Skip to main content

Ghirardelli® Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

"Indulge your chocolate craving with these dark chocolate mocha cupcakes topped with rich and creamy semi-sweet chocolate frosting."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 15 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Coffee and chocolate match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,497 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells buttery, creamy. The science ↓

The recipe

12 cupcakes
Prep20 min
Cook20 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

  • Cupcakes
  • Frosting

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

  2. In a bowl, whisk the all-purpose flour, Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa, baking soda and salt until evenly combined.

  3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, light brown sugar and granulated sugar. Add the melted unsalted butter, the 1/2 cup whole milk, the 2 tablespoons whole milk and the brewed coffee or espresso, and whisk until smooth.

  4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir just until no dry streaks remain. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 liners.

  5. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then move the cupcakes to a rack to cool completely.

  6. For the frosting, put the chopped Ghirardelli semi-sweet baking bar and the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl.

  7. Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan until it just begins to steam, then pour it over the chocolate. Let it stand for 2 minutes, then stir until smooth.

  8. Stir in the 3 tablespoons unsalted butter until fully melted and glossy. Chill the frosting for 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thick enough to spread.

  9. Spread or pipe the frosting over the cooled cupcakes and serve.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Coffee + chocolatetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,497 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (buttery, creamy).

  2. Cocoa + coffeetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together91 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Milk + buttertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together81,222 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Cocoa + chocolatetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together165 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  5. Milk + coffeetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,201 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the cocoa

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, sugar, milk, coffee, butter, chocolate):

  1. Cocoathe original
  2. Almondabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Pecansabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, sugar, milk, coffee, butter, chocolate. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).