The only things I love more than cupcakes are bite-sized mini cupcakes! I've included recipes for both mini vanilla cupcakes and mini chocolate cupcakes, as well as my classic vanilla and chocolate buttercream!
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Why You'll Love These Mini Cupcakes!
Equal frosting to cake ratio - Hands down the best thing about mini cupcakes is that you get equal parts cake and frosting for the perfect bite!!
Perfect birthday cupcakes - These mini cupcakes are a super fun birthday party dessert that both kids and adults will love!
Easy to customize - You can customize these mini cupcakes to your taste with different flavored frostings, fun colors, different piping tips, or your favorite decorations!
You might also like these bite-sized mini chocolate chip cookies!
Ingredient Notes
There's just a few small differences in the ingredients between the chocolate and vanilla cupcakes.
- Cake flour - I always use cake flour in my baked goods because it makes them super soft and tender, but all purpose flour also works great!
- Vanilla bean paste - I love using vanilla bean paste for a more concentrated vanilla flavor. But you can also use regular vanilla extract instead!
- Butter vs Vegetable oil - I like to use melted butter in the vanilla cupcakes for extra flavor. But since cocoa powder can make the cupcakes more dry, I like to use vegetable oil in the chocolate cupcakes to keep them extra moist! You can also use canola oil or a neutral olive oil.
- Cocoa powder - My absolute favorite cocoa powder to use in my baking is the King Arthur Flour Triple Cocoa Blend! It's a blend of natural, Dutch, and black cocoa and is perfect for any baking. But you can easily substitute unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa instead!
- Dark chocolate - For an extra smooth chocolate buttercream, I like to add a little melted dark chocolate. If desired, you can use milk chocolate instead.
- Sprinkles - I like using rainbow sprinkles for the vanilla cupcakes and chocolate sprinkles for the chocolate cupcakes! But you can decorate the mini cupcakes however you like!
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
Mini Vanilla Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 24 cup mini cupcake pan with mini cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and sugar until smooth. Add in the egg and vanilla bean paste and whisk until fully incorporated.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix half of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then add in the milk. Once incorporated, add in the remaining dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Fill each cupcake liner about ¾ full (about 1 tablespoon of batter). Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
Frost the mini vanilla cupcakes with vanilla bean buttercream and garnish with rainbow sprinkles if desired!
Mini Chocolate Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 24 cup mini cupcake pan with mini cupcake liners.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil and sugar. Then whisk in the egg until fully combined and smooth.
Gently mix in half the dry ingredients. Then add in the milk and the remaining dry ingredients and mix until just combined. The batter will be thin.
Fill each cupcake liner about ¾ full (about 1 tablespoon of batter). Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. Let the mini chocolate cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
Frost the mini cupcakes with chocolate buttercream and garnish with chocolate sprinkles if desired!
Tips for the Best Baked Goods
Use room temperature ingredients! Always make sure ingredients like butter, eggs, milk, yogurt, etc. are at room temperature before baking (unless the recipe indicates otherwise)! This ensures they'll incorporate into the batter more easily and leads to overall better texture. Remove all ingredients from the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before baking for best results.
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. [Measure cocoa powder the same way!]
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature.
Make sure you baking powder is fresh! Baking powder is important for helping baked goods rise properly, but it has a relatively short shelf life once opened, so it's one of the few items I never buy in bulk! To test if your baking powder is still fresh, add a small amount to boiling water. If it bubbles it's still good to use, but if not it's time to toss it!
Mini Cupcake Decorating Tips
My favorite baking pan to use is the 24 cup USA Pan mini cupcake pan!
For mini cupcakes, you need mini cupcake liners! My favorites in different colors are:
- Natural tan mini cupcake liners (my absolute favorite brand of cupcake liners!)
- Chocolate brown mini cupcake liners
- Classic white mini cupcake liners (these are the easiest to find in stores)
I personally like using the different color cupcake liners because they look more seamless, but that's just me being a perfectionist.
Make sure you let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting!!
For these mini cupcakes, I like to use different piping tips to add variety! I love this Wilton Decorating Kit because it has a ton of tips in different sizes.
Sprinkles are a fun, easy decoration for these mini cupcakes, but you could use any decorations you want!
Recipe FAQ's
The mini cupcakes are best the same day, but will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days! However, they taste best when served at room temperature! I like to let them sit at room temperature for about an hour before serving.
Each recipe makes 24 mini cupcakes (so 48 total if you make both)! If you'd rather make full size cupcakes, I have a lot of similar recipes to choose from!
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
More Cupcake Recipes You Might Like!
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Recipe Card
Mini Cupcakes
Ingredients
Mini Vanilla Cupcakes
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, substitute vanilla extract
- ¾ cup cake flour, substitute all purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- pinch kosher salt
- ¼ cup whole milk
Vanilla Buttercream
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, substitute vanilla extract
- 1-3 tablespoons heavy cream, as needed
- rainbow sprinkles, optional
Mini Chocolate Cupcakes
- ¼ cup vegetable oil, substitute canola oil or neutral olive oil
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ½ cup cake flour, substitute all purpose flour
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- pinch kosher salt
- ¼ cup whole milk
Chocolate Buttercream
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 ounces dark chocolate, melted and cooled
- 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream, as needed
- chocolate sprinkles, optional
Instructions
- You don't have to make both flavors, you can easily do just one or the other!
Mini Vanilla Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 24 cup mini cupcake pan with mini cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and sugar until smooth. Add in the egg and vanilla bean paste and whisk until fully incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix half of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then add in the milk. Once incorporated, add in the remaining dry ingredients and mix until just combined. The batter should be thick.*
- Fill each cupcake liner about ¾ full (about 1 tablespoon of batter).
- Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. Let the mini vanilla cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
Vanilla Buttercream
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the room temperature butter and powdered sugar until smooth.
- Add in the vanilla bean paste and beat the frosting on high for 4-5 minutes until lightly and fluffy.
- If needed, add in cream 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
- Frost the mini vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and garnish with rainbow sprinkles if desired!
Mini Chocolate Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 24 cup mini cupcake pan with mini cupcake liners.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil and sugar. Then whisk in the egg until fully combined and smooth.
- Gently mix in half the dry ingredients. Then add in the milk and the remaining dry ingredients and mix until just combined. The batter will be thin.*
- Fill each cupcake liner about ¾ full (about 1 tablespoon of batter).
- Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. Let the mini chocolate cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
Chocolate Buttercream
- Melt the dark chocolate and let cool almost to room temperature. It should be melted but cool to the touch. I prefer to melt the chocolate in the microwave in intervals of 20 seconds, stirring each time.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the room temperature butter and powdered sugar until smooth.
- Add in the cocoa powder and mix until fully combined.
- Set the mixer to low speed and slowly drizzle in the melted chocolate until it's fully incorporated into the buttercream. Beat the frosting on high for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
- If the frosting in too thick, add in 1 tablespoon of cream at a time to thin it out a bit.
- Frost the mini cupcakes with chocolate buttercream and garnish with chocolate sprinkles if desired!
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Nicki says
Delicious and easy recipes! Added a little lavender to the vanilla recipe and a little cardamom to the chocolate recipe.
Trish says
I made these for my 6yo to take to school for his classmates for his birthday, and used the extras for a picnic the day before - they’re so delicious! My son especially loved the chocolates ones, and they’re super cute dusted with a little powdered sugar if you don’t have time to whip up the equally delicious buttercream.
Rissa says
have tried a handful of mini Cupcake recipes this week, and this one is by far my fav and even better, my 4yo loved them too! I am adding to my recipe arsenal! ❤️
Sarah says
super recipe, the cakes are gorgeous, made them today for a birthday party tomorrow
if I frost them today will they be OK for tomorrow?
Kyleigh Sage says
Yes they should be fine! They'll just need to be refrigerated once frosted. The cake tastes more dense when chilled so just be sure to let them sit at room temp for a while before serving for the best texture!
Betty says
Best and favorite recipe. Ive attempted so many chocolate cupcake recipes and none of them can beat this one. Yummy❤️
Jj says
Hey just a few questions…can I use margarine instead of butter?
Also is there a way to make half of love to do 12 of each instead of 24 of each
Kyleigh Sage says
I haven't tested these with margarine but it should work! I don't really recommend trying to half the recipe just because it would be such small quantities that are kind of hard to half; but if you do just note that to half 1 egg - whisk it and measure it with a measuring cup or scale and then use half.
Barbara says
I made the vanilla Mimi cupcakes and decorated with the buttercream frosting, dyed green to look like grass and added a jelly bean! Everyone loved them. The taste was great! I will make again!
Carola says
Awesome recipe! Made vanilla and chocolate mini cupcakes and they are delicious and soft!🤗
Palmer says
I just made the chocolate ones and they were so good I couldn't stop eating them!
Adriea says
Excellent recipe! Great taste and the frosting was perfect.
Sharon says
Can you freeze the cupcake without frosting and frost at a later time?
Kyleigh Sage says
Yes!! You’ll just want to make sure they’re fully thawed to room temperature before frosting and serving for the best texture
Susan Chapman says
I measured the ingredients exactly, including sifting the flour. The batter made enough for 18 cupcakes using 1 TBSP per cup.They rose just over yhe top. The cupcakes were moist and flavourful.
Nora says
I loved it and so did my neighbors! We had a tea party with them and they were perfect!
Flower says
Normally i never commen, but for this one i had too.
This is the best recipe i try, exactly what i was looking for.
Allison says
Girl, you are a lifesaver with this post!!! I needed just this for my daughter’s birthday tomorrow. The cupcakes came out perfect— domed, moist, light, delicious!! Thank you!!!