All Latest

Posted: 08/26/2015

Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream

Name: Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped; 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour; 1/3 teaspoon baking powder; 1/3 teaspoon baking soda; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature; 1 1/4 cups minus 1 tablespoon sugar; 2 eggs; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1/2 cup sour cream; 1/2 cup water; 1 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped; 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar; 3 teaspoons Dutch process cocoa; 3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature; 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, at room temperature

Total Time: 40 mins ★★★★ 1 Reviews Jump to Recipe

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my privacy & disclosures.

A chocolate lover’s dream, these rich and moist chocolate sour cream cupcakes are covered with a smooth and creamy chocolate buttercream.

Photos Updated August 2015

Originally posted March 13, 2008 – I think that everyone needs a go-to chocolate cupcake recipe in their arsenal. I’ve had to play with this recipe a bit over the years to get it to be consistent for me (because I had some issues with it in the beginning if you read below), but now I can call it my go-to. The texture of this cupcake is perfect – nice and moist from the sour cream, with the perfect amount of chocolate flavor. And the buttercream? Even my frosting hating husband will eat this stuff. It’s that good.

The original post follows:

I am turning into a cookbook junkie. I definitely don’t own as many as some other bloggers do, but in the last year of blogging, my cookbook collection has at least doubled. Not only do I love to have the cookbooks to read through and cook from, but I’m a sucker for recommendations made by other people. When I read a blog and the blogger raves about a certain cookbook, I end up thinking about that book until I just have to go and order it.

So when I see a cookbook pop up on multiple blogs, you can pretty much guarantee that sooner or later, that book will be on my bookshelf. That’s what happened with this cookbook – cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans. With cupcakes like this, this, this, this, this, this (I could go on and on!!) I just had to buy it. And I’m really glad that I bought it, because it has some very different recipes in it, but I did have a bad start with the book.

It all started back in January. I had a birthday at work to bake for, plus it was my brother’s birthday, so I decided to make cupcakes so that I could do both at the same time. I was looking to do German Chocolate cupcakes, since they are my brother’s favorite. I found a recipe in this book, and set out to make the cupcakes. Well, they didn’t quite work out…

I don’t know what happened. It could be that I used those stupid silver cupcake liners, or it could be that I filled the cups too full, but I ended up with more cupcake on the bottom of my oven than in the actual cupcakes. And to top it all off, the cupcakes really stuck to the wrapper, making it impossible to peel it off. Maybe I did something wrong because I doubled the recipe. But I wasn’t too impressed with the recipe. They were not suitable to give away, so the next day I stopped at the grocery store on my lunch break and bought a cake mix – I needed something no fail because I had to have the cupcakes back at work that afternoon. The frosting was delicious, though!

So when my mother-in-law’s birthday came around in February, I don’t know why, but I went back to this book. I really wanted to do something creative, but my husband just kept saying “just chocolate – she loves chocolate”. So because I’m not a quitter and I wanted to make the recipe right, I went for the Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. If she likes chocolate, she was gonna get chocolate!!

And I’m glad I took the risk. These were probably the best chocolate cupcakes I’ve ever made. Even my husband, who is not a frosting lover, loved these. I still don’t know what happened the first time, but I’ll no longer be scared of this book!!

Looking for more free recipes?

Subscribe to my free recipe newsletter to get new family friendly recipes in your inbox each week! Find me sharing more family-friendly inspiration on Pinterest and Instagram.