Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes were inspired by some cupcakes I saw at Crumbs bakery. If you are familiar with Crumbs (and who isn’t?), their cupcakes have high tops thanks to heaps of frosting. While my version does have a good deal of frosting, I focused on making cupcakes that dome nicely so that the frosting could easily be smoothed into a tall, rounded appearance.
The cake part of this recipe is adapted from “The Only Bake Sale Cupcake You’ll Ever Need” and the icing is adapted from Oprah.com. I halved both recipes, added vanilla, and baked the cupcakes at a higher temperature since I’d read that domed tops were formed from high heat baking. It seems to have worked. The domes are just the right size and shape for building up with more icing for a big, dramatic top.
Additionally, the icing has a pretty strong (in a good way) sour cream flavor and a velvety smooth, non-chalky texture. It goes really well this this particular chocolate cake.
And finally, if you only need 6 cupcakes, you can halve this recipe. Just beat the egg lightly and measure out a little less than 2 tablespoons.
Let me know what you think of these High Top Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes!
Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped (no substitutes)
1 cup granulated sugar (192 grams)
1 cup all-purpose flour (135 grams) — Be sure to aerate it (stir and fluff) before measuring
3/8 teaspoon baking soda (1 ml plus a pinch)
1/4 teaspoon salt (1 ml)
1/4 cup hot coffee (60 ml)
1/4 cup full fat sour cream, room temperature (55 grams)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (60 ml)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Frosting:
5 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 sticks unsalted butter (230 grams)
3/4 pound powdered sugar, sifted after measuring (336 grams)
Pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream (55 grams), room temperature
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. and line 10-12 muffins cups with paper liners. I wanted my cupcakes to be a little bigger, so only used 10.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over hot water or in microwave. Set aside to cool slightly.
Mix the sugar, flour, baking soda and salt together in a mixing bowl.
Whisk the coffee, sour cream, oil and vanilla together in a separate bowl until very well mixed.
Gradually add the coffee mixture to the flour mixture, stirring to blend, then add the egg and whisk until combined. Add the melted chocolate and mix until it’s blended in.
Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners and bake on center rack for 20 minutes or until cupcakes appear done or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs.
Makes 12
To make the frosting, melt the bittersweet chocolate and set it aside to cool to lukewarm. Beat the butter with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in the powdered sugar, salt and vanilla. Stir in the melted chocolate and the sour cream.
Claudia
We’re having some friends over to watch the UT game and the meal theme is ‘finger foods’, so I’m going to make these for dessert!
ashley h
That frosting looks incredible. Could you use semi sweet chocolate in place of the bittersweet or does it have to be bittersweet? Also what is the dome made out of?
Mara
Hey Anna–
I just wanted to let you know I just made this recipe for a neighborhood adult potluck. Added some instant coffee powder to the batter and frosting to make it more mocha and they’re sooooo delicious. Never tried a dissapointing recipe from this blog yet, but this one is the best cupcake recipe that I’ve ever personally made. Thanks so much!
Anna
Hi Anne,
Thanks for the feedback! It’s a good, basic recipe. I wasn’t sure how much frosting the Oprah recipe would yield, so I went with the better safe than sorry approach and made too much. I have some leftover too.
Anne
Made these yesterday for our church youth group. The teens highly highly approved!! A note: The cupcake recipe will make 10-12, but the frosting will frost about 20 cupcakes. 🙂 Having extra frosting is always a good thing in my book!!
Jannine
Anna,
Love the new look! Perfect mix of classy and “madness”! Nice going 🙂
Lucyinaz
Love the new look!!!! What a fun surprise for your readers today! 🙂 I’m making these cupcakes today for sure!!!
Anna
Thanks for the comments!
Marie, let me know if it works. You’ll probably get a little bit of a bump, but I don’t know….
hulagirl247
hi anna!
OMG!!!!! major revamp fo your site – i am in shock! i’ve been swamped at work and try to peek in evey day even if just to see what’s baking….. and i just now peeked today. very nice! hope you are pleased with the change –
best regards –
~hula~
Tracy
Wow, those look great! The sprinkles are a cute touch.
Marie
Anna, I love your website. I check it religiously. Question: Do you think that this high-heat method/recipe would work well when baked in ice cream cones? since they make nice domed tops? (meaning less frosting and marshmallows to give the cakes an ice cream appearance.)
I’ll let you know if I try it.
Thanks!
AJ
Great new blog look!
This has given me new inspiration re: my dad’s sixty-mmph birthday on the 18th. We ALWAYS make chocolate sour cream cake for his birthday, and I’m thinking maybe chocolate sour cream cupcakes this year?
Dolce
They do look like Crumbs versions, these are great copycats 🙂
By the way, love the new look of your blog!!
janet
Yikes, new format! I kept thinking I had logged in wrong;-) Like it…thanks for all the tempting and delicious looking recipes!!!
Anna
Thanks for the comments on the new look! I need to come up with a new banner, though. The current one doesn’t fit the “Madness” theme. I’m learning all this as I go — Php, CSS, Photoshop. It’s almost as fun as baking.
About cupcakes, I was reading Food & Wine’s website this morning and found a very similar cupcake recipe with a cookies and cream flavored frosting.
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/cookies-and-cream-cupcakes
The batter is almost the same as this one, but for the fat they use 1/4 cups butter and for the 2 oz chocolate, they use 6 tablespoons cocoa and and add in 1/4 cup vegetable oil to make up for the fat missing from the chocolate. And since they use a little more vegetable oil than needed to make up for the fat in the chocolate, they use buttermilk in place of sour cream. I may make a batch of those for the kids across the street.
Sarah
Love the new look, and these cupcakes 😉 They look so yummy, is only this humidity would break I could turn the oven on!
Mary M
AH! I’ve been looking for a good, easy chocolate cupcake recipe. FYI: the chocolate frosting recipe on the can of Ghiradelli’s unsweetened cocoa is TO.DIE.FOR!
I love your new template- very clean & neat!
Louise
Cupcakes have been a food fad for quite a while. Who can’t love a cupcake? And they are perfect portion size too. These turned out really cute. I’ll have to try the high temperature technique for the round tops. Thirty minutes until lunch would not stop me from trying a “Crumbs” cupcake. After all, “Life’s short. Eat dessert first.” 🙂
Therese B.
Those cupcakes look so good. I really think
there is an obsession with cupcakes. Martha Steward has a cupcake book too. It seems
most of the magazines have cupcakes on their
covers.
But, these look soooo good. I love the high
domed look.
I am going to make these for my Bunco group,
whose theme is Come on over Cupcake. These would be so perfect!
Thanks Anna…perfect timing for me!
Anna
Well, there is a pile of frosting but it is spread over the dome. The dome just bulks it up a little and gives it a good shape.
Fallon
So that really isn’t a pile of frosting on top of the cupcakes?
clumbsycookie
Love the high tops Anna! Smart thinking on raising the temperature!
Anonymous
Mmm, love the sprinkles!
LisAway
Oh, these look yummy! I’m bookmarking this one! Thanks!
snooky doodle
THESE LOOK GREAT! I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT HIGH HEAT MAKES HIGH TOPS. I DISCOVERED IT BY MISTAKE 🙂