I have a very dear friend of mine that I met over 13 years ago when we started nursing school together. She is an amazing baker and I most recently devoured a huge slice of her homemade black forest cake that she just “winged”. It was the best chocolate cake I’d ever had, and I’m more of a vanilla-lover…until now! I begged her to share her recipe with me, and Lisa is nice like that, so I made chocolate cupcakes from scratch for the first time ever the next day and they are amazing enough to blog about and share with you! There is a printable recipe at the bottom of this post.
You will need:
- 3 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 2/3 cups cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups cold (strong) coffee or water….but use the coffee!
- 1 cup canola oil
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 tbsp cider vinegar
Whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
Pour in ze coffee. Mmmmm!!!!
Add the oil and vanilla and whisk together. Then stir in the smells-like-stinky-feet cider vinegar. I don’t know why this is an ingredient…but trust me—it works!
Spoon cupcake batter into paper-lined or greased muffin cups and bake at 350F until cake tester inserted into centre comes out clean—about 20 minutes (18 minutes for mini cupcakes). Remove from tins and cool on rack!

- 3 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- ⅔ cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 cups cold coffee or water (use coffee---the stronger, the better!)
- 1 cup canola oil
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 tbsp cider vinegar
- Whisk flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
- Add in coffee, oil, and vanilla and whisk.
- Stir in vinegar.
- Spoon into paper-lined or greased muffin cups.
- Bake at 350 until cake tester or toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean, about 20-22 minutes. (18-20 mins for mini cupcakes).
- Remove from tins to cool on rack.

I pair this with the best buttercream icing ever, because the best chocolate cupcakes ever deserve to have the best buttercream ever, right? This buttercream is truly amazing and if you wanted to make it more festive, it’s really easy to flavor.
Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious. Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.


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[…] Every year for my oldest niece’s birthday, I make her cupcakes. I stopped buying gifts for the kids after their 5th birthdays because I had no clue what clothes to buy (we just had a baby, I wasn’t ‘there’ yet) and I figured no parent wants anymore toys than a kid gets for their birthday party anyway. (And now we have 11 nieces/nephews and that gets expensive every year!). I love to bake cupcakes anyway and cake goes with birthdays, so I always ask what kind the kids want and bake them. Last year she wanted red velvet cupcakes… Read more »
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The Best Chocolate Cupcakes EVER – Nurse Loves Farmer
So if I absolutely hate coffee, should I still use coffee??
Yes! They truly don't have a strong coffee flavor at all, sorry for the late response!
I'm on a quest for the perfect chocolate cupcake. I'll be trying these soon!
My recent post Craft Room Makeover – Week 5
I have never made cupcakes from scratch but I may have to try!
I hadn't either, they are so yummy!
This truly is the best cake recipe I've ever used! And almost as simple as a mix! I get asked for the recipe whenever someone has one!
BEST EVER! Thanks for sharing!