Unless you have been living under a rock for the past couple of years you know that cupcakes are no longer the dessert that elementary children bring to class on their birthday’s.
Oh no, cupcakes are now so chic with the addition of like a million cupcake shops around the country.
I’ve tried my fair share of cupcakes from these uppity shops. Some I love and some cause me to wonder how they stay in business.
I admit, it’s hard to find a good cupcake (much less make your own!). Seems these poor little miniature cakes are either to dry, to dense, to sweet, not sweet enough, over done, or just plain tasteless.
But my friends, rest assure there is hope. I’d never leave you hangin’ with a ho-hum cupcake recipe from a box (gasp!)
This is the real deal boys and girls, give them a try & tell me what you think…
Chocolate cupcakes with raspberry frosting
recipe from David Lebovitz
- 9 T unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour *
- 1/2 t salt
- 1 t baking soda
- 1/4 t baking powder
- 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup strong coffee
- 1/2 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl. In another bowl beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Mix together the coffee and milk. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, the add the coffee and milk. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients. Pour into cupcake pans, 3/4 of the way full, and bake for 20 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.
*if you don’t have cake flour on hand, have no fear! You can make your own by placing 2 T of cornstarch into a 1 cup measuring cup. Add enough AP (all purpose) flour to the measuring cup until filled.
Raspberry buttercream frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4-6 cups powdered sugar (depending of your sweetness level & desired consistency)
- 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
Place butter and jam in a mixing bowl or an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and cream until well incorporated, about 2 minutes. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until you reach desired consistency & sweetness. Frost cupcakes to your desired cuteness. I spooned the frosting into a regular ol’ zip lock bag, cut off one corner and presto! your own pastry bag.
I also added a single sweet raspberry on top to give my taste testers a little hint of the flavor!
Images: sammyw
this looks absolutely stunning. butter cream icing is a definite win for me, i will definitely try this recipe some time. thanks so much!
Gorgeous! The butter cream frosting looks fantastic!
Oh my gosh, these look so delicious and elegant. Can’t wait to taste. And I love coffee.
Oh my gosh, These look incredible!!! Thanks for visiting my blog!
They look stunning and easy to make. I am not a cupcake man but will try these (I prefer sweets a little more, hmm, sophisticated.
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I really like the pastry bag idea. Anything I don’t have to clean… One suggestion; I got some “Vanilla Sugar” at an online, Juliet Mae Spices. It is raw turbinado sugar with a whole vanilla bean inside the bag. The sugar smells outrageous! I do not use it in dishes where the subtle flavor will be lost; but otherwise it really adds a pleasant deep flavor. Also the vanilla bean can be used separately.
Thankyou for the frosting recipe, I am a very semihomade housewife, i am baking the chocolate cupcakes w/twist of orange zest, and the frosting will be raspberry buttercream.. Love the Idea. have a beautiful sunday,
This recipe is AWESOME! I tried it twice and it was a hit both times. I did use buttermilk instead of regular milk and I seperated out the egg whites, beat them, and folded them in last. Perfecto!!!
[…] topped the vanilla cupcakes with a Raspberry Buttercream frosting from Sammyw, seen here. This frosting was super easy (only three ingredients – butter, raspberry jam, powdered sugar) […]
how many cupcakes does this recipe make?
I tried you’re raspberry frosting recipe because that was what i was looking for. It was very easy to make, very simple. Only problem was that i was able to taste the “raspberry” in the frosting, but i always got a butter taste in my mouth that i didn’t like. I might try this again possibly put a little less butter or more of the jam. but thanks for the recipe :D
I made these cupcakes using this recipe for my daughter’s birthday, but also added a few shaved chocolate swirls on the icing. Needless to say, they were a big hit!
I LOVED this recipe! It was extremely easy to make and I recently did a 14 dozen cupcake order using this recipe and the raspberry frosting was the biggest hit! I did add a bit of raspberry liquor to the frosting for taste and it made it much more intense! Loved it and I give partial credit to you, so thank you!
Just what I was looking for! I’m making lemon cupcakes with raspberry frosting for a baby shower, and this recipe for the frosting is PERFECT!!! Thank You so much!!!
sounds yummy!! I dont want to sound stupid but do you mean teaspoon or tablespoon? you only put a T so I’m not sure and I would love to try this. :)
AB: little t means teaspoon, big T means tablespoon :) hope that helps!
[…] in my head and searched online for recipes. I finally settled on a three layer cake with raspberry buttercream frosting. And with that, the parties were over. The cake is not quite over since I have […]
The recipe on these sound good, try buttermilk instead of plain milk.. makes them a bit more moist also my recipe that is close to yours calls for 1 full cup of strong fresh brewed coffee.. if you can find it i definately recommend you trying the dark roast raspberry coffee from Gevalia.. it would probably taste great with your cupcakes.. They look delish, im gonna try the raspberry buttercream with a lemon pound cake.. hopefully it comes out tasty!! thanks again for the recipe!!
This was nice but for me it had no body so i could not pipe it onto cupcakes. It came out more like a even glaze, it still looks beautiful and is wonderful, but I would have liked it to be thicker. I must have done something wrong.
bleuepiece: Mmm, you might have let the butter become to soft to the point where the fat solids in the butter have broken down completely. Just a guess…you didn’t melt the butter right?
I just made this (like literally just finished cleaning up from baking) to go on top of chocolate cupcakes… SO GOOD! I was only frosting about a dozen cupcakes so I cut the butter to one stick and used about 2 cups of sugar, but it was so worth it! My mom, brother and sister are raving about it, I can’t wait til later for everyone else to try it!
[…] hole in the corner of the bag. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a great picture of this, but the Sammyw blog has a great example. (Whoever invented Ziploc bags was a […]
Your cake is beautiful. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I baked this cake for my husband birthday. All the cakes disappeared very fast. That day I ran out of cake cases in the kitchen, I used taller
Cupcake liner in replace of the common cases.
Happy baking.
These look fantastic, and I’d love to try a new recipe!
I have my own tried & true from a pastry chef, but I’m going to give these a shot tomorrow.
Quick question… how much is a stick of butter? Not everyone has butter in sticks, so I’d love to know what it is equivalent to. A cup? 1/2 cup?
Thanks!
Very good recipe! I made them tonight! The only problem is the frosting tastes very buttery…a little less butter would make it perfect! The chocolate and mocha in the actual cupcake is very tasty!
[…] Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Blackberry Buttercream Frosting adapted from Sammyw […]
[…] from sammyw‘s “Raspberry Buttercream […]
Hi this loooks so good! I’m gonna try it(: I have a question though… do you have to use the coffee? or will it taste wierd without it?
Is the T for tablespoon or teaspoon?? please let me know asap as i am making these on sunday for my husband, he is getting birthday cupcakes
Nevermind my last post, I read through the older posts and figured it out!
[…] Raspberry Buttercream from Sammyw […]
No matter how good they taste, you can not brag about them looking like that!!! Get a piping bag and tip and maybe some pink sprinkles under your raspberry and youll make your cupcake perfect :)
they look whimsically divine im making a raspberry filled chocolate layer cake with chocolate butter cream frosting for fathers day for my hubby raspberry is his fave these look delicious : D
Hi,
I made your chocolate cupcakes with raspberry frosting and I think your baking soda to baking powder ratio is off because they puffed up quite big. Usually there is more baking powder than there is soda but the flavor was very tasty :)
Hi, I am not too sure how much is 1 cup and 1/2 cup. Do you have the measurements in grams
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[…] chocolate raspberry cupcake with probably the best icing I have ever […]
[…] Blackberry Buttercream Frosting adapted from Sammyw […]