, not just the chocolate is responsible for these textures, but it is one part of the whole game.
Adding cocoa powder is my personal favorite. It provides the brownies a rich and deep chocolate flavor compared to adding melted chocolate. Adding chocolate instead of cocoa would require to add a lot of chocolate to reach the same intense chocolate flavor.
When choosing cocoa instead of chocolate you need to add more butter. So brownie recipes with melted chocolate usually contain less butter than cocoa brownies.
And yes! There is a whole lot of butter in these Brownie Cupcakes. Butter adds great taste, you remember? So this is actually a good thing. Except for your bikini shape.
The key to super fudgy Brownie Cupcakes is to follow the instructions step by step. There are a few golden rules to follow.
If you overmix or overbake them, they would 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 instead of fudgy Brownie Cupcakes. …There is then an excuse to bake them immediately again, right?
Read here about my 11 crucial tips to get super fudgy brownies.
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 chocolate buttercream, let 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.
If you make this Brownie Cupcakes recipe, leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #alsothecrumbsplease on Instagram! Would love to see your snap!
You may also like Super Fudgy Chocolate Brownie Cookies Recipe, Homemade Brownie Recipe From Scratch, White Chocolate Cupcakes with White Chocolate Frosting, The Best S’mores Cupcakes Recipe, or click here to see all recipes.
Super fudgy Brownie Cupcakes with crinkly and chewy tops. Frosted with creamy, silky dark chocolate buttercream. Very easy to make.
- 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
- 1 cup butter, softened (226g)
- 2 cups powdered sugar (240g)
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled (6oz / 175g)
Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line two 12 cup muffin pans with 13-14 cupcake liners. Set aside.
Brownie 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 the brownie cupcakes 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 top of the brownies look crinkled and a toothpick centered in the middle comes out mostly clean. Don't overbake the brownie cupcakes or they are getting cakey. I baked mine for exactly 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Then carefully remove from pan and transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.
Dark Chocolate 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.
Recipe Video
*First, cut off the straight end of the vanilla bean. Then place the tip of your sharp knife below the curled end and cut the vanilla bean through the middle of the bean lengthwise. Although you don't need to cut it all the way through, it's ok when you do so. Then open the vanilla bean and scrape out the flavorful seeds with the back of your knife. Just use the seeds.
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I made these cupcakes today, and they are so good! Thank you very much for the recipe 🙂
Thank you so much, Sandra! I’m very happy that you like the recipe! (:
Hi Sabine, this recipe has inspired me to get baking this weekend, I can’t wait! Just one question, what kind of butter do you use? Salted or unsalted?
Kind regards from the Netherlands!
Clare.
Hi Clare, I’m happy that you are going to bake this weekend. I used unsalted butter for this recipe. Happy baking! Have a great day, Sabine