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With Outrageously Rich Chocolate Indulgence Frosting.
AKA
The Mega. Extreme. Chocolate. Overdose. Cupcake.
Almost immediately after making the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes, I got the idea for a rich, decadent massively chocolate brownie batter cupcake, and I haven’t been able to get them outta my head since! This recipe uses a favorite chocolate brownie batter, my best chocolate cake ever recipe (just ask Google) and the most insanely ridiculously rich, fudgy, indulgent chocolate frosting you’ve ever had.
To all the chocolate lovers in the house… This is for you. XOXO.
It all starts with the brownie batter – this is seriously one of my favorite chocolate batter mixes ever. It calls for fat free sweetened condensed milk. You guys love me for that, right? Right back atcha.
It only calls for 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk though, and since I hate recipes that only call for a little bit of something in a can, leaving me wondering what the heck I’m supposed to do with the rest of it, go ahead and make this easy, no machine required homemade ice cream. You will definitely want some with these cupcakes! :)
Use your trusty 1.5 tbsp scoop to drop spoonfuls of brownie batter onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze overnight.
The next day, get ready to bake the best chocolate cupcakes ever.
This recipe calls for an entire cup of oil and an entire cup of sour cream. No wonder they’re good!
It also calls for 2 cups of mini chocolate chips, and if you want to help keep them from sinking to the bottom of your cupcake, mix them with a spoonful of the cake mix.
It’s tips like these that keep you coming back, I know.
Now using a large (3 tbsp) scoop, fill your cupcake liners about 2/3rds full.
Mmm, chocolate chips.
Grab your brownie batter from the freezer and press down into the cupcakes.
And when you pull them out of the oven…
You know how they say the muffin top is the best part of the muffin?
The best part of this cupcake is definitely this chewy, brownie batter top.
Think chewy brownie shell on top of an insanely gooey, soft chocolate cake.
Now these cupcakes are sho’ nuff good enough to eat just like this.
And this is coming from someone who basically only views cake as the vessel to getting frosting in her mouth.
But we’re not done here yet.
You know that rich, dark, fudgy classic chocolate frosting? The one that all chocolate frostings want to be when they grow up? The one that makes life worth living?
Here it is. This is what you’ve been looking for. Don’t be scared.
It calls for uh, quite a bit of butter. Can I promise you right now it’s worth every bite? I made four completely different types of chocolate frosting in one day – a buttercream, a sour cream, a ganache, and one that claimed to be fudgy, but wasn’t - looking for the perfect complement to these cupcakes. By the end of the day, I was so sick of chocolate, I never wanted to eat it, smell it, or get it all over my hands again. I didn’t even want to lick the bowl. It was bad. Until I tried just one more recipe. That’s all it took. I couldn’t stop eating it. By the spoonful. That’s how I knew it was perfect.
Exactly what I was looking for.
Move the frosting to a Ziploc bag, cut off the tip and pipe away!
So chocolaty. So dreamy.
Melt in your mouth delicious.
I think I’ll just stop talking now.
Brownie Batter Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes
with Outrageously Rich Chocolate Indulgence Frosting
BROWNIE BATTER
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup fat-free sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup milk
1 (18.25 oz) box devil’s food cake mix
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 mins until well combined. Using a small scoop (about 1.5 tbsp) drop batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and freeze overnight.
CUPCAKES
1 (18.25 oz) box devil’s food cake mix
1 (3.9 oz) pkg Jello instant chocolate fudge pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
2 cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray and line with cupcake liners. Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips into a very large bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 mins until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Using a large scoop (about 3 tbsp) drop batter into the cupcake liners, filling about 2/3rds full. Remove brownie batter from freezer and press into the cupcake batter. Bake for 22-28 mins. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
FROSTING
5 sticks butter, softened
8 oz powdered sugar
1.5 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa)
a pinch of table salt
1.5 cups light corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
16 oz milk chocolate chips
Melt chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring well every 30 seconds. Allow to cool for 5-10 mins. Combine butter, sugar, cocoa and salt in a food processor and process until smooth, about 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl as needed. Add the corn syrup and vanilla and process until just combined, about 5-10 seconds. Scrape the bowl again, then add the melted chocolate and pulse until smooth and creamy, about 10-15 seconds. You can use a mixer for this too, if you don’t have a food processor, just don’t whip the butter too much! :) Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated.
Makes & frosts 36 cupcakes.
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206 Comments
Wow!!!
I wish I had seen these in time for my nieces bday! I will definitely find a good excuse to make them soooooon!
I am glad to see that even regular condensed milk will work, because that’s what i have in my cabinet… though the fat-free variety justifies eating more of these??
The cupcake recipe is the cupcake variation of a really incredible chocolate cake recipe that’s been around for many years – didn’t think it could be made more chocolatey – i guess it can!!
Seriously, this was the best chocolate frosting I have EVER made, and I have made a bunch! This will be my go to chocolate frosting from now on! :-D
My mouth is watering just looking at the pictures. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Amanda! I loved your post for the Brownie Batter Fudge Cupcakes and I will be featuring a link to your blog tomorrow on my Notepad Features. Thank you for sharing!
WOW CHOCOLICIOUSLY AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey!! I have had this page bookmarked for a while now, but I decided to make these for my sons 1st bday party instead of the usual cake. I followed the directions perfectly, but all of my cupcakes collapsed and have a huge hole in the middle. What did I do wrong?
My husband just made these cupcakse and they are truley the most amazing cupcakes we have ever eaten!!!! We even had one when they were warm and they are just yummy deliciousness!!!!! Thank you so much for posting this recipie.
I just made these for a girls weekend get-together. Very easy to make. We thought they were good…but they were INCREDIBLE when we heated them in the microwave for about 10 seconds. They became little lava cakes that just oozed chocolate gooey-ness!! Delish. Pure heaven!
Seriously? Seriously??!! I think I just peed my pants I got so excited.
I am making these FOR SURE. It looks like heaven in a cupcake. yum.
lifeisgoodmarisanicole.blogspot.com
Hi! I love your recipes with photos and instructions. I made your Best Chocolate Cake Ever Thursday for my husband’s 39th birthday. I didn’t tell him it was more than a box cake and I could see he had it figured out in the first bite. The cake was delicious and I can’t wait to make these cupcakes.
I store all of my recipes at allrecipes.com and submitted this recipe so that I could store it in my cookbook. Like other readers, I listed your name and link, but if you would like me to change it just send me an e-mail and I would be happy to! http://allrecipes.com/personalrecipe/62943652/brownie-batter-chocolate-fudge-cupcakes-with-outrageously-rich-chocolate-indulgence-frosting-from-kevin-amanda/detail.aspx I would love to post more of your recipes if this is okay to add to my cookbook if it’s okay.
Thanks for sharing!!!
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one with sunken middles…did I not cook them long enough? I made these for my husband to share with his Marines, but once he saw them he said they may not make it out of the house! :o)
These look fabulous!
However, going through the comments, a lot of peoples cupcakes sunk. I’m wondering, can you skip the freezing part of the brownie and just go straight to it? I’m wondering if freezing the batter is freezing any rising agents that are in the mix to begin with.
What do you think?
Okay, so I just made these but before I froze the brownie balls, I decided to do a few run throughs without freezing them. So I balled up all the brownie dough, made the cupcake mix, put the cupcake mix in the muffin cups, and dropped the brownie balls right into the cupcake mix and baked for 22 minutes. I SKIPPED the freezing part. The did not sink in. Hope this helps someone! =)
Oh my goodness, these look delicious! I showed them to my 6 year old and he agreed that we should make them instead of boring old sugar cookies for Santa this year. Yum!
I think that I’ve found our Valentine’s dessert ~ Double treat is our anniversary in on Valentine’s Day! Thank you for sharing.
I know this was posted a long time ago, but I’m hoping someone might still read this! I made these for family Thanksgiving and they were a big hit. The only problem was the frosting melted off the cupcakes, even at room temperature. I want to make them for the dessert at our wedding in July, and I’m worried about the melting. One thing I noticed is that my frosting was a much lighter brown than the dark brown (and durable looking) frosting in the pictures. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to adjust the frosting recipe to make it just a little stiffer and less-likely to melt all over the place during a July wedding reception (it’s indoors, but still)? Thank you!
I know this is late – but you can use butter-flavored crisco. Before you go ewwwww, that is the basis of most store bought buttercream frostings.
I just made these, they are amazing! The frosting recipe makes SOOOOO much frosting though, it could almost have been halved! I guess I’ll have to make something else now, oh well ;)
5 sticks of butter? Haha. That’s fantastic. :)
We don’t have the right kind of cake or brownie mix here so I’ll have to make my own version. Thanks for the idea! I’m so happy you posted this on Facebook. I only found you a few weeks ago so I didn’t see this the first time around.
Hmm. I wonder if I can use yogurt instead of sour cream…
it’s a bit random, but I found these cupcakes through google because they completely embody a product a just reviewed on my blog – http://scentsnscentsibility.blogspot.com/2012/05/manic-for-body-shops-chocomania.html. I’ve linked to this posting … and I CANNOT wait to try making these cupcakes … they look incredible!!
This look so amazing! Can’t wait to make them :)) I was wondering though… can one use full fat sweetened condensed milk instead of fat free?
I made this recipe with a cup of yoghurt instead of a cup of sour cream and GOSH they were good! Improvisation and using up a brand of yoghurt I don’t like! For the win!
In your measurements for the confectioners sugar and chips is that a measurement in a measuring cup or on a scale? For the cupcake you say 2 cups of chips but for the frosting it says 16 oz. I was going to do the oz part on a scale. Hope they come out ok. If they do they will certainly be awesome.
Thanks
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I’m a site manager at instructables.com, an online community for people who like to share what they make (and how to make things). Your brownie batter cupcakes caught the eye of our food editor, and I thought, since you already have photos and a writeup, that you might be interested in sharing your work on our site as well! We’re currently in the middle of a Desserts Contest, so you could win prizes for your great recipes! (http://www.instructables.com/contest/dessert/) You can post as many entries as you want.
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Wow! rich a decadent for sure with 5 sticks of butter, but I’m sure they’re a chocolate lovers’ dream!
I don’t usually take the time to comment on things like this, but I have to say, these cupcakes are incredible. Wildly, devilishly, amazingly incredible. As in, three weeks after I sent them to my husband’s office, his whole staff is still talking about them and requesting them for the next party. As in, my dieting brother-in-law broke his determination to be skinny because of these cupcakes. As in, me and my hubby who don’t like cake – didn’t even want it at our wedding – were drooling over these cupcakes. Amazing. Thanks.
I think I love you.
I am really speechless, this looks like chocolate heaven!!!
Saw these on Pinterest and had to come see for myself. So decadent! As a chocolate lover, these exceed my expectations and I can’t wait to find a reason to make them! repinned of course!
Oh my!!! Soooooo good!!! I saw this recipe on Pinterest. I just made them – haven’t frosted yet. I just ate a warm cupcake out of the oven – YUM!!! Next time I’m going to try a bundt cake – using the frozen brownie batter and the cake recipe.
That frosting is AMAZING!!! I mean…. AMAZING!!!!
These look delicious!! Want to make ahead of time to save time later, can the brownie batter be frozen for longer than 1 night? If so what’s the max # of days you would recommend? Thanks!
Holy moly these are rich and delicious! To me the frosting was maybe a little too rich and took away from the delicious cupcake. Next time I might try a lighter whipped chocolate buttercream, or maybe even whipped Irish cream buttercream. This recipe made 36 cupcakes and most of them were overflowing. Definitely push your brownie batter into the top of the cupcake to prevent it from sliding off of the top when it rises. You could also definitely half the frosting recipe and still have enough for a generous amount on each cupcake!
Kudos…
This is ABSOLUTELY the best cupcake I’ve ever made! The only issue I had was the frosting was a little too soft. It was oozing out of the bag before I could get it filled! I was a chocolate mess! haha But, it didn’t matter because they were MOST excellent!!
The brownie part of my cupcakes caved in. Why would this happen?
I made them but my centers completely deflated as they cooled. Any ideas why? I haven’t made
The frosting yet but they’re still yummy without it. Just look a little funny with a big hole in the middle.
These look so crazy good….on the frosting, am I seeing this right? Five sticks of butter to ONLY 8 ounces of powdered sugar? Just seems way lop-sided and wanted to get all ingredients ready!
These look incredible, I am making these for my Mom for her Birthday, I Pinned them forever ago and she said she wanted them. I normally bake from scratch but I am following this recipe as is!
Also, has anyone tried making these on a short notice and not freezing brownies for overnight?
I also just wonder why you use a food processor for the frosting and not the mixer…I have both I just haven’t seen this done normally.
Thanks for the great recipes!!
I have been looking for a good milk chocolate frosting recipe and thought since this one had milk choc chips it would be the one. I made the frosting today and it was so bitter, even left a bad taste in our mouths. I will try it again but use the regular cocoa powder instead. My search continues. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
This looks so ridiculously rich, and delicious…I am dying over here!!
These sound and look amazing! Am I reading the recipe right–5 sticks of butter, which would be 2 1/2 cups ??? Just want to double check before I try these. Thanks!
Cathy ♥
This cupcakes are FABULOUS! I made them to bring to school on the day of our mental health final (we are in nursing school) and they were great for our mental health! I’m not a big frosting person but I could have eaten the frosting and left the cupcake, though the cupcake is also excellent and together it was pure happiness in my mouth. Thanks for a fabulous recipe!
This frosting is SO oily! I was quite disappointed!! Not as fudge as I thought either???? It’s really smooth, and well, oily! Not too sweet either, and I used regular cocoa powder…what did I miss????
Until you make these you can’t even begin to understand how good these are! Not kidding. Not to mention the frosting really is the best chocolate frosting that I have ever tasted! EVER! Such a great, great recipe!
Hello,
I live in South Africa, we don’t have Devil’s food cake mix, Jello chocolate fudge instant pudding or corn syrup. With what can I replace these?
I will be making these this week!! However, my store did not have the Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder, will it be okay if I use the regular unsweetened cocoa powder??
Just made these and WOW!! These are fantastic and so worth every minute of work put into them. This frosting is the only homemade frosting that I actually liked!! Excellent and so glad I found your link on Pinterest. Absolutely wonderful!
Ah-mazing frosting!
I made these today and WOW! Chocolate, rich heaven! Sooooo good. So good it required a glass of milk. After eating one, I knew I had to give these away! Thanks for the recipe!
Absolutely amazing. Not over sweet as you would expect. Seriously awesome!
I made these cupcakes for a New Years Eve party and they were AMAZING. The cupcakes themselves came out decadent, but like others said, they collapsed a bit after taking them out of the oven. Nonetheless, they tasted incredible. One more tip, trying to make the frosting without a food processor is a challenge; my hand mixer couldn’t stand up to the thickness of the batter. I had to make some adjustments to the frosting recipe, such as using regular unsweetened cocoa and semi-sweet chocolate chips because I couldn’t find the other ingredients in my supermarket. The taste wasn’t what I expected, but it wasn’t bad, and I’m sure that the taste was due to my alterations and lack of a food processor. Anyways, thanks for the great recipe! It will certainly be used again!
Can I use regular sweetened condensed milk in the Brownie Batter part?? :)
Comments that just say these LOOK yummy aren’t that helpful to me… So I’d like to add an “I actually tried this!” comment. We don’t have enough muffin tins to make all of these at once and I was feeling to lazy to make the frosting, so we just ate the first batch frostingless. They were very tasty, per my husband “better than Costco muffins” :) I made a half batch of the frosting for the rest of the cupcakes. The frosting was light and yummy without being overly sweet which was nice. When I make them again, I will make half with frosting and half without, because it is really nice getting both tastes! These were a repeat and for company recipe.
So the brownie batter is made with cake mix not brownie mix?
Thank you so much. I just made these and WOW their like chocolate crack cakes. Super rich, moist , and very delious
I think these are a winner in my book & plan on making them. Can’t wait, but I have one question.
The recipe says it makes 36 luscious cupcakes. Regular size or small size cupcakes ? I have both pan sizes …
BEST chocolate icing I have ever made! I’ve searched high and low for the perfect chocolate icing and this takes the cake (heehee) hands down…I’m so excited to know that my search has ended with this one. Thanks so much! One question, I made it ahead of time for a cake I’m doing next week. How long will it keep in the fridge, or, could it be frozen? Thanks!
So I was wondering with the butter, is it unsalted butter? You don’t mention which type and I heard that we use always use unsalted butter when baking.
Just making sure I am reading the frosting ingredients for the butter. That is 5 sticks of butter or 1 and 1/2 pounds of butter. That just seems like a ton of butter, not that there is anything wrong with that:)
HELP! I made these and… my cupcakes imploded. They still taste incredibly good, but I have this huge crater in the middle where I the frozen ball of brownie dough was… What could hqave gone wrong?
Help! Do I need to freeze dough over night or can I just freeze for 2-3 hours???
I cannot wait overnight for the brownie part. They have been in the freezer for 2 hours I will only wait a bit longer. I want that finished product now.
Death by chocolate! But what a way to go . Im trying these today for a family gathering.Thanks ! I will let you know how well they were liked!
oh my. i saw this on pinterest and knew i had to check it out. you sure do know how to get a girl to drool. these look like heaven. maybe the best thing i could ever eat in my life. and i cant wait to make these.
This is the frosting recipe to end all frosting recipes. It’s amazing! My husband made some yellow cupcakes and I asked if I could be in charge of the frosting – I knew I wanted to try this one. Soooo glad I did! Thanks for the amazing recipe.
can you use actual brownie mix or should it really be devils food? thanks! making it now!
Can you use your own favorite brownie mix, say, Ghirridelli brownie mix?
Okay I can’t wait to make these BUT 1. who can really wait over night for the brownie balls? What happens if I wait a couple of hours till there firm? And 2. is there any way around 5 sticks of butter?? I’m really scared of that!! But I’ll take one for the team if I have too!! :-))
Hi – quick question – when you say 8 oz. of powdered sugar, do you mean a cup or 8 oz. by weight, which is closer to 2 cups? Thanks!!
OMG… I haven’t even gotten to the rest of the cupcake yet. I wanted to eat all of the brownie batter!!!
Hi Amanda! This is wonderful! I might try this one this coming weekend. However,I am not sure if that devil’s food cake mix is available here in Manila. Any substitute? :) Thanks!
I’m totally working on my 2 batch right now since mothers day! I usually hate frosting madewith powdered sugar but this is so delicious!