Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting for Two are moist with a buttery vanilla flavor and are perfect for when you need just a little something sweet!
Celebrations in general and weddings in particular call for cake. It’s just one of those unwritten laws of the universe.
But sometimes just a random Tuesday calls for cupcakes too. Or maybe it’s New Year’s Eve and it’s just you and your sweetie ringing in the New Year at home.
When things like that happen, you sure as heck don’t want to have to whip up a whole batch of cupcakes! Or even worse, buy a whole batch. (Because the mark-up when you buy cupcakes is absolutely ridiculous, lol.)
Enter these Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting for Two. They’re rich with a buttery vanilla flavor and deep yellow color, thanks to egg yolk. Use a good-quality butter here because you’ll really be able to taste the flavor.
And bonus, you can whip up these Yellow Cupcakes in the same amount of time it takes to run to the bakery and pick up a couple cupcakes! Now go ahead and make these, and get celebrating whatever in your life calls for celebration, even if it’s just the fact that it’s a Tuesday evening.
Perfect Yellow Cupcake Recipe
These cupcakes are essentially yellow butter cake. They’re rich and moist with rich buttery, vanilla flavor. And you can easily adjust the recipe up to feed more people if necessary!
Yellow Cupcakes Ingredients:
- Unsalted butter or clarified butter (ghee)
- Sugar
- Milk
- Egg yolk
- Pure vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Ground mahlab (optional)
Chocolate Frosting Ingredients:
- Unsalted butter
- Powdered sugar
- Unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- Pure vanilla extract
- Salt
- Espresso powder
- Milk
Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting For Two – For a Sweet Event!
I made these cupcakes to celebrate a virtual bridal shower for Meriem of Culinary Couture. (Shout out to Nora of A Clean Bake for organizing it!) The theme of our shower is “Made for Each Other” (cue the collective awwww! So cute), and our recipes feature a delicious ingredient pairing. I knew I wanted cake to be involved (it just feels right) and I decided to deviate from my norm.
I used to be a strictly chocolate cake kind of girl, but delving headfirst into buttery yellow cake bliss like this has shown me the folly of my ways. The question was what kind of frosting to pair with yellow cake? For me, it had to be a fudgy chocolate buttercream frosting, no question.
I took it one step further with the wedding theme and made a recipe that makes just two darling little cupcakes. Because there are inevitably times when you and your honey want a fabulous cupcake without having an extra ten cupcakes lying around the house.
In addition to celebrating her wedding, this is also my gift to Meriem. I hope she gets much use out of it. (I know I will! Since developing this recipe, I’ve already made it twice, one time doubling the batch for a small dinner party and the other time because a craving for cupcakes hit hard.)
Pro Tip: If you’re looking for a recipe for two chocolate cupcakes, head over here.
And here’s what everyone else is bringing to the party:
- Cheese and Charcuterie Board from Hall Nesting
- Chocolate Chip Banana Cupcakes from Blahnik Baker
- Mini Lemon Cheesecakes from What Jessica Baked Next
- Mocha Cupcakes from Baking a Moment
- Paleo Brookies from A Clean Bake
More Sweet Treat Recipes for Two:
- Carrot Cake with Maple Buttercream for Two
- Small Batch Skillet Brownie for Two
- Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes for Two
- Small Batch Oatmeal Cookies with Icing
- Fudgy Dark Chocolate Cookie Sandwiches with Raspberry Buttercream for Two
- Small Batch Maple Walnut Scones for Two
Did you make this recipe? Please rate it and leave a comment below because I love hearing from you! You can also tag @anediblemosaic on social media. To stay up-to-date FOLLOW ME on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Xoxo, Faith
Yellow Cake Cupcakes with Fudgy Chocolate Buttercream for Two
Ingredients
Yellow Cupcakes:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or clarified butter or clarified butter (ghee), melted and cooled slightly (see Note)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk whole or reduced-fat
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch ground mahlab optional
Chocolate Frosting:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 4 tablespoon powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch espresso powder
- Milk as needed to reach your desired consistency
Instructions
Yellow Cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a cupcake tray with 2 paper liners.
- Beat together the melted butter and sugar, and then beat in the milk, egg yolk, and vanilla. Sift in the flour, baking powder, salt, and mahlab (if using), and stir just to combine.
- Pour into the 2 lined cupcake wells and bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 to 22 minutes.
- Cool completely.
Chocolate Frosting:
- When the cupcakes are cool, make the frosting. Beat together the butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, salt, and espresso powder.
- If the frosting needs to be thinned out, add milk in 1/2 teaspoon increments while beating until it reaches your desired consistency.
To Serve:
- Frost the cooled cupcakes and top with sprinkles if desired.
Faith's Tips
- Unsalted Butter or Clarified Butter: Clarified butter will yield a deeper yellow cake with a slightly denser crumb, but both will work here.
- To Double This Recipe for 4 Servings: Everything is easy to double in this recipe except the egg; you can (of course) just use 2 large egg yolks, but this also works using 1 large egg for a double batch.
Nutrition
This post was first published on An Edible Mosaic on April 29, 2016. I updated it with more information on April 17, 2020.
Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links to products I believe in, which means that even though it doesn’t cost you anything extra, I will receive a small amount of money from the sale of these items. Thank you for helping to support An Edible Mosaic!
I’m Faith Gorsky, the writer, cook, and photographer behind An Edible Mosaic. My goal is to inspire you to get in the kitchen and try something new! Feel free to 
The texture and crumb of these looks absolutely perfect! Thank you so much for joining us for the shower, Faith. :)
What a great little indulgence made for two! Oh, I need to share? Better double the batch for Dave :)
These look so yummy, Faith! And I love that they’re scaled down for two!
Oh gosh, I need a good yellow cake recipe. I can’t wait to try this beauty!!
I love smaller sized desserts – these look spectacular. sharing this one to my FB page!
That yellow crumb looks irresistible!! Gorgeous photos, too.
I was LITERALLY just thinking about making a batch of some classic buttery yellow cupcakes with chocolate buttercream. You read my mind! Thank you SO much for being part of my virtual shower; me and my hubby will definitely appreciate this recipe for many years to come! Aren’t I lucky his sweet tooth is just as big as mine? :-D
You can never have too much chocolate, especially in fudgey buttercream form! These cupcakes look so yummy!
This reminds me of the cupcakes parents would bring in for us for birthdays at school. So nostalgic for me :)
I love you make it all from scratch. The cake looks moist and fluffy. and the chocolate buttercream absolutely my fave
These cupcakes look delicious! When I was little yellow cake with chocolate frosting was my absolute favorite.