Brownie Cupcakes
These Brownie Cupcakes start with a box of Brownie Cake Mix! They are rich and delicious, slightly more dense than most cupcakes, and softer than most brownies. It is the best of both worlds. If you have chocolate lovers in your life, save this recipe. They will love it!
Table of Contents
The Ingredients
Here's a quick look at our ingredients. Check the recipe card at the bottom of the post for all of the details!
- One box of Brownie Mix- We've tried this recipe with two mixes and liked them both: Duncan Hines Double Fudge and Ghirardelli Ultimate Chocolate. Ghirardelli was our favorite as it was a bit more rich but both are great. I'm sure others would work as well.
- Eggs
- Melted Butter (We used butter instead of oil for added richness)
- Flour, Sugar, and Unsweetened Cocoa Powder extend this recipe a bit and give the brownies a cake-like quality.
- Sour Cream adds richness and moisture (we recommend "full fat")
- Baking Powder for added height
- Hot Coffee (or hot water). The heat helps the cocoa to develop, and if using coffee, it enhances the chocolate flavor. Hot water works great as well.
How to Make Brownie Cupcakes
You can find the full, printable recipe for brownie cupcakes at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick look at our steps!
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Fill a cupcake pan with paper liners.
- Ignore the instructions on the back of the box of brownie mix.
- Combine dry ingredients in large bowl and whisk together until combined. (This is the brownie mix, flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and baking powder.)
- Add the remaining ingredients (eggs, sour cream, fudge packet (if your mix has one), hot water or hot coffee, and melted butter) and stir until well combined. I find it easiest to use a rubber spatula for this step.
- Fill the cupcake liners with approximately ¼ cup of batter each.
- Bake at 350℉ for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. *Baking times can vary, peek in as the end time approaches.
- Remove the freshly baked cupcakes from the pans just after removing and cool on a wire rack.
Chocolate Buttercream
Today, we frosted our brownie cupcakes with a simple chocolate buttercream. We used half of our usual amount since this recipe makes about 20 cupcakes
This is a combination of softened butter, powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, vanilla extract, milk, and unsweetened cocoa powder. The resulting frosting is creamy and delicious, and very easy to work with.
Decorating the Cupcakes
After allowing the cupcakes to cool completely, it is time to frost! Decorate the cupcakes however you like. We used a star tip 21 to pipe shells over our cupcakes two different patterns.
Here are the finished cupcakes! We hope that you enjoy these brownie cupcakes. These would be great for birthdays, potlucks, or for anyone that loves chocolate!
More Chocolate Recipes
We love chocolate cakes and cupcakes and have made many over the years! Some of our most popular are our Triple Chocolate Cake from Cake Mix, German Chocolate Cake, Black Velvet Cake, and Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake.
Thanks so much for stopping by today. Make sure to check out our full collection of recipes and cake decorating tutorials!
Brownie Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 Box Brownie Mix **See Notes for details
- ½ cup (60g) All Purpose Flour
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1½ teaspoons (6g) Baking Powder
- 2½ Tablespoons (15g) Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 1 stick unsalted butter, melted (113g/1/2 cup)
- 1 cup sour cream (we use full fat)
- ½ cup hot coffee (hot water works great also) (we used instant espresso dissolved in hot water)
- 3 large eggs
- Fudge Packet (if your brownie mix comes with one)
For the Chocolate Buttercream
- 1½ sticks unsalted butter, softened (Do not microwave)
- 2½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa (measure then sift) (35g)
- 1-2 tablespoons milk (Add more, a tablespoon at a time, to reach the desired consistency).
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (4g)
- 1 teaspoon salt (6g)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Fill a cupcake pan with paper liners. (This recipe makes about 18-20 cupcakes)
- This recipe can be prepared in a large mixing bowl, just as when making brownies from a mix. No mixer needed.
- Combine dry ingredients in large bowl and whisk together until combined. (This is the brownie mix, flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and baking powder.)
- Add the remaining ingredients (eggs, sour cream, fudge packet (if your mix has one), hot coffee (or hot water), and melted butter) and stir until well combined. I find it easiest to use a rubber spatula for this step.
- Fill the cupcake liners with approximately ¼ cup of batter each.
- Bake at 350℉ for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
- Remove the freshly baked cupcakes from the pans just after removing and cool on a wire rack.
For the Chocolate Buttercream
- Add butter and mix on low to medium speed until smooth. Add vanilla and blend into the butter.
- Add powdered sugar, salt, and cocoa powder.
- Add most of the milk and mix on low speed, increasing to medium as the ingredients become incorporated.
- Continue to mix adding remaining milk as needed. It may take 3-5 minutes to reach the smoothness and consistency you like. It will take longer if using a hand mixer. As you mix, the frosting will become very smooth. You can add additional milk (1 Tablespoon at a time) if the frosting is too thick or additional powdered sugar if too soft.
Decorating the Cupcakes
- Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost them however you like! We used a disposable piping bag fitted with a star tip 21, to decorate the cupcakes with piped shells (and mini chocolate chips for some).
- Store in an airtight container, under a cake dome, or in a bakery box for 1-2 days. After that, you can refrigerate for freshness (but allow to warm to room temp before serving).
Brownie Cupcakes sound like a fantastic idea! They look fabulous! :-)
These look delicious! What size brownie mix did you use for this recipe?
I used the Ghiraddelli Ultimate Chocolate 19 ounce as she listed in the recipe as one of the options and it was wonderful!!
what can l replace eggs with as l don't eat eggs?
Wondering if you have tried making this recipe in a cake pan rather than as cupcakes? I was afraid they might sink in the middle. I need to make a chocolate cake and thought this recipe sounded great - not only did it sound great, in fact, it WAS great as cupcakes. I just made them last night. BUT, need to know if anyone has tried baking this recipe as a cake rather than cupcakes? Thank you. (My only recommendation is to only add 1 Tablespoon milk to the frosting and mix - add more if needed. I added the 1/4 cup and it was way too much.)
Hi Peg- So glad that you've already made these cupcakes! We've made this as two 8 inch rounds with good results. We haven't tried it as a sheet cake but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. Let us know if you give it a try ;0)
it is a really good chocolate cupcake not a resemblance to a brownie in both texture and test. I was looking for that cracky top and fudgeyness. it wasn't there. I think I will use whipped ganache as the frosting to amp up that fudgeyness. keep them coming, I am make was is appealing which most are and delicious. So,far nothing has beat your butter rum bundt cake with that crackling sugar!
Hi Lynne! Thanks for the review. Yes, the texture to me is more dense than our doctored cake mix cupcakes (or scratch for that matter) but definitely more cake-like than brownie-like. To me, the brownie flavor was still there though- curious what brownie mix you used? Ours had a fudge packet which added richness. - Also yay for the rum bundt cake ;0) We have several versions of the rum cakes- love them all!