This easy Valentines Day chocolate cupcakes recipe is a fun and simple way to add a festive touch! Light and airy chocolate cupcakes are baked into heart shapes with a simple hack. Topped with a smooth cream cheese frosting and colorful sprinkles. No special equipment needed for this recipe.
This cupcake recipe is made with oil which means no creaming butter. Try all of my Cake and Cupcake Recipes for more inspiration!
You might also like these Coffee Cupcakes with Espresso Frosting, Salted Caramel Cupcakes, or my One-Bowl Valentine’s Cookie Bars.
Highlights Of The Cupcakes
- Rich Chocolate Flavor: These cupcakes feature a deep, indulgent chocolate flavor with cocoa powder in the batter for a decadent treat.
- Perfect for Valentine’s Day: These cupcakes have a cute heart shape and are frosted to accentuate the heart shape. Top with Valentines sprinkles or colored frosting for a festive look.
- Easy to Make: Simple ingredients and steps make these cupcakes easy to whip up, even if you’re not an experienced baker.
- Customizable Frosting: Choose from creamy buttercream, cream cheese frosting, whipped ganache, or a colorful frosting, and add sprinkles, edible glitter, or heart-shaped candies for a festive look.
- Fun to Decorate: Get creative with toppings like red or pink sprinkles, mini chocolate hearts, or a drizzle of white chocolate for a charming, personalized touch.
Valentine’s Day Cupcake Recipe
Looking for a fun way to incorporate heart shaped desserts into your next valentine’s day event? This cupcakes are not only a crowd favorite but they use traditional, every day equipment and ingredients. A small piece of aluminum foil is rolled into a ball and used to created a heart-shaped crease in the paper cupcake liner.
As the cupcake bakes it takes on a subtle heart shape. Top with frosting in the shape of a heart and decorate with colorful sprinkles or sugar and you will have a fun and easy dessert in no time. You could also try this hack with boxed cake mix for easy heart cupcakes. Find some other Valentine’s Day Desserts here!
Ingredient List & Substitutions
This chocolate cake recipe uses simple ingredients, see below for ingredient substitutes if there are any as well as special notes:
- Oil: vegetable oil, canola oil, or soybean oil will work in this recipe. Olive oil will also work, it will just give a more pungent olive oil flavor.
- Granulated white sugar: I do not recommend swapping any other type of sugar for this recipe. Other sugars can impact the batter differently and change how the cupcakes bakes and rises.
- Whole eggs: I like fresh pasture raised farm eggs if available, but any kind will work for this cookie. Let your eggs come to room temperature for this recipe, this helps the eggs incorporate better.
- Milk: whole milk or half and half works best here, skim or non-dairy milk options like almond milk or oat milk will also work.
- Pure vanilla extract: use homemade or store-bought vanilla extract.
- Baking soda: make sure your baking soda is fresh and not expired, after a couple months it will start to lose it’s potency.
- All-purpose flour: no substitution here, other types of flour will change the texture and affect baking differently.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder: make sure to use unsweetened cocoa, this adds rich chocolate flavor and gives the cupcake a dark color.
- Cream cheese: full fat cream cheese works best here to create a smooth, rich frosting.
- Powdered sugar: no substitute for this. Powdered sugar adds the sweetness needed without giving the frosting a grainy texture. If you don’t have powdered sugar on hand, simply blend granulated sugar until light in texture.
How To Make The Chocolate Cupcakes
Let’s talk a little about how to make the Easy Valentines Day Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe (The printable instructions are in the recipe card below.)
Quick overview:
- Combine wet ingredients with sugar.
- Add in milk, gently mix.
- Mix in dry ingredients, careful not to overmix.
- Line a cupcake tin and use foil balls to make indents.
- Scoop batter into the prepared lines and bake.
- Cool completely and frost.
For the cupcakes:
- In a large mixing bowl combine the oil, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Slowly mix in milk.
- In a medium bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine.
3. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mix well until completely combined and lump free.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard cupcake tin with paper liners, roll small balls of tin foil and place one ball in each cup to make a heart-shaped indent in each liner, set aside.
5. Fill each cupcake liner about 2/3rd’s full with cupcake batter. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cupcakes completely before frosting.
For the cream cheese frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or using an electric hand mixer, cream the softened cream cheese until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract. Add in powdered/icing sugar, one cup at a time until desired consistency is reached.
- Frost cooled cupcakes and top with festive sprinkle. Enjoy immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Use a piping bag to pipe a simple heart shape or spread on with a knife.
More Drool-Worthy Chocolate Desserts
If you’re a chocolate fan you’ll love these other rich and decadent chocolate desserts, perfect for any occasion or gathering!
Tools I Use For The Valentines Cupcakes
- Rubber Spatula – a must have! I like these because they don’t come apart so I don’t have to worry about water getting inside the spatula and causing mold.
- Pyrex Mixing Bowl Set – I love this set of nesting bowls. I use them for everything, Pyrex glass does not break easily so you can trust on these bowls for years, plus they come in 3 useful sizes and can be stacked!
- Non-stick Muffin Tin – this recipe uses a standard muffin tin and this one is my favorite. I have had my pan for years and it’s still in great condition!
- White Paper Liners – a good basic muffin or cupcake liner to have on hand, I like the white as they work for any occasion or event.
Tips & Tricks For Perfect Valentine’s Day Cupcakes
- Line or grease your pan so the cupcakes don’t stick and release easily.
- Don’t overmix batter stop once the dry ingredients have been incorporated. a few lumps are fine.
- Fill cups 2/3rds full, any more they can bake over and any less they look a bit empty.
- Cool on a wire rack so the bottoms of the cupcakes don’t get soggy.
- Frost once cooled completely so the cream cheese frosting doesn’t melt off.
Recipe FAQs
How to make heart shaped cupcakes?
Making heart shaped cupcakes out of a traditional round cupcake pan is super easy! All you need is a small piece of aluminum foil rolled into a ball. A larger piece of aluminum will make a more pronoun heart shape and a smaller will make a less prominent heart shape.
How full should you fill the liners?
I fill my liners 2/3rds of the way full – you want to fill them enough so they look full and hearty but not too full that they spill over!
How do I store leftover chocolate cupcakes?
Leftover cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. The cake stays moist and holds its texture best in the fridge, if you added a cream cheese or buttercream frosting that will also need to be stored in the fridge.
This easy recipe produces moist cupcakes that have a rich chocolate flavor, topped with a smooth cream cheese frosting. Decorate the top of the cupcakes with colored frosting and fun red sprinkles or colored sugar for adorable Valentine’s Day cupcakes.
I like a tangy cream cheese frosting for these cupcakes but homemade buttercream frosting also goes great! Fun for any special occasion and the perfect way to show your love.
Easy Valentines Day Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe
Equipment
- Standard cupcake tin
- Cupcake Liners
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 1/3 cup Vegetable oil
- 1 cup Granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp Vanilla extract
- 1 large Whole egg, room temperature
- 1 cup Milk or cream
- 1 1/2 cups All-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup Unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
For the cream cheese frosting:
- 8 oz. Full fat cream cheese, softened
- 4-5 cups Powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp Vanilla extract
Instructions
For the cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard cupcake tin with paper liners, roll small balls of tin foil and place one ball in each cup to make a heart-shaped indent in each liner, set aside.
- In a medium bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine.
- In a large bowl combine the oil, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Slowly mix in milk.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mix well until completely combined and lump free.
- Fill each cupcake liner about 2/3rd's full. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
For the cream cheese frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or using an electric hand mixer, cream the softened cream cheese until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract. Add in powdered sugar, one cup at a time until desired consistency is reached.
- Frost cooled cupcakes and top with festive sprinkle. Enjoy immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Nutrition
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