Marble Cupcakes

Yield: 6 marble cupcakes // Total Time: 1 hr. // Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links. // This post is sponsored by Florida Crystals®. All opinions are my own.

Light and fluffy vanilla and chocolate swirled cupcakes, topped with a swirl of vanilla and chocolate buttercream.

marble cupcakes

If you can’t decide if you want chocolate or vanilla cupcakes, you don’t have to! These cupcakes are the perfect solution to that problem. The cupcake base is made with brown sugar which makes it extra moist, delicious and flavorful. And overall they’re super easy to make – for both the cupcake batter and the buttercream, we’ll start with one base that gets split into two and flavored. Below you’ll find a ton of tips and tricks that (I hope) are helpful for making these absolutely delicious cupcakes. Happy baking!

Florida Crystals®

I’m super excited to partner with Florida Crystals® for these amazingly delicious marble cupcakes! Florida Crystals® crafts their sugars with respect for our planet, are vegan, gluten-free, non-GMO and are Regenerative Organic Certified®, meaning they go beyond just being organic. They offer the first and only certified organic raw cane sugars made from sugarcane grown and harvested in the U.S. We’re using their Light Brown Sugar in the cupcakes for the perfect amount of sweetness and flavor, and their Powdered Sugar in the marbled buttercream. And as if that wasn’t all great enough, their packaging is eco-friendly and made from recyclable material. I seriously can’t say enough great things about Florida Crystals® and absolutely love baking with their sugars. Be sure to check them out by clicking this link, to find Florida Crystals® near you to bake with sugar that is kind to you and the planet!

recipe tips

weigh your ingredients

Weighing your ingredients is important for getting the recipe perfect and getting consistent results. Not weighing your ingredients can lead to adding too much or too little of an ingredient which can lead you to some undesirable results. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend purchasing a kitchen scale. This one is super cheap and worked well for me when I was starting out!

mix the batter carefully

It is super important to not overmix the cupcake batter. Overmixing the batter leads to more gluten development which will make the cupcakes super tough and chewy. For the vanilla batter, only mix just until all of the wet ingredients have been combined with the dry and the mixture is cohesive. For the chocolate batter, gently fold in the milk and cocoa until the mixture is cohesive.

room temperature ingredients

It is important for the ingredients to be at room temperature so that they properly incorporate with each other. Take out the egg, butter, sour cream, and milk at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hr 30 min. before starting the recipe. Here’s how to get room temperature ingredients FAST if you’re in a time crunch or forgot to take the ingredients out (like I often do):

• Egg: place the egg in a bowl and run hot water over it for 1 continuous minute, or let it sit in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.
• Butter: slice the butter into 1 tbsp. slices and place them flat on a plate. Microwave in 5-second intervals until the butter is soft to the touch, but not melting.
• Sour cream and milk: microwave in 5-second intervals until it is no longer cold, but is not warm (room temp!)

bloom your cocoa powder

The secret to getting more chocolate flavor into your chocolate cupcakes? Bloom your cocoa powder! Blooming your cocoa powder just means that you’re mixing the cocoa with a hot liquid. In these marble cupcakes, we’ll do that by mixing the cocoa into hot milk. Doing so releases the cocoa powder particles from a very thin membrane on them, exposing cocoa solids and bringing out more flavor. It’s a super simple way to add more flavor into your chocolate bakes!

keep an eye on those cupcakes!

Cupcakes like to go from under-baked to over-baked super quickly so it is important to keep a close eye on them. Start checking at 15 minutes with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out wet, check them again in 2 minutes and so on until only a few moist crumbs stick to the toothpick.

ingredients and substitutions

For the vanilla and chocolate swirled cupcake:

All purpose flour: gives the cupcakes their structure.

Baking powder: for helping the cupcakes rise.

Salt: for balancing and bringing out the sweetness of the batter.

Unsalted butter: for tenderizing the cupcakes and adding that nice buttery flavor to them. You can substitute salted butter, just be sure to omit the extra salt in the batter.

Vegetable oil: for tenderizing the cupcakes. If you don’t have vegetable oil on hand, you can use another neutral oil such as canola.

Florida Crystals® Regenerative Organic Certified® Light Brown Sugar: for sweetness, moisture, and flavor.

Egg: for binding the batter together and adding moisture.

Vanilla extract: for flavor.

Sour cream & whole milk: for moisture and texture. You could also use buttermilk in place of the sour cream and milk.

Dutch-processed cocoa powder: gives the cupcakes a deep, rich chocolate flavor. You can use natural cocoa powder here as well, just note that the cupcakes will be much lighter in color and will have a little less flavor.

For the vanilla and chocolate swirled buttercream:

Unsalted butter: the base of the buttercream. You can use salted, just omit the extra salt.

Salt: for flavor and to balance the sweetness of the buttercream.

Florida Crystals® Regenerative Organic Certified® Powdered Sugar: to sweeten and thicken up the frosting.

Heavy whipping cream: for thinning out the buttercream. You could also use whole milk here.

Vanilla extract: for flavor.

Dutch-processed cocoa powder: for the chocolate swirl in the buttercream. You can use natural cocoa powder here as well, just note that the buttercream will be lighter in color and have a little less flavor.

how to make marble cupcakes

Here’s a few images of the process of making these cupcakes. You can find the full recipe at the end of this blog post!

• Beat together the flour, baking powder, salt, butter, and Florida Crystals® Regenerative Organic Certified® Light Brown Sugar until only small clumps of butter remain. Then, beat in the wet ingredients.
• In another mixing bowl, heat the milk then mix in the cocoa. Add 1/2 of the cupcake batter into the cocoa mixture, and mix until combined.

• Add 1 tbsp. of each batter to the cupcake liners at a time, until you have used up all the batter, then bake.
• Make the frosting with Florida Crystals® Regenerative Organic Certified® Powdered Sugar. Generously frost the cupcakes, then serve and enjoy!

marble cupcakes q&a

why choose Florida Crystals® sugars?

The real question is – why not?! Like I mentioned before, Florida Crystals® crafts their sugars with respect for our planet, are vegan, gluten-free, non-GMO and are Regenerative Organic Certified®. Plus, they bring you all of that top-quality sweetness without breaking the bank. One of my absolute favorite things about Florida Crystals® (besides how perfect their sugar is, of course) is their barn owl program. Their barn owl program has created a symbiotic relationship between native barn owls and their sugarcane farms, which means that the owls get green space that allows them to thrive while allowing Florida Crystals® farmers to grow healthier, more productive sugarcane plants without the use of synthetic pesticides. Their farming area has one of the highest concentrations of barn owls in North America! So not only does Florida Crystals® make top-quality sugar that’s Regenerative Organic Certified®, crafted with respect for our planet, and doesn’t break the bank – but they also have cute barn owls that help them grow sugarcane rather than synthetic pesticides!

what does Regenerative Organic Certified® mean?

Florida Crystals® is the exclusive grower of Regenerative Organic Certified® sugars in the U.S. This symbol means that they are part of a growing movement that stands for better farming for a better future and that they are helping to lead the way in setting the highest standards for organic farming. By following regenerative practices, they maximize soil health, promote biodiversity, and sustain fairness for farmers – leading the fight for a greener, cleaner future.

can I double this recipe?

Of course! Obviously they will not be small batch anymore but small batch isn’t always what we need! Simply double all of the ingredients in the recipe to make 12 delicious cupcakes. I even more strongly recommend measuring by weight if you are going to double the recipe for the best results.

can I make these cupcakes ahead of time?

Definitely! I would recommend making the cupcakes no more than two days ahead of time. Store the unfrosted cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature. I’d recommend waiting to make the buttercream until the day you want to serve them.

how to store the cupcakes

Like most baked goods, these cupcakes will definitely taste the best on the day that they are baked. You can store the frosted cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, or in the fridge for up to a week.

a note on oven temperature

Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and aren’t always at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.

tools and ingredients

You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!