For when you can’t decide if you want a chocolate cupcake or a vanilla cupcake!
I have a few kitchen-tested, reader-approved, very trusty cupcake recipes on my website. Two favorites? These vanilla funfetti cupcakes and these chocolate cupcakes. I knew I wanted to make one of them, but was having trouble deciding which.
So I decided to jazz things up. Throw a curveball and surprise everyone with an irresistible medley of both chocolate AND vanilla. Ladies and gents, I bring you…
Ultimate Marble Cupcakes.
Lucky for both you and me, these cupcakes are a snap to make.
How to Make Marble Cupcakes
First, you do NOT have to make a vanilla cupcake batter and a chocolate cupcake batter. Thank goodness! Similar to how you make marble loaf cake, you’ll simply make my trusted vanilla cupcake recipe and add cocoa powder to part of its batter. Less dishes, less time, less headache!
The vanilla batter is all mixed together by hand in under 5 minutes. Once mixed, measure 3/4 cup of the batter and add to a medium mixing bowl with cocoa powder and a touch of milk. Since you’re adding more dry ingredients to this portion of the cupcake batter (the cocoa powder), you’ll need a touch of milk to thin it out.
The marbling part is not tricky at all. You’ll simply spoon some vanilla batter into your cupcake liners, then some chocolate batter, then some more vanilla batter on top. Take a toothpick and gently swirl it all together a couple times. I only swirled a few of my cupcakes because I wanted to see how each (swirling vs no swirling) turned out. The swirling looked the prettiest when baked up! Here are some visuals:
Now, let’s talk frosting. No cupcake is complete without it. If you’re anything like me, you like a little cupcake with a lot of frosting.
You’re going to make two frostings. My favorite vanilla frosting and my favorite chocolate frosting. There are a few options for frosting these cupcakes:
- Make both frostings and spread them each on your cupcakes however you’d like.
- Make either the vanilla frosting or the chocolate frosting (double the frosting recipes below to make sure there is enough for all 12 cupcakes) and frost the cupcakes with a knife or piping tip.
- Make swirled frosting using my How to Make Swirled Frosting page as a guide.
You’ll need a Wilton 1M piping tip and a piping bag if you choose the third option. All you do is spoon some vanilla frosting into one side of your piping bag and chocolate frosting into the other side. Then, pipe onto cupcakes in a swirl pattern:
Again, my how to make swirled frosting post has tons of visuals to help guide you. I also include how I use the Wilton 1M swirl piping tip. If you’re ever curious about how I frost my cupcakes, that’s a handy page to read!
So there you have it. A simple one-batter marble cupcake with velvety rich chocolate and vanilla frostings on top. Buttery vanilla paired with swirls of chocolate throughout every super-moist bite. Does it really get any better than this? Oh yes, it does.
Top with a sparkly pink candle and celebrate your ultimate awesomeness.
I can hardly wait for the birthday girls to taste their marbled treats!
*Don’t be overwhelmed by the ingredient list! A lot of the ingredients are just repeated for each part of the cupcake/frostings.
Print
Ultimate Marble Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 14 cupcakes
- Category: Cupcakes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Chocolate and vanilla marble cupcakes with chocolate and vanilla swirl frosting on top! These cupcakes are perfect for when you can’t decide between a chocolate or vanilla treat!
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 and 2/3 cups (209g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60g) yogurt*
- 3/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon (195ml) milk, divided*
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons (10g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
Milk Chocolate Frosting
- 1 and 3/4 cups (210g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/4 cup (21g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) heavy cream or half-and-half*
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- salt, to taste
Vanilla Frosting
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 and 3/4 cups (210g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) heavy cream or half-and-half*
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a 12-count muffin pan with cupcake liners and an additional pan with 2 liners. This recipe makes about 14 cupcakes. Set them aside.
- Make the cupcakes: in a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt butter in the microwave. Whisk in sugar—mixture will be gritty. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 minute. Stir in egg, yogurt, 3/4 cup milk, and vanilla extract until combined. Slowly mix in dry ingredients until no lumps remain. Batter will be thick. Transfer 3/4 cup of batter to another medium bowl. Mix in cocoa powder and 1 Tablespoon milk until combined. Chocolate batter will be thick.
- Spoon 1 Tablespoon of vanilla batter into each cupcake liner. Top with a spoonful of chocolate batter, then more vanilla batter on top until all batters have been used up. At this point you may swirl the batters together very lightly using a toothpick or leave them as is, as I explained in the post. Bake the cupcakes for 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.
- For the chocolate frosting: Sift together the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder to assure there are no lumps. Set aside. With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy—about 2 minutes. Gradually add the sifted sugar/cocoa powder alternately with the heavy cream and vanilla. Beat on low speed after each addition. Once all added, beat on high speed until creamy and combined for at least 2 minutes. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet.
- For the vanilla frosting: With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy—about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, cream, and vanilla extract with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 full minutes. Add more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin or more cream if frosting is too thick. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet.
- Frost cooled cupcakes with a knife or with a piping bag/tip. If you’d like to just make 1 kind of frosting and not both, make sure you double the frosting recipe of your choice to make sure there is enough for all cupcakes. To swirl the two frostings like I did, here is how to make swirled frosting. There may be leftover frosting depending how much you use on each cupcake.
- Store cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days and in the refrigerator up to 5. I recommend a cupcake carrier for storing and transporting decorated cupcakes.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Prepare cupcakes and frostings 1 day in advance. Keep cupcakes covered tightly at room temperature and the frosting covered tightly in the refrigerator. Unfrosted cupcakes can be frozen up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before frosting and serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-count Muffin Pan | Cupcake Liners | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Fine Mesh Sieve | Piping Bags (Disposable or Reusable) | Wilton 1M Piping Tip (or another favorite piping tip) | Cupcake Carrier (for storage)
- Yogurt & Milk: Use any kind of yogurt you like—Greek, regular, vanilla, plain, nonfat or low fat. You can use any milk you like, too—buttermilk, skim, 1%, 2%, almond, soy, etc.
- Cream: For the frosting, heavy cream or half-and-half will give your frostings the creamiest texture. You can use milk instead, keeping in mind the frostings won’t be as creamy.
- Single Layer Cake: Simply layer the chocolate and vanilla batters into a 9-inch round cake pan or 9-inch springform pan. Fill the pan 2/3 of the way full. There will be leftover batter for an additional cupcake or two. Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes.
- Mini Cupcakes: For 28 mini cupcakes, bake at 350°F (177°C) for 9-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Be sure to check out my 10 tips for baking the BEST cupcakes before you begin!
Still can’t decide? Here are a few more chocolate and vanilla cupcake recipes you’ll love:
I don’t usually write reviews but I had to drop one here. Just made these tonight and they were outstanding. I substituted buttermilk for the milk and added coffee grounds and Nutella to the chocolate batter and I used raspberry yogurt. They came out perfect, very flavorful and moist. Thanks for another outstanding recipe!
What type of yogurt would be best before baking
Hi Aria, you can use any kind of yogurt you like—Greek, regular, vanilla, plain, nonfat or low fat.
Is one batch enough for 24 mini cupcakes and how long do I cook it?
See recipe Notes! Mini Cupcakes: For 28 mini cupcakes, bake at 350°F (177°C) for 9-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Can I double this for a 9×13 pan.
Hi Susie, here’s everything you need to know about cake pan sizes and conversions. This cupcake batter makes about 3-4 cups of batter.
Hi! I did make two batches of the cupcakes. Would you recommend also making two batches of the frosting?
Hi Danielle! You can double the frosting recipe.
Hello!! I’ve tried this recipe for my sister’s birthday and it was so good so I wabted to make them again but I dont have sour cream and/or yogurt so I’m wondering if it will still work without them or is there any other substitute.
Hi Alyanna, if you have buttermilk, you could try swapping that for both the milk and the sour cream/yogurt. Otherwise, we would wait to make them until you have the needed ingredients. So glad you love these cupcakes!
Made these and they were delicious. Added in two tbsp of oil to the butter & sugar mixture in the beginning for extra moisture. And put the 3/4 cup & 1 tbsp milk into the sugar, oil, & butter mixture instead of adding the 1 tbsp milk into the chocolate part of batter. Great recipe!
Can I use sour cream instead of yogurt?
Yes you can!
Hi Sally and her team! I’m making this carrot cake for my mom’s 60th (surprise party)- carrot cake is her favorite – your recipes NEVER disappoint . I will be using 8 inch pans. What do I need to adjust, if anything? Or can I pour less batter into each pan? Also, can I adjust to be a four layer cake? Finally, I am making your marble cupcakes as well. Naturally, there’s alot of baking to do and decorating with fondant, can I make these recipes 2 days in advance? Thank you for your time in advance. Any insight is appreciated.
Can you double this recipe to make 28 cupcakes?
Hi Kiki! For absolute best results, we do recommend making two batches of cupcakes.
I made these cupcakes for my granddaughter, second birthday party They were a huge hit. Thank you.
Hi, can i use this receipe to make marble muffins? What amendments would i need to make? Btw, i tried your double chocolate muffins receipe and it was fantastic!!
Hi Kylie! You could leave off the frosting for a marble cupcake/muffin. If you want something less cakey, we would try making two muffin batters (our chocolate muffins and plain muffins) and marbling them – let us know. what you try!
Loved this recipe they are very tasty and I kept going back for more. I think I need some work on my end to perfect them though. They were moist which is lovely but they were also quite dense. I suspect I’m doing something wrong there. Also some had risen on there bottom, lifted off from the cupcake liner creating a dome under the cupcake. Not sure why that happened either. Going to try again over next few days and see if I can figure out my mistake with this recipe
Hi Sally, I made these cupcakes many times, but I want to make this into a 9×13 and a layered cake. What should I do?
Hi Gabie, see recipe notes for making these into a single layer cake!
Could this be poured in a 13×9 for a sheet cake? How would I adjust the bake time, if so?
Hi Allison! We would use the batter form our marble cake instead – see recipe notes for 9×13 cake instructions.
I made the 6″ Zebra cake before and it was delicious! I want to do another marble cake for my son’s birthday next month. How does this Marble cupcake recipe compare with the Zebra cake in terms of texture and taste? I will be making the 6″ cake version and prefer light and fluffy. Thank you for all your recipes!
Hi Kat, I don’t think you can go wrong with either. The zebra cake is a 9-inch cake though, but I’ve scaled it down before to be a 6-inch 3 layer cake and you can see that recipe here. I would say the zebra cake is a bit fluffier.
Hi Sally! I love your recipes, they are so good! One quick question. Is there a significant difference, in your opinion, to using yogurt as opposed to sour cream? I tend to use sour cream is most recipes that call for yogurt but I’ve never really thought about the difference.
Hi Erin, unless a recipe calls for a lot of either (such as 1 cup or more), subbing one for the other won’t really make a huge difference. I do it all the time.
Can these be made GF by swapping the flour with a GF flour, such as Bob’s 1-1? Thanks!
I never comment or review recipes but I just had to for these amazing cupcakes. Took them into work as a treat for my co-workers, and I swear my ego grew 10x as I received so many compliments on my baking and how good they were! They were soooo moist, so perfectly swirled, nice and sweet, easy to make and clean and just delicious. Still getting compliments 2 weeks after I brought them into work. Says it all really. Thanks so much for the recipe.
I had a question as a beginner who has never baked before is this a easy recipe to make or do you not recommend it to beginners?
Hi Jake, beginners could certainly tackle these cupcakes! However, this marble loaf cake would be similar and even easier, if you’d like to start there. Here are all of our beginner recipes, too, if you’re interested.
Thank you!
Can I get the measurements for 3 doz instead of just 14?
Hi Alicia! Our marble cake recipe would make about 30 cupcakes – much closer to the amount you need. Otherwise we recommend making separate batches of the cupcake batter to avoid over or under-mixing large quantities.
I don’t typically comment on a recipe but this was too good not to. I am an avid baker and bake as a side job for fun and a little extra cash. A coworker ordered 3 dozen marbled cupcakes with buttercream frosting. So while this frosting looked amazing I used my traditional buttercream recipe but used this marble cupcake recipe. I weighed all of the ingredients rather than measuring and they were so moist and delicious!!!! I also used sour cream instead of yogurt since that’s what I had on hand. I hope they’re a big hit at the baby shower I made them for. I thought they were the best marbled cake I’ve had yet! Thank you, Sally for always having a recipe I can count on!
We’re so glad you loved this cupcake recipe, Melodie!
Hi Sally, sorry to check if the cocoa powder is added to the 3/4 batter or 1/4 batter? And also can I replace the butter with oil? Thanks.
Hi Shirley, you’ll want to transfer 3/4 cup (not 3/4 of the total batter) to another bowl and add the cocoa powder to that. For best taste and texture, we recommend sticking with butter in this recipe.