Fermented sourdough chocolate cupcakes are a decadent and deliciously rich chocolate cake topped with cream cheese buttercream frosting. Great for a birthday celebration or a fun weekend dessert, the slight sourdough tang makes this recipe especially delicious.
The first time I made these sourdough cupcakes was for a special date night in with Luke. I lit candles, prepared a fancy dinner, and to top it off, we enjoyed this dessert at the end.
It’s truly the best way to finish up a date night. A light, fluffy, slightly tangy, but incredible rich chocolate cake covered in the best cream cheese buttercream frosting. Twist my arm. How could anyone resist?
I love long fermentation. I’ve gone in depth on the blog, YouTube, and my podcast about how we utilize fermented grains and sourdough in our home.
Creating sourdough recipes has become a passion of mine. Not just your run of the mill sourdough bread, but expanding it to include cookies, brownies, pumpkin rolls, cobbler, muffins, and much, much more.
The fermentation process breaks down the phytic acid and gluten in the flour, making more of the nutrients available for your body to absorb, and easier for digestion.
Often, I’m asked what the key to sourdough is. And honestly, it is to just start and don’t give up. So many people are on day five of creating their sourdough starter and it’s still flat. They toss it and give up.
Don’t do that. Continue to feed it, and I promise you that you will have an active, wild yeast full product that you will be able to use to make so many yummy creations. The possibilities are endless.
Sourdough Chocolate Cupcake Tips:
- If you are new to sourdough, check out how to create your own sourdough starter here.
- Pinched for time? You can skip the overnight fermentation and just use sourdough discard.
- Active sourdough starter or sourdough discard will work in this recipe.
- Coffee and chocolate go perfectly together in this recipe, giving it a richer, deeper chocolate flavor.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.
Tools:
Measuring cups and spoons
Ice cream scoop (optional, a dry measuring cup also works well)
How To Make Sourdough Chocolate Cupcakes
The Day Before:
In a bowl, mix together the following ingredients just until combined: flour, sourdough starter, coconut oil, and water. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and allow to sit overnight or up to 24 hours.
The Next Day:
Preheat the oven to 350º F and line or grease muffin tins.
In a large bowl, mix together sucanat or rapadura (regular sugar would work, as well), salt, and finely ground coffee (optional).
To the dry ingredients, add eggs, vanilla, cocoa powder, and whole milk.
Next, add the sourdough mixture into the egg, sugar, and milk mixture. Whisk to incorporate until smooth. I like to make this in the stand mixer, because it is so much easier to incorporate.
Lastly, sprinkle in baking soda and mix well.
Add equal amounts of sourdough cupcake batter to each well. I love using an ice cream scoop for this, a measuring cup also works well.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Remove from the oven. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes and allow them to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
Make The Cream Cheese Frosting:
In a large bowl or stand mixer, add room temperature butter and cream cheese.
Cream together with a whisk attachment until well combined.
Add vanilla and salt.
On slow speed, slowly add powdered sugar.
Once the sugar is added, turn speed to medium and allow the frosting to become nice and fluffy.
Place into a piping bag (or just place in a large ziplock back and snip the corner off) and pipe onto the cupcakes.
Decorate with chocolate chips, sprinkles, strawberries, etc.
Find More Delicious Sourdough Desserts:
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone
Sourdough Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup sourdough starter
- 1 cup water
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups sucanat or rapadura, regular sugar would also work
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon finely ground coffee, optional
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3/4 cup cocoa
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
Frosting
- 1/2 cup butter, room temp
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temp
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix together the following ingredients just until combined: flour, sourdough starter, coconut oil, and water.
- Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and allow to sit overnight or up to 24 hours.
The next day:
- Preheat the oven to 350º F. In a large bowl, mix together sucanat or rapadura, salt, and finely ground coffee (optional).
- To the dry ingredients, add eggs, vanilla, cocoa powder, and whole milk. Next, add the sourdough mixture into the egg, sugar, and milk mixture. Whisk to incorporate until smooth.
- Lastly, sprinkle in baking soda and mix well.
- Grease or line muffin tin, then add equal amounts of sourdough cupcake batter to each well. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes and allow them to cool completely before frosting.
Make Frosting:
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, add room temperature butter and cream cheese.
- Cream together with a whisk attachment until well combined.Add vanilla and salt. On slow speed, slowly add powdered sugar. Once the sugar is added, turn speed to medium and allow the frosting to become nice and fluffy.
- Place into a bag for piping and pipe onto the cupcakes. Decorate with chocolate chips, sprinkles, strawberries, etc.
Notes
- You can use active sourdough starter or sourdough discard.
- Ferment this recipe for more health benefits or just mix it up and bake without fermenting.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Just curious what type of coconut oil you use? Unrefined or refined and is there a certain brand you recommend?
Unrefined. I typically purchase it in bulk from Azure.
I know you have vanilla cake recipes, but I would like to make a cupcake recipe with an overnight ferment like this one…without cocoa. Do you have any suggestions for making this un-chocolatey? Thanks!
You can long ferment my vanilla cake recipe and just make them into cupcakes instead! https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/sourdough-vanilla-cake
This was so delicious! Can we freeze the cupcakes and the frosting separately?
I don’t see why not!
Finally, we ate it all too quickly to be freeze!
Can I use butter instead of coconut oil?
Yes
How do you keep the coconut oil from going back to a solid after sitting at room temperature overnight? My house is about ~68 degrees. I microwaved the mixture in small increments but not sure that’s the best idea haha
There really is no way to keep it from going solid again, but it’s not a problem if it is already incorporated.
Hello! I’m just mixing this up and googled gram conversions. I did 250g of better batter flour, 108g coconut oil, 138g starter, and 240g water. I melted the coconut oil as it was solidified prior to adding to the mixture (and allowed to slightly cool). The batter didn’t absorb all of the coconut oil and it looks like it’s just sitting in liquid. How should this look? Should I start over?
Oh no! My guess is that it had something to do with the gf flour. I’ve never used this type of flour and not sure how it absorbs or mixes, or how it substitutions cup for cup. Sorry that happened. It should be like fluffier pancake batter.
I need to make white or yellow cupcakes; how much additional flour should I use to replace the cocoa powder in these?
I have a vanilla cake recipe as well: https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/sourdough-vanilla-cake
Hey Lisa! I’m wondering if this recipe would convert easily to a 9×13 pan cake?
All your recipes work out so well for me! Thank you for the inspiration.
Yes. Grease a 9×13 pan, bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Could honey or maple syrup be substituted for the sucanat as well?
I think that may change the moisture and consistency too much in this recipe.
Thanks for sharing! How far ahead of time can I make them?
You can make them up to a month in advance and freeze them. Just thaw a day before you want to frost and serve. If you don’t want to freeze them, just make them a day (maybe two) in advance and store in an air-tight container.
This looks so good ! What a great way to enjoy a treat Mae the right way!