Chocolate

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Frosting

April 11, 2012
4.5
2 Ratings
  • Makes 12 cupcakes
Author Notes

(Recipe and full text can also be found at www.swoonforfood.com)

It took me three attempts to get here and I just about quit the second time. I have an excellent chocolate cupcake recipe. It's so good and fairly easy to make that I wouldn't know why I would even bother trying other recipes. The problem is it's not vegan. Not vegan in soooo many ways. For my vegan-wannabe husband and all the vegans out there, I thought I would give it one more try.

I know I'm going to sound like a total food snob here. The truth is I have been making a lot of cupcakes in the past year such as chocolate, vanilla, nutella, peanut butter, and red velvet cupcakes. Unless it's totally awesome, I just don't want to waste my time making it.

I'm happy to say that my third attempt at vegan chocolate cupcakes were a SUCCESS! The frosting was yummy and the cupcakes themselves were good. Together, it made a great cupcake. I am even convinced that I may be able to fool a lot of non-vegans with this one and it would be a hit. My husband's response? "OMG, these are good! They don't taste like soap at all." Lol. So there you have it, the cupcake snobs are now happy :)

(Mainly adapted from Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Frosting by Vegan Yack Attack) —Swoon For Food

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Cupcakes
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 cup yellow cane sugar
  • 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/4 cup canola oil
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Frosting
  • 1 cup vegan margarine
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 seeds from vanilla bean
  • 1 tablespoon unsweetened almond milk
  • 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
Directions
  1. Mix the first 4 ingredients and set aside. In a mixer, mix the rest of the ingredients. On low, slowly add the dry ingredients from the bowl you set aside until well combined. Do not over mix. Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes. Cool.
  2. For the frosting, combine everything but the icing sugar and beat well. Slowly add the icing sugar. After you add about 1 cup of icing sugar, beat at medium to high for a few minutes. If the frosting doesn't look thick enough to pipe, then add more icing sugar. Again beat high until frosting is smooth and looks thick. Pipe onto cool cupcakes and enjoy :)

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Ruthie Higbee
    Ruthie Higbee
  • minibakersupreme
    minibakersupreme
  • Lea
    Lea
  • estollmeyer
    estollmeyer

4 Reviews

Lea July 2, 2018
I am confuse What is icing sugar? is that something I look for in a grocery store.
 
Ruthie H. January 2, 2014
Would it work to use regular sugar and soy milk in the cupcake recipe, or are the ingredients crucial to the cupcakes turning out?
 
minibakersupreme April 19, 2013
This frosting looks amazing!
 
estollmeyer January 20, 2013
Do you think I could substitute rice or hemp milk for the almond milk?