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Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

This is my go-to recipe for chocolate cupcakes. They’re light, fluffy, and deliciously moist — everything a chocolate cupcake should be! The quantities below make 10–12 cupcakes, and the frosting recipe provides plenty for spreading with a palette knife. If you’d like to pipe the frosting, I recommend doubling the batch to make sure you have enough to work with.
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Hands on time 20 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Afternoon Tea, Treat
Servings 10

Ingredients
  

  • 240 ml / 1 cup soya milk
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 160 g / ¾ cup golden caster (unrefined) sugar
  • 70 ml / ⅓ cup organic rapeseed (canola) oil or other neutral-flavoured oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract or use 1 tsp orange extract for chocolate orange cupcakes
  • 70 g / ½ cup plain (all-purpose) flour
  • 70 g / ½ cup fine wholemeal (whole wheat) or chapatti flour or substitute with more plain (all purpose) flour
  • 37 g / ⅓ cup cocoa powder
  • ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp salt

Dairy-Free Chocolate Frosting

  • 150 g / 1 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar)
  • 4 TBSP cocoa powder
  • 50 g / 4 TBSP dairy-free spread or vegan butter
  • 2 TBSP plant milk (I use soya)

Vegan-friendly sprinkles

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan) / 350F. Line a muffin tray with paper liners.
  • Using a hand (balloon) whisk, whisk together the milk and vinegar in a large bowl and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt.
  • Add the sugar, oil and vanilla extract to the wet ingredient bowl and whisk until fully incorporated and the sugar has dissolved. Sift in half the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Repeat with the remaining dry ingredients.
  • Fill the liners three quarters full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted through the middle comes out clean. (I bake mine for 20 minutes in a fan oven at 160C. My oven has a tendency to bake cakes unevenly so after 15 minutes I turn the trays round 180 degrees and bake for a further 5 minutes).
  • When ready, leave to cool for a couple of minutes then transfer to a wire rack and leave until completely cooled before frosting.

Prepare the Dairy-Free Chocolate Frosting:

  • Sieve the icing sugar and cocoa powder into a large bowl. Add the dairy-free spread and milk. Gently stir with a silicone spatula until incorporated (this will stop the sugar and cocoa flying round the kitchen as you beat it). Beat either by hand or, for a light and fluffy frosting, beat with an electric whisk. If the frosting looks a little dry, add another 1 tsp of milk.
  • Frost the cakes and decorate with sprinkles just before serving.

Notes

Recipe lightly adapted from Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero’s Basic Chocolate Cupcake in 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World'
Keyword Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Vegan Cake, Vegan Treats
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