Super fudgy Brownie Cupcakes with crinkly and chewy tops. Frosted with creamy, silky dark chocolate buttercream. Very easy to make. By the way, if you love brownies, you'll also love my air fryer brownies.
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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Sarah
Perfect recipe. I just cut down on the sugar because it was too sweet.
Sabine
I'm happy that you adjusted the recipe to your liking and turned out great!
Azra
What happens if i use brown sugar instead of white sugar?
Sabine
The taste will be more caramel-ish or with a hint of molasses. The texture will be even more moist. It’s absolutely fine to use brown sugar. I just prefer the taste of white sugar better. Hope that helps!
Hanou
What about baking powdr?
Sabine
There is no baking powder in these cupcakes.
d johnson
Great cupcakes. I needed to let them cool a little longer because they crumbled when I took them out or actually use liners, which I don't do. The icing recipe is great because it does not have the sweetness level that most icings have.
Sabine
Thank you so much for your feedback! I'm happy that you like the recipe!
MR
Hi,
I made these.. They was sooo GREAT^-^
But mine took about an hour to bake..
I think my cups was bigger than yours; and I filled them full.
Would anything go wrong if I fill half of the cup next time?
(I don't have cupcake pan and I use a kind of thick cupcake liners)
Sabine
Hi, I'm happy that you like them. (: Okay, this explains why yours took longer to bake through. It sounds that your cups are much bigger than mine. Mine are as big as regular homemade cupcakes. I use a 12 muffin pan. Yes, you could try to fill them half full to reduce the baking time. Happy baking!
Emily
Salted or unsalted butter???
Sabine
I used unsalted butter.
Victoria
Hey Sabine,
Thanks for the recipe. They turned out great and they are so delicious! I love your recipes. Many thanks!
Sabine
Hi Victoria, Thank you so much! I’m beyond happy that you like my recipes! Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
Nikki
I made the cupcakes and they were delicious❤️....I skipped on the chocolate chunks, yet the cupcakes turned out well. They weren’t as ‘fudgy’ as I thought they would be, but they had a nice dense texture to them?. Thanks for the recipe! I’ll definitely make it again!
Sabine
Thank you so much, I'm happy that you like them! 🙂 When the cupcakes don't turn out fudgy there could be a couple of reasons. However, make sure that you don't overmix or overbake them.
Clare ter Meer
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.
Sabine
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
Sandra
I made these cupcakes today, and they are so good! Thank you very much for the recipe 🙂
Sabine
Thank you so much, Sandra! I'm very happy that you like the recipe! (: