If you're after a no-fuss treat that's quick to make, these easy chocolate cupcakes with simple buttercream icing are for you. They’re perfect for baking newbies or anyone craving a sweet chocolate fix, fast. No fancy ingredients, no complicated steps, just simple, reliable, chocolaty goodness every time.
New to baking? Let our cookery team guide you with their expert tips on on how to bake cupcakes, with guidance on everything from how to make sure cupcakes rise properly in the oven to tips and tricks for simple but effective decoration.
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Yields:
12 serving(s)
Prep Time:
15 mins
Cook Time:
20 mins
Total Time:
35 mins
Cal/Serv:
410
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
150g
unsalted butter, softened
150g
caster sugar
3
medium eggs, at room temperature
1tsp.
vanilla extract
175g
self-raising flour
25g
cocoa powder
For the buttercream
150g
unsalted butter, at room temperature
300g
icing sugar, sifted
2Tbsp.
milk
Directions
Step 1
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake cases. To make the cakes, put butter and caster sugar into a large bowl. Crack in the eggs and add the vanilla extract. Sift over flour, cocoa powder and a pinch of salt.
Step 2
Beat ingredients together using an electric hand whisk, then divide mixture among cases. Bake for 15-20min until firm and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
Step 3
To make buttercream, put the butter, icing sugar and milk into a large bowl and beat with the electric hand whisk. Spread over cooled cakes and serve.
Baking troubleshooting:
If you have a flat surface on your cupcakes it's much easier to pipe on the buttercream or add decorations. If your cupcakes come out with pointy tops that you have to cut off before icing, use a little less baking powder next time. If it’s self-raising flour in your recipe, try turning your oven down by 10°C.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
