Black Cupcakes

Gloriously dark and perfect for Halloween, these Black Cupcakes are made with just 7 ingredients that starts with a boxed chocolate cake mix and a magical ingredient that turns these cupcakes black.

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We all love cupcakes for desserts and parties and these cupcakes always get rave reviews. These cupcakes go beyond just being chocolate and with the help of black cocoa powder they turn an amazing color. Add a black cocoa buttercream frosting to make all black cupcakes.

Now before we dive into this recipe consider yourself warned. This cocoa powder likes to fly away as all cocoa powder does, and yes, if the powder lands on something like maybe your white shirt, it will get black. Never fear though, I found by experience that it washes out.

Jump to:

• Black cocoa powder
• More recipes
• ❤️Why you will love these cupcakes
• 🧾Ingredients
• 🧁 Let's bake
• Variations
• FAQ's
• Equipment needed
• More cake recipes
• Recipe

Black cocoa powder

Here is the magical ingredient that turns these cupcakes into a deep dark black color. Use this cocoa powder to make the black frosting too.

More recipes

If you like to use box mixes to create some luscious desserts try these recipes that are just as quick and easy as these cupcakes.

• This Banana Cake with Caramel is flavored with vanilla bean seeds for major flavor. This recipe uses a boxed yellow cake.
• The kids love making this Mountain Dew Bundt Cake for their parties. Grab a boxed lemon cake mix and a can of Mountain Dew, for a very lemony cake.
• We have made these Peanut Butter Cup Brownies so many times I've lost count. You need a brownie mix and peanut butter cups.

❤️Why you will love these cupcakes

• These cupcakes don't contain a food coloring that will turn your mouth black, you can achieve the color solely by using black cocoa powder.
• Both the cupcakes and the buttercream frosting are so easy to make and since you start with a boxed cake mix you won't need a ton of ingredients.
• These cupcakes just make a beautiful presentation for spooky Halloween black cocoa cupcakes that you can call Black Magic Cupcakes. You can also serve them at a more formal event and call them Black Velvet Cupcakes.

🧾Ingredients

The cake ingredients

• Chocolate cake mix - use your favorite brand - I like Duncan Hines Devil's Food cake mix
• Water
• Eggs
• Vegetable oil
• Black cocoa powder
• Coffee - This is used to bloom the cocoa powder. You can substitute water.

The buttercream frosting ingredients

• Powdered sugar - this is for the buttercream frosting
• Butter - salted or unsalted works for this recipe
• Milk or cream - this will smooth out the frosting and make it creamy
• Chocolate - semi-sweet or dark chocolate tastes the best
• Coffee -mixing coffee with chocolate helps to enhance the chocolate flavor. You won't taste the coffee, but if you are not a coffee drinker you can substitute vanilla.

Sprinkles

You can go crazy with tall types and colors of sprinkles to decorate these cupcakes. This is what I used.

• I used these Black cupcake sprinkles, and the Halloween Sprinkle Mix.
• Add the little candy eyeballs for a monster-themed cupcake.

🧁 Let's bake

Step 1. The first thing you need to do is heat the coffee and dissolve the black cocoa powder. This is called BLOOMING and it gives the cocoa a richer flavor and it dissolves the cocoa so it incorporates it into the cake batter. Optionally, change out the coffee for water.

Step 2. In a large mixing bowl add the dry cake mix and follow the instructions on the box by adding the water, eggs, and oil. You can use a handheld mixer or use a stand mixer and mix the batter for two minutes then scrape the bowl.

Step 3. To the cake batter add the bloomed black cocoa and mix again for about one minute until the batter is completely mixed, then scrape the bowl again.

Step 4. Pour the batter into lined muffin tins, filling ⅔ full. 

Cupcake tip - Use a cookie scoop to proportion the exact amount of cupcake batter. You want to fill the muffin tin ⅔ full of batter which is about a ¼ cup, or use a #20 cookie scoop (it's 2inches wide) which is also ¼ cup and your cupcake batter will be proportioned perfectly.

Step 5.  Bake the cupcakes in the center of the oven at 350˚F for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan then remove cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

Making the buttercream frosting

Step. 6. Melt the chocolate in the microwave, do this in 20-second intervals until melted. Stir the chocolate between each interval. I did this three times. Set aside to cool while mixing the other frosting ingredients.

Step 7. Whisk the powdered sugar and the black cocoa powder together in a large bowl. This will help break up any lumps and it also combines the two ingredients so they get mixed together.

Step 8. In a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the room temperature butter for about a minute until it is light and fluffy. Then add the powdered sugar/cocoa powder mixture to the butter in one-cup increments. If you add this all at once you will have powder flying everywhere.

Step 9. Mix in the melted chocolate and add 1 tablespoon of the coffee, or cream. Mix this for one minute. Add additional coffee or cream or both until the icing is smooth and creamy.

Note - As this icing sits the black color becomes darker.

Step 10. Frost the cupcakes with the buttercream and decorate with sprinkles.

You can frost these cupcakes with a knife or you can pipe the frosting on the cupcakes. You can use a variety of icing tips, but for these cupcakes, I used a Wilton #10 round tip.

Step 11. If you are using sprinkles to decorate the cupcakes, make sure you add them immediately so they stick to the icing.

The all-black cupcake is always a favorite.

Variations

Make these cupcakes for other holidays or for special times by just changing the sprinkles. Valentine's red heart sprinkles look beautiful on the black, or even Valentine's Day sprinkle mix.

Also just using a colorful confetti sprinkle mix really looks nice on the black frosting.

Another option is to make a white buttercream for black and white cupcakes.

FAQ's

Equipment needed

• Muffin pans
• Cookie scoop
• Icing bags
• Icing knife
• #10 icing tip
• Mixer

More cake recipes

Because who doesn't like cake?

Recipe

First published: April 11, 2020, Last updated: June Dec. 30, 2022, for better readability.

Thank you for stopping by the One Hot Oven blog.  Please leave a comment to say Hello or just let me know what you are baking these days, I always love hearing from fellow bakers. Have any questions or just want to chat about the recipe? My contact information is on my about page, and I’ll be happy to help.                                                                                                                                                     

About Jere'              

From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending.  Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place, and I am glad to be here at One Hot Oven sharing both sweet and savory family-friendly recipes for your cooking and baking inspiration.