Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
A doctored cake-mix cupcake studded with mini chocolate chips and piped high with rich chocolate buttercream — the crowd-pleaser I make when I can't decide on a flavor.
- Prep Time
- 15 min
- Cook Time
- 23 min
- Total Time
- 38 min
- Servings
- About 36 cupcakes
One of the hardest parts of making cupcakes is picking just one flavor. Chocolate? Vanilla? Fruit? Mocha? Peanut butter? It depends who's coming, honestly. When I can't decide, I usually narrow it down to Chocolate Chip or Oreo — if someone doesn't like chocolate, they can have Oreo, and if someone doesn't like Oreos, well, we probably can't be friends. Kidding. Mostly.
This flavor is about as universal as it gets, especially with kids, which is exactly why it's become one of my go-to cupcakes for any crowd.
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 1 box yellow cake mix (Duncan Hines)
- 1 (3-4 oz.) box instant vanilla pudding mix
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup water
- 8 oz. sour cream
- 1 bag mini chocolate chips, plus regular chocolate chips for garnish
- 2 (16 oz.) cans chocolate icing, or use the recipe below
For the Chocolate Buttercream Icing
- 1 lb. unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups confectioners sugar
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- 1Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl, combine all cupcake ingredients except the chocolate chips and icing. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for 2-3 minutes.
- 2Add the chocolate chips and stir until evenly distributed throughout the batter.
- 3Line a 12-cavity muffin pan with cupcake liners and spoon batter into each cavity about 2/3 full. Bake for 22-24 minutes, until tops are light golden brown.
- 4Remove cupcakes from the pan and cool completely on cooling racks before icing.
- 5For the icing: beat the butter and vanilla extract together at medium speed for 2-3 minutes. Add the cocoa, confectioners sugar, and water, and continue mixing for another 2-3 minutes, until smooth.
- 6Pipe icing on top of each cupcake using a pastry bag and cake decorating tip, and top with a chocolate chip if desired.
