Not one, not two, but three forms of chocolate are in these gluten free triple chocolate cupcakes!! Moist chocolate cake, heavenly chocolate frosting, and real chocolate flakes make up these AMAZING cupcakes!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with cupcake liners. In a large bowl, add flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to sift together.
In bowl of stand mixer, add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Pour the sugar in and then add the dry ingredients. Blend the mixture at low speed using paddle attachment until smooth. Slowly add very hot coffee or boiling water and blend on low speed until completely smooth, being careful that it doesn't splash back.
Fill the muffin cups three-quarters full. Bake for about 22 minutes or until tops spring back and toothpick inserted into center comes out with just a few crumbs. Let cupcakes cool for about 5 minutes in pan. Remove to cooling rack to cool completely.
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add powdered sugar, cocoa powder, heavy cream, salt, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed for only 30 seconds, and then increase speed to high and beat for 1 full minute (no longer).
Cover and store in refrigerator for up to one week or freezer for up to 3 months. If frozen, thaw in refrigerator overnight and then beat for a few seconds until creamy.
Notes
*Buttercream recipe makes a LOT of frosting, enough to frost all cupcakes with about 3-4 tablespoon of frosting, which will allow for a high-swirled cupcake or dome-dipped cupcake (like above). You may even have some leftover. If you wish for a lighter amount of frosting on each cupcake, you may halve the recipe.