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Chocolate Glazed Cupcakes

By Katie Leaird

Published on January 4, 2023

Time

1 hour, plus 1¼ hours cooling time

Yield

Makes 12 cupcakes

What Kids Are Saying

“Pouring the batter into the cups was fun!”—Sofie, recipe tester, age 7

Chocolate Glazed Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 cup (5 ounces/142 grams) all-purpose flour 1 cup (7 ounces/198 grams) sugar ½ cup (2 ounces/57 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon table salt 1 cup (8 ounces) milk ½ cup vegetable oil 1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ½ cup (3 ounces/85 grams) semisweet chocolate chips 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces

Before You Begin

We highly recommend using Dutch-processed cocoa powder in this recipe. If you use natural cocoa powder, the cupcakes will be drier in texture and lighter in color. You can use bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips here, but we do not recommend milk chocolate chips.

Instructions

  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12-cup muffin tin with 12 paper liners.
  2. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
  3. In large bowl, whisk milk, oil, egg, and vanilla until well combined.
  4. Add flour mixture to milk mixture and whisk until just combined and no dry flour is visible.
  5. Pour batter into large liquid measuring cup. Divide batter evenly among muffin tin cups (each cup should be filled almost to top).
  6. Place muffin tin in oven. Bake cupcakes until toothpick inserted in center of 1 cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes.
  7. Use oven mitts to remove muffin tin from oven and place on cooling rack (ask an adult for help). Let cupcakes cool completely in muffin tin, about 1 hour.
  8. In small microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips and butter. Heat in microwave at 50 percent power for 2 minutes. Remove bowl from microwave. Stir with rubber spatula until smooth.
  9. ​​Remove cooled cupcakes from muffin tin. Turn each cupcake upside down and dip top in chocolate glaze. Turn cupcake right side up and set on serving platter (see photo, “Step-by-Step: How to Glaze Cupcakes,” below). Let glaze set and harden, about 20 minutes. Serve.
Chocolate Glazed Cupcakes
Photography by Kevin White. Styling by Elle Simone Scott.

Chocolate Glazed Cupcakes

Headshot of Katie Leaird
By Katie Leaird
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Time

1 hour, plus 1¼ hours cooling time

Yield

Makes 12 cupcakes

What Kids Are Saying

“Pouring the batter into the cups was fun!”—Sofie, recipe tester, age 7

Ingredients

1 cup (5 ounces/142 grams) all-purpose flour
1 cup (7 ounces/198 grams) sugar
½ cup (2 ounces/57 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon table salt
1 cup (8 ounces) milk
½ cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (3 ounces/85 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces

Test Kitchen Techniques

Ingredients

1 cup (5 ounces/142 grams) all-purpose flour
1 cup (7 ounces/198 grams) sugar
½ cup (2 ounces/57 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon table salt
1 cup (8 ounces) milk
½ cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (3 ounces/85 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces

Test Kitchen Techniques

Ingredients

1 cup (5 ounces/142 grams) all-purpose flour
1 cup (7 ounces/198 grams) sugar
½ cup (2 ounces/57 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon table salt
1 cup (8 ounces) milk
½ cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (3 ounces/85 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces

Test Kitchen Techniques

Why This Recipe Works

Dipping chocolate cupcakes into a two-ingredient chocolate glaze makes it easy for even the youngest chefs to create an impressive-looking, chocolate-packed dessert. To make things even simpler, the cupcake batter comes together in a bowl—no mixer required. This recipe doesn’t use any melted chocolate or chocolate chips in the cupcake batter, just cocoa powder. Cocoa comes from the seeds of cacao plants. The seeds are fermented, dried, roasted, ground up, and separated from cocoa butter to make cocoa powder. While cocoa powder has tons of concentrated chocolate flavor, it has none of the sweetness of chocolate. In fact, on its own, cocoa powder is really bitter! Have kids take a tiny taste of cocoa powder and then eat a few chocolate chips (which typically contain some sugar and some cocoa butter). How do the two ingredients taste similar? How do they taste different? 

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Before You Begin

We highly recommend using Dutch-processed cocoa powder in this recipe. If you use natural cocoa powder, the cupcakes will be drier in texture and lighter in color. You can use bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips here, but we do not recommend milk chocolate chips.

Instructions

  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12-cup muffin tin with 12 paper liners.
  2. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
  3. In large bowl, whisk milk, oil, egg, and vanilla until well combined.
  4. Add flour mixture to milk mixture and whisk until just combined and no dry flour is visible.
  5. Pour batter into large liquid measuring cup. Divide batter evenly among muffin tin cups (each cup should be filled almost to top).
  6. Place muffin tin in oven. Bake cupcakes until toothpick inserted in center of 1 cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes.
  7. Use oven mitts to remove muffin tin from oven and place on cooling rack (ask an adult for help). Let cupcakes cool completely in muffin tin, about 1 hour.
  8. In small microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips and butter. Heat in microwave at 50 percent power for 2 minutes. Remove bowl from microwave. Stir with rubber spatula until smooth.
  9. ​​Remove cooled cupcakes from muffin tin. Turn each cupcake upside down and dip top in chocolate glaze. Turn cupcake right side up and set on serving platter (see photo, “Step-by-Step: How to Glaze Cupcakes,” below). Let glaze set and harden, about 20 minutes. Serve.

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