This Marble Cupcake recipe is the perfect one to try when you can't pick between vanilla cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes because it combines the best of both worlds in the most delicious, soft, and moist cupcakes ever!
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These cupcakes are quick and easy to make and will give you foolproof results every single time while using pantry-staple ingredients! You'll end up with cupcakes that combine vanilla and chocolate flavors into beautiful marble swirls that look stunning and taste amazing too!
It's one of my favorite cupcake recipes that'll give you cupcakes that go well with vanilla buttercream and chocolate frosting! Mix and match your frostings for an unforgettable combination that your family will love!
🥘 INGREDIENTS YOU'LL NEED
This cupcake recipe is incredibly easy to make from scratch; fortunately, you'll only need pantry-staple ingredients to make this delicious treat at home.
You can scroll down to the recipe card for further details and instructions.
All-purpose flour: No need for cake flour, but you can use it if it's all you have at home. Check the notes for more details.
Butter: Butter adds a delicious richness and depth to the recipe, so make sure you use good quality butter in your recipe. You'll need unsalted butter here, but omit the salt in this recipe if you have salted butter.
Vanilla extract: We'll use vanilla extract in our vanilla cupcake batter recipe for a classic vanilla flavor. Pick a good-quality vanilla extract to get the best flavor!
Cocoa powder: We'll mix some cocoa powder (and other ingredients) into our vanilla batter to get chocolate cupcake batter that we'll swirl together! You'll need some unsweetened cocoa powder to do this.
🔪 HOW TO MAKE
Making these delicious and beautiful marble cupcakes at home is incredibly simple! Once you try this recipe, you'll never want to have store-bought cupcakes again!
The full instructions are in the recipe card below, but let's look at the main steps to making this dessert.
Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
Step 2:
In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, melted butter, oil, vanilla extract, and salt and beat it with a hand mixer until it turns smooth. Now add the egg, milk, and yogurt one by one while mixing them each time. Then sift in flour and baking powder and mix it all for a few seconds but don't worry about the lumps.
Step 3:
Separate a cup from the vanilla batter and add cocoa powder and heavy cream to it. Then spoon in alternating tablespoons of vanilla and chocolate batter into a cupcake liner and swirl the batters together in a zigzag motion using a toothpick or a kewer.
Step 4:
Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 23 to 25 minutes or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean.
Step 5:
Place the cupcakes on a wire rack and let them cool completely before piping some homemade buttercream frosting on top.
💭 COOKING TIPS
- When using salted butter, omit the salt from the recipe.
- Keep in mind that the chocolate batter is thicker than the vanilla batter. Hence the vanilla batter is spooned first into the cupcake liner.
- Keep all the ingredients at room temperature, so the cupcakes cook evenly.
- If you are not fond of the yogurt flavor in your cake, then replace the three tablespoons of plain yogurt with two tablespoons of sour cream.
- Instead of all-purpose flour, you can use cake flour with the same measurements.
- Use high-quality unsweetened cocoa powder to have a robust chocolate flavor.
📖 DELICIOUS VARIATIONS
This recipe is perfect as it is, but if you want to customize it, here are a few ideas you can try:
Other flavors: This marble cupcake recipe includes a vanilla cupcake batter that can be the perfect base for any other marble flavor combination you want to try! So experiment with your favorite extracts to change things up.
Frosting: The easiest way to customize this recipe is by varying the frosting you add on top. You can check out my vanilla buttercream frosting for flavors that go perfectly with these cupcakes!
Nuts: You can add your favorite nuts, such as chopped walnuts, almonds, pecans, or even pistachios, to the batter or sprinkle them on top of your frosting before serving the cupcakes.
💬 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
While most other recipes will have you make separate batters for both vanilla and chocolate, this recipe combines the two to give you both batters with only one additional step! So, no, you don't need to make separate batters since you can take some vanilla batter and convert it into chocolate batter!
It's super easy to create the marble swirl effect! Just scoop the vanilla batter and then the chocolate batter on top and keep layering them, then take a toothpick and create a zigzag motion in the batter. Don't over-mix it!
🍲 MORE CAKE RECIPES YOU'LL LOVE
🌡️ STORING
Fridge: Store any leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Cover it with plastic wrap before placing it in the container to ensure it stays nice and moist.
Freezer: You can also freeze your cupcakes before frosting them by covering them individually with plastic wrap. Freeze them for up to three months! Let them thaw in the fridge overnight before adding buttercream frosting to them.
📖 Recipe
Marble Cupcake Recipe
Ingredients
Vanilla batter
- 1 ½ cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup melted unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoon plain yogurt
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup milk
Chocolate batter
- 1 cup vanilla cake batter
- 2 ½ tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoon heavy cream or milk
Instructions
TO MAKE THE VANILLA BATTER
- Preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, melted butter, oil, vanilla extract, and salt. Beat with a hand mixer until smooth.
- Add the egg and beat until combined. Now add the yogurt and milk and beat for a minute.
- Sif in the flour and baking powder and mix the ingredients until combined for a few seconds. Do not worry about the small lumps.
TO MAKE THE CHOCOLATE BATTER
- In a bowl, add a cup from the vanilla batter to it add the cocoa powder and heavy cream.
- Mix the ingredients until combined.
- Spoon a tablespoon from the vanilla batter into each cupcake liner. Top the previous layer with a tablespoon from the chocolate batter, then another layer of vanilla and another from the chocolate batter. Swirl the batters together in a zig zag motion using a toothpick or a skewer as shown in the video.
- Bake the cupcake in the preheated oven for 23 to 25 minutes.
- The cupcakes are ready to come out of the oven when you insert a toothpick in the middle of the cupcake and comes out clean.
- Place the cupcakes on a wire rack to cool completely and then frost using buttercream frosting.
Video
Notes
- When using salted butter, omit the salt from the recipe.
- Remember that the chocolate batter is thicker than the vanilla batter, hence the vanilla batter is spooned first into the cupcake liner. It will take a longer time to bake if you pull the cupcake before the time the vanilla batter part is cooked through.
- To be on the safe side, remove one cupcake from the oven and cut it in half to see the inside and check if it's cooked through.
- If the vanilla part looks undercooked, leave the cupcakes a little longer in the oven. Keep all the ingredients at room temperature, so the cupcakes cook evenly.
- If you are not fond of the yogurt flavor in your cake, then replace the three tablespoons of plain yogurt with two tablespoons of sour cream.
- Instead of all-purpose flour, you can use cake flour with the same measurements.
- Use high-quality unsweetened cocoa powder to have a robust chocolate flavor.
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