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These Moist Chocolate Cupcakes are filled with a smooth chocolate ganache and topped with chocolate buttercream! They’re a chocolate lover’s dream and such a wonderful treat!
Moist Ganache-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes
Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate – that’s what’s in these lovely cupcakes. If you’re having a craving, these should do the trick. And fortunately they aren’t too complicated to make. They fave a couple extra steps than your average cupcake because of the filling, but chocolate ganache is about as easy as it gets!
These cupcakes start with a lovely chocolate cupcake base that I’ve used many times. You may have seen them before with my Baileys Chocolate Cupcakes or my Ice Cream Chocolate Cupcakes. It’s a butter-based cupcake that has great flavor and is a touch more dense than my Homemade Moist Chocolate Cupcakes, which is made with oil. Both are wonderful cupcakes, but this one is more “bakery-style” and works quite well with a filling.
To make the chocolate ganache, you’ll just add your chocolate chips to a bowl, heat the cream and then pour the cream over the chocolate. The heat from the cream will melt the chocolate and then you can whisk it all together until it’s nice and smooth. You’ll want to let it cool to at least room temperature, so that it stays in place when you fill the cupcakes later. You could even refrigerate it, if you wanted to make it a little ahead.
When you’re ready to put your cupcakes together, you’ll want to make the chocolate buttercream. This one is based on my Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, but makes just a little bit more since this recipe makes about 18 cupcakes. I found I needed just a bit more frosting.
After making the frosting, you’ll remove the center’s of the cupcakes. If you have a cupcake corer, you can use that. Otherwise, a sharp little knife should do the trick.
Remove the centers and fill them with about half a tablespoon of the ganache per cupcake. If you can fit a little more in there, then why not. Just be sure you have enough for all the cupcakes.
Finally, frost the cupcakes with the buttercream and you’re ready to go! I sprinkled a little cocoa on top of my cupcakes, but you could also use some sprinkles or just leave them as is. They’ll taste the same either way and are sure to be a hit!
These are truly the chocolate lover’s dream cupcake! I hope you love them as much as we did!
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Originally posted 3/25/2015, updated 9/6/2020. Download a PDF of the previous recipe here.
Moist Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Filling
- Prep Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 17 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 37 minutes
- Yield: 16-18 cupcakes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These Moist Chocolate Cupcakes are only made more delicious by the ganache filling in the middle. They’re light and oh so chocolatey!
Ingredients
Chocolate Cupcakes
- 1 cup (130g) all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (112g) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (207g) sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 6 tbsp (43g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 tbsp (90ml) warm water
- 6 tbsp (90ml) milk
Chocolate Ganache Filling
- 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Chocolate Buttercream
- 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 3/4 cups (431g) powdered sugar
- 6 tbsp (44g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4–5 tbsp water or milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C) and line cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
3. Add butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl and cream together on medium speed until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. You should be able to see a noticeable change in color and texture.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until combined.
5. Combine the cocoa powder, vanilla and water and stir until combined. Add the mixture to the cake batter and mix until well combined.
6. Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk to the batter. Begin by adding half of the dry mix, then mix until combined. Add the milk and mix until combined, scraping down the sides as needed. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until well combined.
7. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs.
8. Remove cupcakes from the oven and allow to cool.
9. To make the ganache filling, add the chocolate chips and vanilla extract to a medium sized bowl.
10. Heat the heavy whipping cream until it just begins to boil, then pour it over the chocolate chips.
11. Allow the chocolate and cream and to sit for 3-5 minutes, then whisk together until smooth. Set aside to cool until at least room temperature. You could also refrigerate it until cold.
12. When you’re ready to build the cupcakes, make the frosting. Add the butter to a large mixer bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.
13. Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth and well combined.
14. Add the cocoa powder and mix until well combined and smooth.
15. Add the vanilla extract and 2-3 tablespoons of water or cream and mix until smooth and well combined.
16. Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth and well combined.
17. Add more water or cream until desired consistency is reached, then add salt.
18. To put the cupcakes together, use a cupcake corer or knife to remove the centers of the cupcakes.
19. Fill the centers of the cupcakes with the ganache filling (about a 1/2 tablespoon of ganache per cupcake), then pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes with the chocolate buttercream. I used Ateco tip 844. I also dusted the tops of the cupcakes with a little cocoa powder, if you’d like to do that.
20. Serve cupcakes at room temperature, but store in the fridge. Cupcakes are best eaten within 2-3 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cupcake
- Calories: 402
- Sugar: 41.5 g
- Sodium: 82.8 mg
- Fat: 22.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 50 g
- Protein: 3.2 g
- Cholesterol: 72 mg
Categories
Enjoy!
I doubled the recipe for my family. I was very careful to make sure I did all the calculations right and filled cupcakes 3/4 full but it ended up only making 16-18 cupcakes and I wanted 32-36. The recipe is supposed to yield 16-18 cupcakes but apparently that is not true.
I’m sorry to hear you weren’t happy with them. I have this cupcake in various recipes on my site and it generally gets great reviews. I’ve got to think there was something along the way that wasn’t right for you. Especially if you only got half the number of cupcakes. Did you simple not have enough batter, or did they not rise correctly?
Why do you use baking soda and not baking powder?
You can read more about baking soda versus baking powder here and why I might use one or the other.
I followed this recipe to the T, however all my cupcakes fell flat at the very last minute of baking.
I then took the initiative to alter the recipe to how I think it should be and came out beautifully!
There are a few things short in this recipe, just my opinion! And I am a chef, I like to try people’s recipes, I would give this one a 4/10, purely for flavor.
Just wondering how you altered the recipe? I haven’t made these yet, but it’s always good to know the alteration in case anyone runs into the same problem. Have to admit I’ve had it happened before with cupcakes and cakes.
These cupcakes were absolutely delicious. I used this recipe for my Christmas cupcakes and there were no leftovers. This will be my go to recipe from now on!!!
So glad you enjoyed them!
Did you just update this? I was literally in the middle of following it about to add the buttermilk and my page refreshed and now my measurements of previous ingredients are off. I’m panicking as I’m baking for a wedding and this has been my go to chocolate cupcake recipe.
No, this hasn’t been updated or changed recently.
Can you freeze these cupcakes?
That should be fine. Just wrap them well and thaw in the fridge before serving.
These were great! I was just wondering – would it be possible to pair the ganache filling with these cupcakes? https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/nutella-cupcakes/#tasty-recipes-33110 Which cupcake recipe do you prefer? Thank you!!!
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Yes, you could use the ganache filling in the Nutella cupcakes.
Can I use a different cupcake recipe for the cupcakes, but still use this recipe for the ganache and frosting?
Without knowing the cupcake recipe it’s hard for me to say for sure, but I would imagine that to be fine.
I’m sorry I started this I got to where you’re talking and it’s confusing me about adding milk where I already added milk to the cocoa powder now you’re telling me to add the cocoa powder to the batter what batter alternate adding flour with the milk I already put the milk in the cocoa butter I am so confused I’ll do my best I hope I don’t have to end up making another batch of cupcakes after this😑
The directions don’t say to add milk to the cocoa powder. The cocoa powder is mixed with the water and vanilla extract, then added to the batter. Then you alternate adding the milk and the dry ingredients. I hope that helps.
I think I got mixed up reading this on my phone having to scroll up and down. In the future I will print the recipe out. I was confused wanting to add the cocoa mixture to the BATTER. The batter is just the butter, eggs and sugar creamed together then I presume. Because after that then you say add the flour.. I don’t consider it the batter until the flour is in it. They did all turn out great and everybody loved them, they thought I bought them at the store. thank you