Mini chocolate cupcakes at 350 degrees with cake mix or homemade ingredients are super fun and easy to make. Kids love this easy dessert, just pop in your mouth. Once you get the hang of these you can try our mini banana muffins and more!
Mini chocolate chip muffins are a fun breakfast or dessert to make with your kids. We have lots of cute cupcake recipes on our site but this one doubles as a snack too. Leave them plain or add frosting for added YUM. (affiliate links present)
How Long to Bake Mini Chocolate Cupcakes at 350
We shared recently how long to bake mini muffins, that was just the beginning to all of our experimenting. These can cross the line between dessert and breakfast but you can use your favorite flavors to make these pop in your mouth copycat little bites muffins. Bake time is literally the same at about 10 minutes give or take.
Use the same recipe for “regular” sizes at 18 minutes or make jumbo Costco chocolate muffins that look like the store bought versions you love so much. The flavor doesn’t change just because they’re different sizes but sometimes fun means they are tastier somehow. 😉
Mini Chocolate Cupcakes with Cake Mix
Of course you could use boxed or this is how to make cake mix on your own. You can add chocolate chips and call it a day. Homemade chocolate mini cupcakes / muffins are always better though and pretty simple overall. Ok let’s talk about the difference between the two….
The biggest is that one is sweeter than the other and tends to have frosting on the top too. Cupcakes usually feature specific flavors like chocolate, vanilla or strawberry whereas muffins typically come with fruit such as blueberry, lemon or raspberry.
The two words are kinda’ synonymous though, you can use whatever you want. This one crosses over the barrier of both. You don’t have to add frosting at all if you don’t want. They are fabulous just as is right out of the muffin pan if you ask me.
There isn’t a huge difference between baking these and our mini pumpkin muffins, other than the ingredients are different. Once you have the batter all prepared you will either line the holes with paper liners or spray with non stick spray. The timing and temperature will remain the same.
How to Make Mini Cupcakes
- In a large bowl you’re going to mix the sugar and room temperature butter together. Add eggs and mix again.
- Inside another bowl you’re going to mix together the dry ingredients; flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well.
- Combine the two, it will be crumbly at this point. Add the wet ingredients of vanilla and milk to the batter.
- Mix until the batter is light and fluffy.
- Prepare mini muffin tins with mini cupcake liners. Spoon approximately 1 ½ tsp of muffin batter into each liner.
- For more chocolate flavor you can put 2-3 chips on the very top and gently press in.
Bake inside a preheated oven at 350 degrees F. Now how long to bake mini cupcakes? It’s for approximately 10-12 minutes bake time. I remove when I touch in the center and it bounces back and/ or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before putting a dollop of chocolate buttercream on top.
If you need to make dairy free chocolate cupcakes that is easy to do also. I have to do this for my husband and just use almond milk instead, and a vegan plant based olive oil butter product. Literally tastes the same, we’ve done it.
Homemade Mini Chocolate Muffins Ingredients
- All purpose flour – make sure you measure flour properly with a measuring cup and spoon (no scooping) or they will be dense
- 3/4 c cocoa powder
- Baking powder and salt
- Some baking soda
- Butter softened, or plant based product
- White granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- Vanilla extract
- 1 c milk 2% or whole is best
This is a homemade mini chocolate cupcakes recipe of course. If you just wanted to use a box of cake mix with the ingredients needed at the back you could do so as well. You would make as directed on the box and then follow our baking time and temp below.
Ok so I love sweets but I am not a fancy baker by any means. Meaning it is fun to create sweets with my girls but I am not going to buy extra things and take a bunch of extra time to make them uber pretty. We just want to dive in and enjoy them and it doesn’t need to look perfect.
SO the easiest way we have frosted cupcakes for years is the cheapest. Just use a pint size freezer bag and spoon y’all. Seriously, it works amazing. I don’t make homemade, I buy a tub of frosting too. Don’t anyone have time for all of that other stuff. What you do is just;
How do you frost cupcakes for beginners
- Spoon frosting into the baggie
- Zip shut sucking all the air out
- Use hands to maneuver contents to one corner
- With scissors snip off the corner
- small snip will be tiny swirls
- large snip will create a thick swirl
- Gently squeeze it out of the hole and swirl it around on top of each one like a swirly ice cream cone
And that is all you do!! Easy peasy and so pretty for your guests or just your family. Easy clean up too, just throw it all alway when done, nothing to clean!!
You just need a finger for best results. Just touch in the center gently and if it springs back they are done. If the top sinks and doesn’t pop up when released it needs 2 more minutes, then check this way again.
You want to spray inside with non stick spray and don’t fill more than 2/3 of the way full for best results. Close the lid and cook the cupcakes for 5-8 minutes. The exact cooking time may vary depending on the type of batter
Mini Chocolate Cupcakes
Equipment
- 1 mini muffin pan
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 c all purpose flour
- 3/4 c cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp butter, softened
- 1.5 c sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 c milk, 2% or whole
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix sugar and softened butter together. Add eggs and mix again. In another bowl mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well.
- Combine the two, it will be crumbly at this point. Add vanilla and milk to the batter. Mix until the batter is light and fluffy.
- Prepare mini cupcake tins with cupcake liners. Spoon approximately 1 ½ tsp of batter into each liner. Bake inside a preheated oven at 350 degrees F. for approximately 11-12 minutes (or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean).
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
