Make chocolate cupcakes the easy (and decadent!) way by using a cake mix and then adding a few more ingredients to make them extra special!
Do you make or buy cakes for your kids’ birthdays? In our family it’s kind of a tradition to make them. The kids look forward to choosing what/who they want on their cakes every year. For my son’s latest birthday he wanted chocolate cupcakes. I was delighted because they are so much less time and labor intensive than decorating a cake.
As much as we love making our kids happy, we always try to avoid spending unnecessary time in the kitchen. That’s where these delicious chocolate cupcakes come in. They are quick and simple, but so moist, rich, and chocolaty!
“Doctored-Up” Chocolate Cupcakes
We started with a devil’s food cake mix and added the ingredients called for on the box. To that, add one extra egg, substituting milk for water, 1 cup sour cream, a chocolate instant pudding mix, and vanilla. 
Frost them with your favorite frosting. We love cream cheese frosting on a chocolate cupcake, so we included the our favorite frosting recipe below. Lu even made these fun swirled-frosting cupcakes for an ice cream themed party. I love they way they turned out! Cupcakes are always a hit with the kids, but even the adults will appreciate these ones!
Note: The rocketship cupcakes were frosted with a large round tip, and the “twist” frosting was done using a Wilton 1M tip.
Doctored-Up Chocolate Cake Mix Cupcakes
A few everyday ingredients make an ordinary cake mix cupcake extraordinary!
- 1 devil's food cake mix
- oil (eggs, and milk instead of water called for on box + 1 extra egg)
- 1 small package chocolate instant pudding
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- High Altitude: 2 tablepoons flour
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- 10 oz. cream cheese (chilled)
- 6½ tablespoons salted butter (at room temperature)
- 3¼ cups powdered sugar (sifted)
- 4 tsp. clear vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins with paper baking cups.
- Combine all ingredients for the cupcakes in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes.
- Fill each baking cup 1/2 -2/3 full. Bake for 19-23 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Remove to cooling rack and cool completely before frosting.
For the frosting
- Beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and salt and mix until incorporated. Stir in vanilla extract.
This recipe also works great in a bundt pan, but you may need to add a few minutes to the baking time on the box mix to compensate for the extra added moisture.
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Just made the Doctor Up Choc Cupcakes, taste wonderful but everyone of them caved in the middle, WHY????
The same thing happened to me. There was enough icing to make them almost “filled” but I believe there was too much effort re: the ingredients to make these worth repeating.