Make the best Chocolate Greek Yogurt Cupcakes from scratch with this easy recipe! These moist, delicious, decadent cupcakes are perfect for chocolate lovers and better than anything out of a box!
Of all the cupcakes, chocolate is my absolute favourite! Sorry other cupcakes, but its true. Chocolate is my absolute weakness. It is my husbands too and so the cupcakes I am sharing with you today are among our absolute favourite! When it came time to bake up a cake for my husband’s birthday, this is the recipe he requested. And I was all too happy to deliver his wish.
These fluffy little cupcakes are better than anything you will get out of a box. For one, you know what ingredients you are using in them, which is always a bonus as far as any recipe is concerned. Secondly, they taste so darn good. Also, this recipe includes some Greek yogurt for added moisture- and that makes it healthy now, right? I wish! But really, they are super moist!
I have played around and tweaked this recipe and today, I am happy to share it with you all so we can all enjoy a chocolatey cupcake when it strikes us!
How to make Chocolate Greek Yogurt Cupcakes
To make a dozen cupcakes, you will need:
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon each baking powder and baking soda
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup Greek Yogurt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup hot coffee
Preheat oven to 350F and line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the sugars and salt and mix to blend together.
In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, blend together the egg, vegetable oil, Greek yogurt and vanilla extract until smooth.
Add the dry ingredients and the hot coffee to the wet ingredients. Mix until combined.
Divide batter into the prepared cupcake liners and bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting. I used my Whipped Chocolate Ganache Frosting.
Tips for making the best cupcakes and some substitutions
Tip #1: The key to moist cupcakes is adding moisture of course! While butter is often used in cakes, I opted for oil in this cake. Oil produces a more moist cake than butter does and while I will spare you the science lesson as to why, it really is the best way to add moisture to a cake. Also adding added moisture to this chocolate cupcake is the Greek yogurt and hot coffee!
Tip #2: Don’t overmix your batter. This is true for any baked good! Once everything is incorporated, leave it alone. If you overmix your batter, you end up with a denser cake.
Tip #3: Bloom your cocoa powder. But wait, Cathy. Cocoa powder is not a flower. However do you make it bloom? Any good baker will tell you, when you are making baked goodies using cocoa powder, the trick to getting the best chocolate flavour is to bloom your cocoa powder. How do you do this? By adding hot liquid to it. This is something that is key in brownies and cakes. For example, I use this technique in my Homemade Brownies. In this recipe, the cocoa powder is bloomed by adding hot coffee to the cake batter. Which brings me to my first substitution…
Substitution #1: You can replace the hot coffee with hot water. If you aren’t able to use coffee you can replace that liquid with hot water. Just make sure it is hot so that you can bloom your cocoa powder. If you are able to use coffee though, I recommend it over water any day. It adds more flavour and brings out the chocolate flavour better than water does. Don’t worry, you can’t taste the coffee flavour in the end.
Substitution #2: Use a different mild tasting oil. I used vegetable oil in my recipe as it is something I always have on hand and it is mild-tasting. You can easily substitute a different mild oil in its place such as avocado oil.
Can you turn this into a cake?
You sure can! And I have! In fact, for my husbands birthday I made this recipe into both cupcakes and a cake! I hope that guy knows how lucky he is! Ha!
To make these cupcakes into a cake, you will need to double the recipe. Then you can either bake it up in a 9 inch baking pan or divide it into two 9 inch pans and make a layer cake. I baked my cake for about 22-24 minutes but you will need to check its doneness by sticking a toothpick into the center to ensure it comes out clean. If not, bake a little longer.
What to frost your Chocolate Greek Yogurt Cupcakes with
Honestly, you can frost these chocolate Greek yogurt cupcakes any way you like! Choose your favourite icing and go with it. I used by Whipped Chocolate Ganache Frosting on these for the ultimate chocolatey treat.
Another good options I’ve used before is my strawberry buttercream from my Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes or my cream cheese frosting from my Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.
I hope you enjoy these cupcakes!
-Cathy
You may also like:
Whipped Chocolate Ganache Frosting
Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes
Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Funfetti Cupcakes
Chocolate Greek Yogurt Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup Greek Yogurt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup hot coffee
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the sugars and salt and mix to blend together.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, blend together the egg, vegetable oil, Greek yogurt and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients and the hot coffee to the wet ingredients. Mix until combined.
- Divide batter into the prepared cupcake liners and bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting. I used my Whipped Chocolate Ganache Frosting.
Note: Metric ingredient measurements are provided as a courtesy using a third-party calculator and are rounded to the nearest unit. The recipes provided on this site have not been tested with metric measurements and their accuracy cannot be verified.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is based on third-party calculations and is an estimate only. Accurate nutritional facts will vary based on the particular brands used, portion sizes, measurement accuracy and more.
Delicious cakes! Super light and not too sweet which I love. Will definitely use this recipe again 🙂 thank you!
Incredible recipe!
The cupcakes came out unbelievably moist and deliciously chocolatey. This has become my go-to recipe for when I’m craving something sweet, that’s also on the healthier side.
Love it!