Enjoy your sweet summer berries in these Raspberry Chocolate Cupcakes topped with two layers of rich ganache and creamy raspberry cream cheese frosting.
I’m 39 weeks today!!! Yay!!!! I sure can’t wait to meet our little girl… and see my feet again. I’ve been totally in that nesting phase for the last week so she should come soon, right? The other weekend I even spent about 2 hours cleaning our car… just the inside. Sadly I can’t even remember the last time I vacuumed it out and with a toddler that is just gross. Many goldfish crumbs and even some dried up half eaten cheese sticks were found. Ewww, I know. But it’s all good now because I vacuumed in every nook and cranny, wiped down every plastic surface, and even the got the hose and scrub brush out for the mats. I feel like we have a new car! Oh and then we installed the infant car seat. That was the whole purpose behind me cleaning the car. Gosh it feels good to have a clean car… almost as good as I feel while eating one of these Raspberry Chocolate Cupcakes!
The combination of chocolate and raspberries is to die for! In truffles, cake, ice cream… It makes me weak at the knees! I made these cupcakes a few times trying to find the perfect chocolate cupcake and frosting combo. I wanted a cupcake that was rich, moist, held together well, and had a good rounded top (for looks)… and this is it! The raspberry cream cheese frosting is divine and similar to this blackberry one. It’s color is all natural from the pureed raspberries making it the most beautiful pale pink. Doesn’t the color pink just make you smile?
Um and lets discuss that smooth, shinny ganache that’s making you drool. “Ganache” is such a fancy word and can seem intimidating to make but it’s actually the easiest part of this recipe! To make ganache you just throw your favorite chocolate in a bowl (I prefer dark chocolate for ganache) and then pour hot whipping cream over it and let it sit for 2 minutes. After two minutes the chocolate has warmed up and melted so with a few seconds of whisking you have gorgeous ganache. Add this stuff to anything and you’ve made your dessert 597 times better.
Okay, I just have to say that photographing food is hard to do with my husband home and my child awake. Both kept stealing my raspberries! I mean, I had plenty since I bought a big container at Costco but I needed them for decoration. I like to think that I’m teaching them patience by making them wait to eat those perfect ruby red raspberries but it ends up just being torture for all of us. At least we got to indulge in these cupcakes at the end of it all.
What’s your favorite way to enjoy raspberries? Have you ever had them on a cupcake? Now you can!!!
Raspberry Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes:
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate, chopped
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
For the Frosting:
- 3 1/2 to 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 3-4 tablespoons raspberry puree, I mash up about 1/2 cup whole raspberries
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
For Ganache:
- 4 ounces about 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
For Garnish:
- 15 raspberries
Instructions
For the Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with 15 cupcake liners.
- Mix flour, sugars, baking soda, and salt together and set aside.
- Place butter, chocolate, and cocoa together in a bowl and pour boiling water on top. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit two minutes. Mix until smooth and then add in the buttermilk, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla.
- Whisk the liquid ingredients into the dry until smooth.
- Pour 1/4 cup batter into each paper liner. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
- Leave cupcakes in tin for 5 minutes before removing onto a cooling rack.
- Meanwhile, make the frosting and ganache.
For the Ganache:
- Place chocolate in a bowl and pour hot whipping cream on top. Let it sit for two minutes and then stir until smooth. Let the ganache come to room temperature (about 5-10 minutes) before applying to cupcakes.
For the Frosting:
- Puree the 1/2 cup raspberries in a food process, blender, or with a hand blender. If you don't want seeds in your frosting, press the puree through a strainer held over a bowl (this takes a few minutes). You should be left with 3 tablespoons seed free raspberry puree. I added some seeds back because I thought it looked pretty but you can just discard the seeds.
- Beat butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add powdered sugar a little at a time while beating and cream for 2-3 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons raspberry puree and the vanilla and beat until completely combined. Add remaining raspberry puree if frosting needs to be thinned, otherwise, discard remaining. Place frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a piping tip.
To Assemble:
- Once the cupcakes have cooled, spoon 1-2 teaspoons ganache onto each cupcake, spreading it to almost the edge of the cupcake. Pipe frosting on top of each cupcake and then spoon 1 teaspoon ganache over the top and press a berry in. Serve. Cupcakes with berries on that are not eaten within a few hours should be refrigerated. Another option is to store the cupcakes at room temperature in an air tight container and add the raspberries just before serving.
Recipe source: cupcake adapted from My Recipes
I first shared this recipe on Handle the Heat where I am a contributor.
Hi! I tried this recipe yesterday. The cupcakes are beautiful and taste great but I felt like they were on the dry side. My husband loved them. He said this one is less moist than the cakes that I usually make but not in a bad way, just different. The creamy frosting and chocolate ganache are delicious.
Perfectly moist and scrumptious!! My family loved them so much, they are interested in making into a cake!! Have you tried making this and if so, can you provide baking specs?
Thanks for this awesome recipe ❤
Great recipe! The bread is perfect.
I followed this recipe exactly and they are, in a word, exquisite. The batter was beautifully silky and the cupcakes domed up perfectly, despite the high altitude of my city. My sister-in-law said they were the prettiest cupcakes she’d ever seen and we all adored them. I especially enjoyed being able to present such a lovely looking cupcake without using any food colouring. I can’t thank you enough, this recipe will become a well-loved, often-repeated addition to our celebrations.
I made these cupcakes over the weekend and the frosting didn’t come out as i hoped but im going to try it again and instead use Freeze Dried Raspberries rather than the puree. Great Recipe other than that though!
SO good! Loved the chocolate ganache /raspberry frosting combo. Thus made a really special set of birthday cupcakes. Thanks for sharing!
Deb, I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed them! Thank you for leaving a review! 🙂
Do you a suggestion for the raspberry frosting without cream cheese?
You have great write up, I always read your blog. and I must say you are doing good job, plz do write like this.
I just made them and they are delish! Because I’m from Germany and we don’t like it quite as sweet as in the US I cut the sugar to 2/3 in the batter. And for the icing I did mix the butter and creamcheese with half a cup of good quality raspberry jam and added 100ml of stiff whipped heavy cream, is not that sweet and after one hour in the fridge makes a perfect consistancy. The choclate cupcakes themselves are perfect, very moist and not crumbly, will use this reciepe for other choclate stuff for sure 🙂
So glad you enjoyed them and made them work for you! 🙂
Hi Melanie, for making the ganache, is the whipping cream also similar as heavy cream? Or do I need to whip it with a mixer? Then I boil it? Sorry such a silly question. Thank u
Vicky,
Sorry, I should have put “heavy whipping cream”. That’s what I meant. So yes, heavy cream. Don’t whip it.
These cupcakes are so beautiful! I really want to make these for Valentine’s day. They are so sweet and romantic! I am sure they taste delicious also. I love your photos! They are so beautiful.
Thank you so much Destiny! These are perfect for Valentine’s Day! They’re one of my favorite cupcakes. You’ll love ’em!
My son made this recipe for their cupcake wars in culinary class. He brought me two home with just the ganache (their practice run) – OMG these were so good. The cupcake was moist and had a great flavor. The ganache was perfect with the cupcake. I’ve decided to make this my dessert when I host bunco this week. I can’t wait to try them with the raspberry frosting! Oh and my son is going to help me make these, so double win.
That is so awesome to hear your son made these in his class. How fun! I’m glad you got to try one too. They’re delicious!
You stole this recipe and the photos AND BASICALLY THE ENTIRE POST from http://www.handletheheat.com/raspberry-chocolate-cupcakes/ and then put your blog on the pictures! How vile.
If you click the link you included you’ll see my picture at the top and bottom of the post on Handle the Heat blog. Sorry for the misunderstanding David, but I am the creator of this recipe. I was a contributor for Handle the Heat where I first posted this recipe and then shared it on my blog here months later as per my agreement with Tessa. Thanks for watching out for us bloggers though! There are websites that are stealing bloggers’ hard work, but I’m not one of them. 🙂
I can’t wait to make this recipe, It looks amazing, I love Raspberries, it’s pretty funny that my last name is Raspberry.
That is awesome your last name is Raspberry! Good thing you’re not allergic or that would be kinda weird. haha! You’ll love these!
The butter and cream cheese were both room temp. I don’t have a microwave. I suppose it was the raspberries. I would say my 1/2 cup was slightly overflowing. I didn’t realize it would make such a difference. Next time less raspberries and slightly colder butter/cream cheese? Thanks for your help!
Hi, Melanie. I just finished making these cupcakes. Sadly the frosting was a terrible flop :-(. It was way too runny. I kept adding more confectioners sugar, but it wouldn’t help. I tried more cream cheese but it was a no go. Can you help? Thank you!
Sorry to just see this Amanda! I’m thinking that maybe your butter or cream cheese was too soft. Did you leave it out to come to room temperature or put it in the microwave. You also might have added too many berries to the puree?
Oh and one thing more; serves 15? As i can make 15 cupcakes out of this receipe?
yes. 15 cupcakes
Hi! Can i replace buttermilk with a normal cow milk and also cocoa powder with a “normal” shop chocolate, (so ill add a bit more choxolate instead of powder) ?
Im planning to make these tomorrow for my friends 🙂
Thanks, x
You can make your own buttermilk by placing 1/2 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice in a 1/2 cup measuring cup and then filling the rest with milk. Let it sit for 5 minutes to allow it to curdle. I haven’t substituted the cocoa powder for more chocolate so I’m not sure how much to do and how it will change the texture. Let me know if you do try it and how it works.
So excited for you guys!! Thanks for the recipe!!
Do you use cake flour?
Do I need to refrigerate the cupcakes if I made them a day ahead with frosting? We are almost at the end of winter. Thanks
Oh my, these look amazing! That chocolate, the frosting, the fresh raspberry on top – it looks so good and appealing. This is one recipe to bookmark on my to do list!
Oana- Thank you! You’ll love them!
Wow those look amazing! Love the fresh raspberries in the frosting, sounds like an awesome companion to chocolate cupcakes 🙂
Thank you June! I’m sure addicted to them! 🙂
39 weeks, congrats!!! I love these cupcakes and your photos are gorgeous!!! I don’t clean out our van as often as I should either. It can be a lot of work!
Now these are STUNNING!! Your photos are gorgeous and I love the flavour combination, scheduled to pin and yummed! 🙂
These are so cute! Love a good raspberry/chocolate dessert, and the decorating is lovely 🙂
Yum! These look absolutely delicious!
These look amazingly delicious! Your frosting game is on point!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Thanks Paige! This frosting has a really great consistency making it easier to work with, plus how can pink frosting not look good!? haha!