Sourdough Chocolate Cupcakes

These sourdough chocolate cupcakes are soft, moist and deeply chocolatey, with the added magic of sourdough starter (or discard!). I'll show you how to make them perfectly every time, with a simple chocolate buttercream frosting that's great for any occasion. You're going to love the rich chocolate flavor here!

If you're a chocolate lover, you're going to also enjoy these sourdough cosmic brownies, sourdough chocolate cake, this double chocolate banana bread, and these sourdough s'mores cookies. 

Why You'll Love This Recipe!

No Fail Recipe - this is my fail proof sourdough chocolate cupcake recipe. Simple ingredients paired with easy instructions make this a go to recipe.  

Any Occasion Cupcakes - these sourdough cupcakes are great for birthdays, bake sales, holiday parties, or just because. You can easily add sprinkles or different candy toppings to decorate them for any occasion.

Use up Sourdough Discard -  what better way to use extra discard than chocolate cupcakes? This recipe uses 150g for a wonderful no waste treat. Of course, you can use active sourdough starter if you prefer.

Ingredients

• Butter - you'll use melted butter for the cupcakes and softened, room temperature butter for the frosting. I've used salted butter, but you can use unsalted butter if you prefer.
• 3 Eggs - large eggs are best. My eggs are around 60g each. If yours are on the small side, I recommend using 4.
• Sugar - you'll use white granulated sugar for the cupcakes and powdered sugar for the buttercream frosting. 
• Milk - I use whole milk, but feel free to use your favorite milk. 
• Vanilla Extract 
• Sourdough Starter - starter or discard will both work great in this recipe. Use whichever you have on hand.
• All Purpose Flour
• Cocoa Powder - unsweetened cocoa powder works best in this recipe, but you can use any type of cocoa powder you like, including dutch processed cocoa powder.
• Baking Powder & Baking Soda - both are used here for rise and texture. 
• Salt - just a pinch.
• Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips - using melted chocolate chips keeps this buttercream recipe simple, smooth and perfectly creamy. 
• Heavy Whipping Cream - you may see this called "heavy cream" or "whipping cream" at the grocery store.

How to Make Sourdough Chocolate Cupcakes

If you've followed my recipes for a long time, you know I love using a stand mixer for most of my sourdough discard recipes, however when developing this recipe, along with my sourdough vanilla cupcakes recipe, I needed a recipe without any fancy equipment that I could make with the kids in the kitchen.

They love whisking and helping in general, and thus, my go to sourdough chocolate cupcakes recipe was born! It's always a winner and being so easy to the throw together, these cupcakes are perfect for birthday parties or any cupcake emergency.

Preheat oven to 175C (350F).

Arrange 12 cupcake liners in a muffin tray and lightly spray the liners with oil to stop the batter sticking to them.

In a mixing bowl, add the melted butter, sugar and eggs, whisking together until well combined. You want the sugar to be dissolved into the melted butter and eggs at this point.

Now, pour in the vanilla extract, milk and sourdough starter, whisking the wet ingredients together until smooth (make sure the sourdough starter is well distributed).

Now add the  dry ingredients - all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk everything together to form a smooth chocolate cupcake batter. You want to get a bit of air into the mixture, so really get in there with that whisk.

Evenly divide the sourdough chocolate cupcake mixture into the cupcake liners and carefully place into the oven. Bake at 175C (350F) for approximately 20 minutes or until the cupcakes are risen and golden. You'll know they're done when you insert a toothpick into a cupcake and it comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and place onto a wire rack to cool.

Make The Chocolate Frosting

Add all of the frosting ingredients to the bowl of your stand mixer and beat on speed 8 until light and fluffy (this will take around 2 minutes). Alternatively, you can use a large mixing bowl and electric hand mixer. Once the chocolate frosting is light and fluffy, place into a piping bag and pipe onto the sourdough chocolate cupcakes.

If you prefer a cream cheese frosting, you can add some extra powdered sugar to my vanilla cream cheese frosting featured in my sourdough cinnamon rolls recipe. This will make it easier to pipe onto the cupcakes.

How Many Cupcakes Does This Recipe Make?

This recipe will make 12 generous sized cupcakes. If your cupcake pan is on the smaller size, you'll more than likely be able to get 18 to 24 cupcakes out of this recipe. 

I generally use a muffin pan lined with cupcake liners and then use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop to fill the liners 90% of the way. I like a full cupcake with a little dome. If you prefer a flatter cupcake that doesn't poke out the top of the liner, only fill them half way.

How to Store + Freeze

Store cupcakes in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature. If storing frosting separately, store in the fridge for up to a week and remix before frosting cupcakes. 

These cupcakes freeze really well! Freeze unfrosted cupcakes in a ziploc bag for up to 3 months. 

If freezing the cupcakes with frosting, snap freeze them first on a baking sheet, then wrap individually in plastic wrap before placing in an airtight container (or ziploc bag). They will stay fresh for up to 3 months in the freezer, but the texture of the frosting won't be quite the same.

Share the sourdough love!