Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

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These dark chocolate raspberry cupcakes combine a moist chocolate cake base with a not-too-sweet, mousse-like whipped raspberry frosting. A secret ingredient makes the raspberry flavor super intense without watering down the frosting.

Raspberry cupcakes arranged on a small white cake stand with fresh raspberries on top for decoration

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Ingredients
Step By Step Instructions
FAQ
Kitchen Equipment
Storage and Freezing Instructions
Important Note on Freeze-Dried Raspberries
More Chocolate Recipes You'll Love
Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cupcakes

Ingredients

For the Chocolate Cupcakes:

Sugar: 200 grams of sugar may sound like a lot, but cocoa powder cuts the sweetness significantly. The sugar is present for textural reasons, so don't reduce it.
Flour
Cocoa powder: Dutch-processed cocoa powder is best to give that rich, dark chocolate flavor, as opposed to natural cocoa powder which is more mild.
Baking powder & baking soda
Salt
Buttermilk: An acidic dairy product is key for moist cupcakes. Sour cream, or full-fat plain Greek yogurt, would be the next best substitutes.
Oil: Always use oil, NOT BUTTER in chocolate cake! Since oil is liquid at room temperature while butter is solid, cakes made with oil will be more soft. They are also more moist because oil is 100% fat, while butter is only around 80% fat and 16-18% water.
Egg
Vanilla
Coffee: Adding a HOT liquid "blooms" the cocoa powder, intensifying the chocolate flavor. The coffee flavor will bake out, but also richen the chocolate. You can sub hot water if needed, but coffee is best!

Ingredients for the recipe portioned into individual white bowls with text overlay indicating each ingredient

For the Raspberry Frosting:

Heavy cream: Make sure the cream has the word "heavy" in the label. Regular cream or whipping cream without the word "heavy" is slightly lower in fat, making it not whip up as thick and stiff.
Freeze-dried raspberries: This is the SECRET INGREDIENT! Using fresh raspberries would water down the whipped frosting without imparting much flavor. Instead, take freeze-dried raspberries and use a food processor to grind them into a powder. This does not add any extra liquid, and the flavor is so intense because freeze-dried fruit is extremely concentrated. You can order freeze-dried raspberries online , but I've also found them at Target, Wegmans, and Walmart.
Cream cheese: A little bit of cream cheese stabilizes the whipped frosting and gives a slight tangy flavor without making it too cream cheese-y.
Powdered sugar: Other frosting recipes have 4-5x the amount of powdered sugar compared to this one. You only need a small amount here to give a slight sweetness without making it too cloying.
Vanilla: For flavor.

Step By Step Instructions

STEP 1: Whisk the dry ingredients. Whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

STEP 2: Whisk the wet ingredients. Combine the buttermilk, oil, egg, and vanilla in a large bowl.

Buttermilk, oil, egg, and vanilla added to a large glass bowl but not whisked together

Overhead shot of the wet ingredients whisked together in a large glass bowl

STEP 3: Combine the dry and wet ingredients and add coffee. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and pour in the hot coffee, then whisk until a thin batter forms.

The dry ingredients and coffee added to the wet ingredients but not combined together yet

Close-up shot of chocolate cupcake batter, with a thin consistency and slight reddish-orange color

STEP 4: Pour batter into tins. Divide the batter between 12 paper liners, filling ~⅔ of the way.

STEP 5: Bake. Bake for 16-20 minutes, or until a toothpick is clean or with a few moist crumbs.

STEP 6: Cool. Set the pan over a wire rack and let the cupcakes cool COMPLETELY before frosting! Any warmth at all will melt the frosting.

STEP 7: Make the frosting. Pulverize freeze-dried raspberries in a food processor until very fine. Add cream cheese to the bowl of a stand mixer and sift in powdered sugar and the ground up raspberries. Whip for around 3 minutes. Next, pour in the heavy cream and vanilla and whip until stiff. For more tips, read my raspberry whipped cream frosting blog post!

Close-up shot of freeze-dried raspberries, showing off their intense red-pink color and crunchy texture

Close-up shot of freeze-dried raspberries in a food processor, ground up into a fine powder

Cream cheese, powdered sugar, and pulverized freeze dried raspberries in the bowl of a stand mixer, not yet mixed together

Bright pink mixture of fluffy whipped cream cheese, sugar, and raspberries

STEP 8: Decorate. The raspberry frosting is thick enough for simple designs and swirls. Pipe it onto the cupcakes as desired or spread it on with a knife.

Close-up shot of finished raspberry frosting, with a cotton-candy pink color and light, fluffy consistency

FAQ

What is the secret to moist cupcakes?

Use oil instead of butter, an acidic dairy product (buttermilk, sour cream, or Greek yogurt instead of regular milk), and don't over bake.

What is freeze-dried fruit?

Freeze-dried fruit is fruit that retains all of its flavor and nutrients, but nearly all of the moisture is removed through a process called sublimation. By removing the moisture, the flavor becomes very concentrated- only 25 grams of freeze-dried raspberries are enough to flavor over 3 cups of whipped frosting in this recipe! Freeze-dried fruit is shelf-stable and has a crispy texture that makes it able to be ground into a fine powder.

Where can I buy freeze-dried raspberries?

I've found them at Target, Wegmans, and Walmart before. If you can't find them in stores, you can order on Amazon.

4 chocolate raspberry cupcakes arranged on a small white cake stand, with another 2 in the background on top of stacked white plates

Kitchen Equipment

Kitchen scale
Glass mixing bowls
Muffin pan
Parchment paper cupcake liners
Large cookie scoop (to transfer batter into the liners)
Cooling rack
Food processor
Disposable piping bags and Wilton 1M piping tip (to decorate the cupcakes as pictured)

Storage and Freezing Instructions

Store leftover cupcakes in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 2-3 days, or freeze for up to 2-3 months. Thaw frozen cupcakes in the refrigerator overnight before serving.

Important Note on Freeze-Dried Raspberries

In testing I've found that some brands of freeze-dried raspberries impart a stronger flavor than others, likely because in some brands the raspberries may have been freeze-dried at more peak ripeness. For that reason, I recommend starting with 25g of finely ground freeze-dried raspberries. Then, once the frosting is whipped to soft peaks, have a taste and add more as needed.

With some brands I've found 25g gives a very strong flavor, while with others I've added another 10-15g. Simply measure out more raspberries, pulse them in your food processor, and sift them in to the frosting while it's still soft and continue whipping until stiff.

Over whipping the frosting will make it start to turn into butter, so it's important to taste/add more raspberries once it's at VERY soft peaks! That way you can incorporate more raspberries if needed without over whipping.