Enjoy this hot chocolate cupcake recipe made with a moist cocoa cake with velvety texture topped with a pillowy marshmallow frosting and mini marshmallows.
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Hot chocolate cupcakes are perfect for those cooler months when you want to curl up next to a fire under a cozy blanket with a hot drink. Why not add dessert?
Hot Chocolate Vs Hot Cocoa
Both are tasty chocolatey drinks, however, classic hot cocoa is made with cocoa, milk, and sugar or sweetener. Whereas, hot chocolate or “drinking chocolate” is a rich, creamy drink made of shaved or chopped chocolate and milk or cream. Hot chocolate also tends to be thicker.
Both are known to be topped with marshmallows or whipped cream.
Now that we know the differences between the two, it’s probably more appropriate to call these hot cocoa cupcakes with the sugar added.
Looking for more fall cupcakes? Try these 36 fun fall cupcake recipes!
Hot Chocolate Cupcake Ingredients
Hot Chocolate Cupcakes
- Butter
- Sugar
- Large Eggs
- Pure Vanilla Extract
- Water
- Cocoa Powder
- All-Purpose Flour
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Buttermilk
Marshmallow Frosting
- Egg Whites
- Sugar
- Cream of Tartar
- Water
- Pure Vanilla Extract
Topping
- Mini Marshmallows
- Mini Candy Canes
How to Make Hot Chocolate Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place 24 cupcake liners in muffin pans.
- In a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer or a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar. Separate egg yolks from egg whites in two separate bowls. Set egg whites aside. Add egg yolks, water, and vanilla to the mixing bowl. Sift together all dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk beating well after each addition.
- Using a whisk or hand mixer, whip egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into the chocolate cupcake batter until well incorporated.
- Add approximately 3 tablespoons of batter to each cupcake liner to fill ⅔ full.
- Bake in the oven for 18-22 minutes until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
How to Make Marshmallow Frosting
- Bring 2″ of water to boil in a saucepan (or use a double-boiler for this step). Place a heat-proof bowl over the top of the saucepan. Add all of the marshmallow frosting ingredients to the bowl except vanilla and continuously whisk until sugar is dissolved and eggs become foamy. Remove from heat.
- Stir in vanilla extract.
- Next, use a hand mixer or a stand mixer to whip the mixture on high-speed into stiff glossy peaks, about 5 minutes.
- Use a Wilton 2A icing tip to create a soft swirled look on top of the cupcake. Add mini marshmallows and a mini candy cane for topping.
Cocoa Substitutes
A great cocoa powder substitute is unsweetened baking chocolate which has a lot of cocoa properties and no sweeteners. In this recipe, you don’t have to worry about it being unsweetened because there’s plenty of sugar added to the batter.
In order to substitute unsweetened chocolate for cocoa powder, use 2 tablespoons of unsweetened chocolate for every 3 tablespoons of cocoa in the recipe.
For my hot chocolate cupcake recipe, I use 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon of unsweetened chocolate. Because it is typically sold by the ounce, it translates to 1.65 ounces which can be rounded up to 1.75 ounces of unsweetened chocolate bar in this recipe.
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Hot Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
Hot Chocolate Cupcakes
- 1 cup Butter, room temperature
- 2 cups White Granulated Sugar
- 2 Large Eggs, egg whites separated from yolks
- 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup Water
- ½ cup Cocoa Powder (4 ounces)
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Buttermilk
Marshmallow Frosting
- 2 Egg Whites
- 1 ½ cups White Granulated Sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Cream of Tartar
- ⅓ cup Water
- 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
Toppings
- Mini Marshmallows
- Mini Candy Canes
Instructions
Hot Chocolate Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place 24 cupcake liners in pans.
- In a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar. Separate egg yolks and egg whites in two separate dishes. Reserve egg whites in a bowl. Add egg yolks, water, and vanilla to the mixing bowl. Sift together all dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk beating well after each addition.
- Using a whisk or hand mixer, whip egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into the chocolate cupcake batter.
- Add approximately 3 tablespoons of batter to each cupcake liner.
- Bake in the oven for 18-22 minutes until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Marshmallow Frosting
- Bring 2" of water to boil in a saucepan (or use a double-boiler for this step). Place a heat-proof bowl over the top of the saucepan. Add all of the marshmallow frosting ingredients to the bowl except vanilla and continuously whisk until sugar is dissolved and eggs become foamy.
- Add vanilla extract. Then, either use a hand mixer or a stand mixer to whip the mixture on high-speed into stiff glossy peaks, about 5 minutes.
- Use a Wilton 2A icing tip to create a soft swirled look on top of the cupcake. Add mini marshmallows and a mini candy cane for topping.
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