Eggless chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting

These tender chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting are one of my favorite treats to make and guess what? They are also eggless. You will jump with joy after tasting these yummy cupcakes. My son just wants to finish them all in one go! It’s that delicious!

If you have a sweet tooth and need something less sugary then you should definitely try this dessert. Just imagine a melt-in-mouth chocolate cupcake frosted with tangy frosting.

Why you will love this chocolatey treat?

1. Bursting with chocolatey flavor.
2. Not too sweet (because we are using cream cheese for frosting).
3. Easy to make – perfect for beginners.
4. Uses basic pantry staples.
5. No hand mixer or stand mixer is needed to make cupcakes, just a whisk is enough.

How to make eggless chocolate cupcakes and cream cheese frosting recipe?

This is the easiest recipe I have followed while making a cupcake. Let’s understand how!

Sr. No.	Steps
1	Sift dry ingredients
2.	Mix wet ingredients.
3.	Combine wet with dry.
4.	Bake
5.	Prepare frosting.
6.	Assemble and serve.

Please have a look at my step-by-step instructions for in-depth tutorial.

Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting ingredients

Chocolate cupcake ingredients

1. Milk – Use full fat (3.25% milk). You can also use any nut milk or soy milk to make vegan chocolate cupcakes.

2. Vinegar – Reacts with baking powder, helping cupcakes to rise.

3. Oil – We use oil instead of butter in this recipe to make them extra moist. If you want to use butter, I recommend replacing half of the portion with butter.

4. Water – Just room temperature plain water :).

5. Caster sugar – Use regular caster sugar for this easy eggless chocolate cupcake recipe.

6. All-purpose flour – Use regular flour of your favorite brand. I do not recommend using cake flour or self-rising flour as cake flour will make them very light and self-rising flour contains rising agents, which are added in our ingredients list.

7. Baking soda – Reacts with cocoa powder and vinegar to make the cupcake rise.

8. Salt – Just a 1/2 teaspoon but it will enhance the cupcake flavor. Do not skip unless you are using salted butter.

9. Coffee – Do not skip. I always use coffee in all of my chocolate cakes or cupcakes. Coffee will bring out the chocolate flavor, making it more chocolatey without tasting coffee.

10. Cocoa powder – Use regular Hershey’s cocoa powder. Do not replace it with Dutch-processed cocoa powder, they are not the same. I have used this to make my Hersheys cocoa powder brownies and they were absolutely delicious.

Chocolate cream cheese frosting ingredients

1. Unsalted butter – Use any brand of unsalted butter. I recommend using unsalted butter because you can control the amount of salt that is added to the recipe. But if you do not have it handy, use regular salted butter and skip out the salt entirely.

2. Cream cheese – Use full-fat cream cheese. I personally love Philadelphia’s cream cheese. Do not use the spreadable cream cheese that comes in a tub. Instead, use any brand of cream cheese that comes in block form. Just like the butter, make sure your cream cheese is at room temperature.

3. Vanilla extract – You can either use pure vanilla extract or vanilla imitation, depending on your choice. Although real vanilla extract has a greater taste than vanilla imitation, using imitation won’t make any noticeable difference in this recipe.

4. Salt – As always, do not skip salt unless you are using salted butter otherwise, it will be very salty. Salt will ALWAYS enhance your frosting or dessert. So, consider salt as your friend.

5. Milk – Use full-fat or 2% milk. We already have butter and cream cheese which contain a lot of fat so we can easily reduce the fat content from milk. Hence, using 2% milk is ok in this recipe.

6. Icing sugar – This is also referred to as confectioners sugar or powdered sugar and is readily available at any grocery store. You can use that, or make your homemade powdered sugar.

You will find exact measurements of all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe card at the bottom of this blog post.

Any substitute?

1. Gluten-Free – To make a gluten-free version, replace all-purpose flour with gluten-free all-purpose flour. You will get it at any grocery store or on Amazon.

2. Sugar-free – Replace sugar with the exact amount of monk fruit sweetener made with erythritol.

Tools needed

1. Mixing bowls
2. Measuring cups/ spoons
3. Weighing scale
4. Whisk
5. Piping bags
6. Piping tips

Chocolate cupcake with chocolate cream cheese frosting (step-by-step) recipe

Chocolate cupcake step-by-step recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 350F or 180C for at least 10 minutes. Line the cupcake pan with paper liners.

2. Combine milk and vinegar in a small bowl. Keep it aside for a few minutes. Mix it with a spoon to see if the milk has curdled.

3. In a large bowl, sift all dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt ). This will remove any lumps from cocoa powder, evenly distribute the rising agents, and also incorporate the air.

4. In another bowl, combine sugar, coffee, and all wet ingredients (oil, curdled milk). beat with a hand whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved.

5. Slowly pour wet ingredients over dry and gently stir until it is just mixed. DO NOT OVERMIX. It will create gluten, making dense cupcakes.

6. Now add hot water and mix until it turns into smooth batter

7. Divide the chocolate cupcake batter into 12 cupcake liners. Make sure they are not more than 2/3rd of their capacity so that they have enough space to rise.

8. Bake in preheated oven at 350F or 180C for 15 to 20 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.

9. Perform the toothpick test. The toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.

10. Once the chocolate cupcakes are out of the oven, keep them on a wooden board for 10 to 15 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate cream cheese frosting step-by-step recipe

Let’s make the chocolate cream cheese until chocolate cupcakes are cooling down.

11. In a mixing bowl, add room-temperature unsalted butter. Beat the butter for a couple of minutes.

12. Now add the softened room-temperature cream cheese and start beating until it is light and fluffy.

13. Add in vanilla extract and salt, and beat again until it is well combined.

14. Mix in cocoa powder and beat again.

15. Add a tablespoon of milk and mix until combines properly.

16. Add 1/3 portion of icing sugar and beat until it is just combined. Repeat until powdered sugar is finished.

17. If the frosting is too thick, add a teaspoon of milk and beat it again. Scrape the bowl as needed. I would recommend using a spatula for proper scraping.

18. Use your favorite piping nozzle for piping. Enjoy! You can pipe the frosting right away but if it is too soft and not-pipeable, refrigerate it for 20 to 25 minutes and then use it.

Assemble

19. Frost a generous amount of chocolate cream cheese frosting on top of cupcakes. Make sure they are completely cooled down otherwise frosting may melt.

Serve

20. Serve them right away. If you made them ahead of time, refrigerate them and take them out one hour before serving. Why do we need to refrigerate? because it contains perishable cream cheese.

Watch us making (video)

Storing and freezing instructions

Follow my tips to keep your chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese fresh for a long period of time. That means you get to enjoy them longer 🙂.

Storing instructions

Storing unfrosted cupcakes – These plain chocolate cupcakes can be stored at room temperature for up to 4 days and for up to 1.5 weeks in the refrigerator. Once cooled down, store them in an airtight container. Use a layer of parchment paper if stacking them in an airtight container.

Storing frosted cupcakes – These should always be kept in the refrigerator as they contain perishable cream cheese. They can be stored at room temperature for no more than 2 hours.

Freezing instructions

Freezing unfrosted cupcakes – Just like any other plain cupcake, these can be frozen for up to 2 months. Cover them with plastic wrap, then aluminum foil, and place them in an air-tight container or freezer-safe bag.

Freezing frosted cupcakes – Before freezing the frosted cupcakes, keep them in the freezer for 30 minutes until the frosting hardens, then wrap them individually with plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Finally, freeze them in an airtight container or in freezer freezer-friendly bag.

In any case, do not forget to use an airtight container. This will save the cupcakes from any outside odor.

Thawing instructions

Keep them in the refrigerator overnight to thaw. If you are in a hurry, place them on the kitchen counter for a couple of hours. Do not microwave, the frosting will melt.

Variations

Use the base chocolate cupcake recipe and frost with a choice of frosting to make endless combinations.

Below are some of my favorite combos:

1. Use chocolate ganache to fill and frost the chocolate cupcake.,

2. Chocolate cupcake filled with salted caramel and frosted with fudgy chocolate frosting.

3. Chocolate cupcake filled with raspberry sauce and frosted with raspberry buttercream. Feel free to use any other berry than raspberry.

Secret tips

• Use hot water – Using hot water will allow cocoa powder to bloom and enhance its flavor.

• Sift cocoa powder – Cocoa powder tends to form lumps so always sift to create smooth cupcake batter. If not sifted, cupcakes will have cocoa powder packets that will ruin the texture.

• Room temperature ingredients – Use room temperature milk and butter (if using). This ensures the batter is not overbeaten, resulting in denser cupcakes.

• Measure ingredients – Baking is a science. One ingredient here and there will ruin the texture. Hence I recommend using a weighing scale to measure the ingredients. This way, you will always have perfect domed cupcakes.

• Check for doneness – Your oven might take longer or shorter time to bake than mine. This recipe takes 12 minutes to bake. Check whether they are done, a minute or two before this time.

• Cool the cupcakes – Make sure to cool the cupcakes completely before storing or frosting them.

Check out my secret tips on chocolate cream cheese frosting here.

Want to try some other recipes?

if you love this recipe, try out some of my other favorites

1. Marble loaf cake
2. Lemon pound cake
3. Blueberry muffins

When are you making?

Liked these chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting? When are you making it then? Don’t forget to tell me how it turned it for you. Did you do any modifications or tried the recipe as is? I would love to to hear from you. Your feedback is important to me.

Also, do not forget to tag me @dessertkatta or hasthag me #dessertkatta if you post the recipe on Instagram.

happy baking!

Recipe card + FAQs