Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes

A close up of a marbled cupcake with chocolate frosting, a bite has been taken out of the cupcake.

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5 from 2 votes

Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes

Super moist and fluffy marbled chocolate and vanilla cupcakes topped with a chocolate whipped ganache frosting!

Prep Time30

Cook Time25

Total Time55

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: cupcakes

Calories: 422kcal

Author: Ella Gilbert

Equipment

cupcake pan

Ingredients

Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes

2 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
2 tablespoons neutral oil
¾ cup white sugar
2 large eggs room temperature
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup buttermilk room temperature
1 ⅛ cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup cocoa powder dutch process or natural
1-2 tablespoons milk

Chocolate Whipped Ganache

1 ½ cups heavy cream
12 oz semisweet chocolate use something between 50-60% cocoa
pinch salt

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Chocolate Cupcakes Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350°Fahrenheit/175°Celsius and line a cupcake pan with 10-12 liners.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with hand mixer, beat the butter with the oil and sugar until fluffy. It takes about 2-3 minutes.
2 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, 2 tablespoons neutral oil, ¾ cup white sugar
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
2 large eggs
Mix in the vanilla extract.
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
In a separate bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder and salt.
1 ⅛ cup all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
Alternate adding the flour and the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour mixture.
½ cup buttermilk
Scoop out ¾-1 cup of vanilla batter and place in a medium bowl. Add the cocoa powder and mix until smooth, then add 1-2 tablespoons of milk until smooth and creamy.
¼ cup cocoa powder, 1-2 tablespoons milk
Scoop out 1 tablespoon of vanilla cupcake batter into each cupcake liner, then 1 tablespoon of chocolate batter. Repeat this until you run out of batter, they should be about ¾ full. Take a toothpick and swirl the two batters together.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Let them cool for 10 minutes in the pan before removing to cool completely on a wire cooling rack.

Chocolate Whipped Ganache Buttercream

Chop up your chocolate and place in a large bowl.
12 oz semisweet chocolate
Heat the heavy cream in a saucepan over medium-low heat or in the microwave until it is simmering. Make sure it does not boil!
1 ½ cups heavy cream
Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes.
Stir the chocolate and cream mixture with a rubber spatula until completely smooth, then stir in the salt.
pinch salt
Let sit at room temperature for 2-3 hours until set. If it's too hot when you're making this you can place it in the fridge, but stir it every 15 minutes or so! If you don't whisk, you'll risk lumps in the ganache that will get stuck in the piping bag later.
Once the ganache has set and is firm but still soft, use a handheld electric mixer to whisk until light and fluffy.
Use a piping bag to pipe the whipped ganache frosting on the cupcakes and enjoy!

Notes

My recipes have been developed and tested in metric grams. I highly recommend using a weighing scale and measuring out your ingredients the metric way.

I make sure that all of my ingredients are at room temperature before I start the recipe, so pull out all of the ingredients before you start baking.

Butter: I use European style butter in my recipes. This will make your finished bake much creamier and richer.

Salt: If you don’t have kosher salt, halve the amount of salt called for in the recipe. 1 teaspoon kosher salt = ½ teaspoon fine salt. Please note I am using Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, not Morton Salt. Morton salt is too salty for this!

Buttermilk: If you don’t have buttermilk you can swap it out for sour cream.

Cocoa Powder: you can use natural cocoa powder or dutch processed cocoa powder.

Chocolate: Use a chocolate bar for the ganache which has between 50-60% cocoa.

Storage: Store the cupcakes in the fridge for up to 5 days. Let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before eating.

Nutrition