Vegan cupcakes are some of my favorite baking treats for celebrating an occasion. Whether it’s for a birthday or just a bake sale at my kids’ school, I love making allergy-friendly versions of the classic cupcakes, like my Vegan Pumpkin Cupcakes, Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes, and Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes.
Ingredients and Substitutions
As mentioned above, all you need to make vegan cupcakes are very simple, inexpensive ingredients.
Unsweetened Soy Milk – Or any non-dairy milk of choice, including almond milk, coconut oil, or oat milk. I prefer soy milk because it makes the cupcake crumb light and fluffy, less dry than almond milk. Apple Cider Vinegar – Or any acid that curdles your milk and creates a nice, thick plant-based buttermilk, which can be lemon juice or white vinegar. All-Purpose Flour or all-purpose gluten-free flour – make sure it includes gum in the blend. Sugar – I used unrefined cane sugar, but sugar-free erythritol works too for a diabetic-friendly vegan cupcake recipe. Other options are regular sugar or coconut sugar. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – or cacao powder for stronger cocoa flavor. Vanilla Extract – for flavor. Baking Soda and Baking powder – To give the cupcakes their perfect moist and fluffy crumb. Canola Oil or light olive oil. You can also use melted coconut oil, but I found the cupcakes heavier with this type of oil. Unsweetened Applesauce – That’s the magic ingredients I love adding to so many of my vegan baked goods. It not only acts as a great egg replacer, but it also adds the best moist texture to the cupcake crumb. Other options are mashed bananas or sweet potato puree.
How To Make Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
It’s easier to make your own vegan chocolate cupcake at home. It’s also a healthy way to bake one of the most popular desserts or celebration cakes. In fact, these dairy-free cupcakes are also refined sugar-free and contain half fat than regular recipes. Let me share how I make the most delicious vegan chocolate cupcakes with a few simple pantry staples. The trick to making delicious light, fluffy and moist vegan cupcakes is to first prepare your own vegan buttermilk. Don’t worry. It’s super easy.
Vegan Frosting
For the frosting, you have three options. You can make one of my three vegan frosting recipes below depending on the flavor you love:
Vegan chocolate frosting – using vegan butter, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar. Vegan coconut frosting – a great option made without vegan butter and using canned coconut cream and sweetener. Vegan vanilla frosting – made of vegan butter, vanilla, and powder sugar.
Whatever you choose, make sure you cool the cupcakes completely before piping any frosting on top. If the cupcakes are at room temperature, the frosting holds its shape perfectly and won’t melt.
Decoration
These vegan cupcakes are topped with my vegan chocolate buttercream recipe. I used a piping bag to pipe about 3 tablespoons of frosting on each cupcake. Then, I placed two squares of 85% Green & Black dark chocolate. Finally, I added some grated dark chocolate and a few vegan-friendly sprinkles for the color. You can also add some vegan candies or vegan marshmallows if you serve these chocolate cupcakes to a vegan kid’s birthday party. For a healthy cupcake topping option, choose some of the below:
Chopped nuts – peanut, pecans Sliced almonds Shredded coconut Chopped seeds – Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds
Storage Instructions
These vegan chocolate cupcakes store well in the fridge in an airtight container for about 3-4 days. You can also freeze vegan cupcakes, like regular cupcakes, keep them in an airtight box and thaw at room temperature the day before.
More Vegan Cupcake Recipes
I love to bake vegan cupcakes for any occasion, birthday, holiday season, or enjoy a treat! Below I listed more vegan dessert recipes you may want to try.
