Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate with buttercream, chocolate drizzle, and miniature marshmallows.

Hot chocolate cupcakes are fun and festive and make the perfect holiday dessert or a birthday treat any time of the year. Rich chocolate cupcakes are topped with a fluffy marshmallow buttercream and all of your favorite hot cocoa fixings.

5 from 10 votes

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Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 22

Total Time: 52

Servings: cupcakes

Calories: 294kcal

Author: Dahn Boquist

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup 80 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water or hot coffee
2 cups sugar 400 grams
1-¾ cups all-purpose flour 210 grams
1-½ teaspoons baking powder
1-½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream 240 grams
½ cup vegetable oil 120 grams
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting

1-½ cups butter 3 sticks softened
1 jar 7 ounces marshmallow creme
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
1-½ cups powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons milk or cream

Toppings

Chocolate syrup
Rolled wafer cookies or decorative straws
Mini marshmallows we used extra small dehydrated marshmallows

Instructions

For the Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350°F and position the oven rack in the upper third of the oven. Place 36 cupcake liners in standard-sized muffin cups.
Place the cocoa powder and hot water (or coffee) in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth, and the mixture looks like melted chocolate, then set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk until well blended.
Add the eggs, sour cream, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Stir until well combined. Stir in the chocolate mixture.
Pour the batter into the cupcake liners (they should be about 1/2 full).
Bake the cupcakes in the upper third of the oven for 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. It is ok if some of the cake batter has to sit on the counter while you bake the first batch of cupcakes.
Let the cupcakes cool completely before you cover them with the buttercream.

For the Marshmallow Buttercream

Add the butter to a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.
Add the marshmallow cream, vanilla, and salt. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times.
Add the powdered sugar and beat on low speed until the powdered sugar gets incorporated. Increase the speed and beat on medium-high speed for 2 to 4 minutes until light and fluffy.
If desired, add the milk a few drops at a time until you get the consistency you like.

Decorate the Cupcakes

When the cupcakes are completely cool, pipe or spread the buttercream on the cupcakes. Top them with a drizzle of chocolate syrup and scatter some miniature marshmallows on them. Finally, stick a rolled cookie wafer in the frosting so it looks like a straw sticking out of the top.

Notes

It takes approximately 3 tablespoons of cake batter for a standard sized cupcake. Don’t fill the cupcake liners too full or they will over-flow.

For best results, bake one to two muffin tins at a time. It is ok if batter sits on the counter for 25 minutes while the first batch is in the oven.

Ensure the oven has a chance to come up to temperature before placing the second batch in the oven. If the oven loses heat, the cupcakes will sag in the center.

If you bake the cupcakes too close to the bottom portion of the oven or if the oven is not hot enough, the cupcakes will sag in the center (but they will still be tasty).

The buttercream frosting will make 4 cups of frosting, which is enough to cover 24 cupcakes with a dollop of about 3 tablespoons. If you want a big mountain of frosting swirled on the cupcakes like the ones in the photos, it will frost about 14 cupcakes. The buttercream recipe also makes enough to fill and frost a two-layer cake (9-inches).

If you don’t want to use marshmallow fluff in the buttercream, melt 2 cups of mini marshmallows with 1 tablespoon of corn syrup. Let the mixture come to room temperature before adding it to the buttercream.

We used miniature dehydrated marshmallows to decorate the cupcakes. The dehydrated marshmallows add a fun crunchy texture to the cupcakes and they are smaller than standard mini marshmallows. The dehydrated marshmallows will get soft if they sit on top of the cupcakes for more than a day.

Variations

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes: add 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper to the cupcake batter (stir it in along with the salt). Add 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne pepper to the buttercream.

Peppermint hot chocolate cupcakes: Add 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract to the cake batter and 1/4 teaspoon to the buttercream. Top the decorated buttercream with crushed peppermint candy and stick a candy cane in the top.

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