Easy Chocolate Coffee Cupcake Recipe
Moist and delicious Chocolate Coffee Christmas Cupcakes are easy to make with the kids this year from a simple box cake mix. Looking for a Christmas Cupcake with a little extra Christmas flavor? You will love these delicious Mocha Chocolate Christmas Cupcakes with that little extra coffee flavor.
The Christmas decorated coffee chocolate mocha cupcakes are soft and fluffy chocolate devils food cake on the inside and creamy buttercream frosting on the top. If you love coffee and you love chocolate these cupcakes will be one of your favorites as the coffee flavor makes the chocolate flavor pop.
To make these easy chocolate coffee cupcakes, you start with a box cake mix. Dunkin Hines cake mixes are my go-to and Devil’s food is the best chocolate cake mix flavor. When you combine the cake mix with the coffee the cupcake flavor is like a chocolate mocha latte at Starbucks.
Believe it or not, they do not taste like coffee if you did not know the water was substituted with coffee. The coffee just adds a homemade richness to the chocolate flavor.
How to Made a Box Cake Mix Taste Like Homemade
For busy moms starting a cupcake or a cake with a box mix is a time saver. The cake mix manufactures are able to get quality cake making ingredients that we just can not find in our local store. They take all the hassle out of sifting and measuring the basic dry ingredients.
You can add so many things to a box cake mix and you and make a ton of substitutions. With little kids that just want a sweet treat, you can swap out the whole for egg whites and swap out the oil for unsweetened apple sauce. Now you have cake but only you know that you are giving them healthier ingredients than a packaged cake treat.
For the chocolate coffee cupcakes, I substituted a cup of cold fresh brewed coffee for the water. I also reduce the vegetable oil by about a tablespoon and used mild olive oil. For the frosting, I use half real butter and half vegan butter. No one noticed any difference in the frosting.
For your cupcakes just substitute the water for coffee. We are working on our health so the oil change was to help with our over health goals. But you can use regular vegetable oil or make the unsweetened apple sauce swap. The beauty of cake mixes is you can make them your own.
Ingredients for Easy Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes
The ingredients you will need are basic pantry ingredients. So make sure you have a few cake mix box mixes in your pantry all the time so you can make delicious treats simple and quickly.
- 1 Devil’s Food Cake mix
- 1 cup of brewed coffee, cooled
- 3 large eggs
- 1/3 cup of oil
- 1 cup of butter
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 4 cups of powdered sugar. Have more on hand as you can add more depending on how thick you want the frosting.
- 1 to 2 teaspoons of milk
- 10 drops of food coloring (red and green)
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Equipment Needed for the Perfect Cupcake
- Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer
- Cupcake Pan
- Cupcake Liners
- Spray Oil
- Cooling rack
- Sprinkles
- Piping Bags
- Piping Tips
How to Make Cupcakes in Advance
- You can make cupcakes 2 days in advance and keep covered in plastic wrap at room tempeture.
- You can freese cupcakes wraped in plastic wrap for up to 2 months.
- You can make the frosting up to two days inadvance, just keep covered in the frige. Bring to room tempeture and whip with a mixer befor using.
- Frosted cupcakes can be at room tempeture up to 2 days and in the fridge for up to 5 day. But you will never need to know this as who has cupcakes last in their kitchen more than a day an a half. In my house I am lucky if I can get a few pictures before they dissapear.
- For complete instructions you can find a great post here: HOW TO STORE AND FREEZE CUPCAKES
Easy Chocolate Coffee Cupcake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Duncan Hines Divil's Food Cake mix
- 1 cup of cold strong brewed coffee
- 3 large eggs
- 1/3 cup of oil
- For the Frosting:
- 1 cup of softened butter (or two sticks of butter)
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 4 cups of powdered sugar (plus 2 cups extra)
- 1 to 2 teaspoons of milk - depending on how thick you want your frosting (can used any plant based milk substitute)
- 2 to 4 drops of food coloring
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F
- In a stand mixer, mixing bowl add all ingredients and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes
- Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners
- Lightly spray the cupcake liners with spray oil
- Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 full
- Bake for 18 to 21 minutes. Test with a toothpick after 15 minutes to see if they are done.
- Cool completely
- Frost and decorate
To Make the Frosting:
- Have your butter room temperature to start. Mix until smooth and fluffy the butter.
- Add the vanilla and the milk one tablespoon at a time to get the consistency you would like. Add food coloring.
- Add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time to get a thick consistency that will stand up but not too thick.
- Transfer the frosting to a piping bag with a decorative tip.
- Decorate the cupcake and add sprinkles.
