Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

No ratings yet

Made with moist chocolate cake as a base, a sweet raspberry sauce filling, and a creamy raspberry frosting, these chocolate raspberry cupcakes will have you running for seconds!

Prep Time30

Total Time30

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 618kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes

200 g Granulated sugar
226 g Unsalted butter 82% fat content European-style butter, use it softened
2 Eggs room temperature
2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
200 g All purpose flour
50 g Cocoa powder
1 teaspoon Baking powder
1 teaspoon Salt
160 g Whole milk room temperature
80 g Freshly brewed coffee room temperature
½ teaspoon Baking soda
½ teaspoon White vinegar

Raspberry sauce

320 g Raspberry
2 tablespoon Lemon juice freshly squeezed
50 g Granulated sugar

Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

450 g Unsalted butter 82% fat content European-style butter, use it softened
720 g Powdered sugar Sifted
2 tablespoon Lemon juice Freshly squeezed
160 g Raspberry reduction See ingredient notes below
1 tablespoon Vanilla extract
½ teaspoon Salt
6 tablespoons Heavy cream 36% fat content

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Chocolate cupcakes

Prepare your cupcake tin by lining it with muffin liners and preheat your oven to 175℃ / 347℉ (no fan).
In a large bowl, cream the room-temperature butter and sugar for a few minutes until it's light and fluffy.
Then, whip in the room-temperature eggs in slowly, followed by the vanilla extract.
Slowly pour the room-temperature milk & coffee mixture, as you keep whipping the batter.
Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt over the batter. Then, switch to a rubber spatula and fold in the dry ingredients carefully, not overmixing the batter at this point.
In a small bowl, mix vinegar with the baking soda. It will be super bubbly. Then, immediately fold the vinegar mixture into the batter just until it's combined.
Pipe or spoon the batter evenly into the cavities of your cupcake tin, filling each one about ¾ full.
Bake the chocolate cupcake for about 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Do not overbake them, as they can dry out.
Cool the baked cupcakes on a cooling rack. They must be at room temperature before frosting.

Raspberry sauce

Cook all the ingredients for about 10 minutes until slightly thickens. Let it cool before using it. Alternatively, you can use raspberry jam instead.

Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

Using your stand mixer or electric hand mixer, cream the room-temperature softened butter at medium-high speed for 3 minutes until it becomes light in color and fluffy in texture.
Add in the powdered sugar tablespoon by tablespoon on low speed, then turn the mixer back on medium-high speed and whip it for another 4 minutes or until the mixture becomes light, fluffy, and increases in volume.
Lastly, while the mixer is on at low speed, add the raspberry reduction, lemon juice, vanilla extract, salt, and heavy cream and continue whipping for another minute until it is smooth and silky.
Once the cupcakes are cooled to room temperature, make a small hole on each of them and fill them with the raspberry sauce (approximately one tablespoon per cupcake).
Move the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a piping nozzle. Frost the cupcakes with the raspberry buttercream, and decorate according to your liking with fresh raspberries and herbs (e.g. mint).
The cupcakes are best served fresh. Any leftovers can be stored refrigerated for 2-3 days in an airtight container. Bring them back to room temperature before serving for the frosting to soften.

Notes

The frosting recipe above is enough to frost 12 chocolate raspberry cupcakes generously.

You might be able to make more or less cupcakes with this recipe, depending on the size of the cupcake tin cavities.

Ingredient notes:

Measure your ingredients with a digital scale for accuracy.
All cupcake ingredients must be at room temperature to properly emulsify: eggs, butter, and milk.
The baking soda and vinegar mixture is my signature baking hack for making cupcakes super moist and fluffy; do not skip it.
To make the raspberry reduction, start with 2-3x more fruit than what you need as a reduction. Puree the fresh or frozen raspberries (after defrosting) and remove the seeds with a sieve. Then, reduce this puree by cooking over medium heat for 10 minutes or until the mixture slightly thickens and some water evaporates. Measure it after the reduction process.
Alternatively, instead of the raspberry reduction, use seedless raspberry jam.
To make buttercream, use high-fat (36%) heavy cream and good-quality high-fat (82%) butter.
For the best flavor, it is key to use high-quality vanilla. Feel free to try my homemade vanilla extract.

Technique notes:

Make sure you read my Expert tips section above to maximize your success. A short recipe alone is not able to cover all the necessary details, and science behind baking.
A digital scale is required for a consistent, happy baking experience.
Do not overwork the cupcake batter. After whipping the wet ingredients, switch to a rubber spatula to incorporate the dry ingredients.
Always preheat your oven and consider using a digital oven thermometer for the best results.
When whipping in the eggs and milk, make sure they are all at room temperature. Otherwise, the batter will break.
Baking these cupcakes takes 22 minutes in my oven. However, you should focus on the texture, not the time. Apply the toothpick test (it should come out clean) to avoid overbaked cupcakes. Do not overbake them, as that will result in a dry texture.
When making the buttercream, the temperature and texture of the butter is key. Wait until it is soft, however, avoid last-minute microwaving.
When adding the powdered sugar, reduce the speed of the mixer to avoid creating a huge powder sugar cloud.
When adding the liquid elements e.g. raspberry reduction, make sure that the mixer is on at low speed so the juice gets evenly mixed into the buttercream.
This raspberry frosting should have the perfect pipeable fluffy texture, but if, for some reason, it is too thick, add some more cream (1 tablespoon at a time). If the frosting is too thin, add more powdered sugar (2 tablespoons at a time).
Note that the raspberry buttercream texture is best straight after making it when the butter is at the right temperature (room temperature), and the mixture is freshly whipped. I like to use the frosting immediately or store it at room temperature in a piping bag for a few hours. If stored in the refrigerator, you will need to bring it back to room temperature before using it and might need to give it another minute or two to whip in the stand mixer to increase the volume again.

Nutrition