These insanely moist chocolate cupcakes happen to be vegan! These might be your new favorite chocolate cupcakes!
Boy do I love a chocolate cupcake. And what better way to ring in 2020 than with some insanely moist chocolate cupcakes? Am I right?
What’s surprising about these cupcakes is that they happen to be vegan. That’s right friends – no dairy or dairy products in here at all! My husband even declared that these were his favorite chocolate cupcakes ever – vegan or not. Yup, that statement definitely shocked me.
I made a vegan buttercream and accidentally bought the salted vegan butter. As a result, my frosting was a bit on the saltier side, but it ended up pairing really well with the chocolate cupcake. You can certainly use margarine if you don’t want to splurge on the vegan butter.
This recipe makes 24 but you can easily cut it in half if you only want a dozen. Alternatively, you can turn this into a cake too. Just pour the batter into two 8-inch round cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes. Add frosting to the middle, top and sides and voila!
Happy chocolate cupcake eating!
Vegan chocolate cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 cup unsweetened almond or soy milk
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 and ¾ cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 and ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup canola oil or melted coconut oil
- ⅔ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
Vegan buttercream
- 1 and ½ cups (3 sticks) vegan butter or butter substitute
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4-5 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼-½ cup almond or soy milk
Instructions
Make the cupcakes
- In a measuring cup, measure the almond/soy milk and add the apple cider vinegar. Let it sit so it curdles.
- Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350°F. Add cupcake liners to two standard muffin pans and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt by hand until well blended.
- Add the oil, applesauce, vanilla and curdled almond/soy milk mixture and mix by hand until a few dry streaks remain. Turn the mixer on medium speed so the batter is smooth.
- Turn the mixer to low and very slowly stream in the boiling water. It will appear too runny, but trust me on this. Make sure the mixer is on the lowest setting or else you will have chocolate batter everywhere!
- Evenly distribute the batter into your cupcake liners, filling each about ¾ full. Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.
Make the frosting
- In the bowl of a clean stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, cream the butter and cocoa together on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Add the powdered sugar until the frosting is thick. Thin it down with a bit of the almond/soy milk until you achieve piping consistency. If the frosting is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it's too thick, add more milk. Add the vanilla and mix well.
Frost the cupcakes
- Once the cupcakes are fully cooled, pipe on the frosting. I used an open star tip for mine.