Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

Dairy and egg free chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Keyword Cupcake, vegan

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 25

Servings

Calories 432kcal

Author thebakingexplorer

Pre-heat your oven to 160C Fan/350F/Gas Mark 4, and line a 12 hole cupcake tin with cupcake cases
In a mixing bowl, or a large jug, whisk together the vegetable oil, dairy free milk and cider vinegar
In another mixing bowl, stir together the caster sugar, self raising flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder
Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture, and pour in the milk mixture, whisk them together gently with a hand whisk until smooth
Divide the mixture between the 12 cupcake cases. I find it easier to put the mixture into a jug or piping bag to do this as it's quite a wet batter
Bake them for 20-25 minutes or until well risen and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cupcakes comes out clean. Leave to cool completely on a cooling rack
Make the buttercream by first mixing the dairy free butter on it's own until smooth. Then add the icing sugar, cocoa powder and dairy free milk, and mix until smooth. For best results use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. If the buttercream is too stiff, you can add more dairy free milk
Spread or pipe the buttercream on top of the cupcakes, and decorate with the dark chocolate shavings
Store in an airtight container in a cool place and eat within 3 days

I used oat milk for the cupcakes, but you can use any plant milk that you prefer.

I've found that the best dairy free butter for vegan buttercream is Flora Plant. Stork Baking Block is also very good. Using a block dairy free butter is much better for the buttercream. A margarine or spread style dairy free butter will make the buttercream too loose.

You can use a different type of oil besides vegetable oil. I'd recommend one that doesn't have a strong flavour, canola and sunflower oil would both work well.

You do need to add the vinegar to this recipe to get a good rise - it reacts with the baking powder and bicarb to create air bubbles. Cider vinegar is the best vinegar to use, but white vinegar would be a suitable replacement. Balsamic or malt vinegar (the kind you put on your chips) will not work. And don't worry - you can't taste the vinegar in the cupcake!

You can use any cocoa powder for the cake and buttercream, of course the better quality it is, the better flavour they will have. Do make sure you are using cocoa powder and not a hot chocolate powder.

Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50) .

For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.