Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes & Buttercream Frosting

Happy Halloween! Chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting are a delightful treat any time of the year. Since we’re posting this recipe on October 31st, we decorated them with Halloween in mind. Chocolate cupcakes are a great base for a simple Halloween baking project. Choose fun cupcake liners, colour some buttercream frosting orange, add a few black or chocolate sprinkles and you’ve made a festive and elegant Halloween dessert.

I tested, retested, and then retested this recipe again and again until it was just right. These vegan chocolate cupcakes are moist, rich, super chocolatey, and insanely decadent. The vegan buttercream frosting is soft, fluffy and perfect for decorating.

These vegan chocolate cupcakes are easy to make. All of the ingredients are average pantry staples. They take just 10 minutes to prepare and 22 minutes to bake. If you’re frosting them you’ll need to allow the cupcakes about 60 minutes to cool before they’re ready to be frosted and decorated.

If you want your cupcakes to look extra polished, look for cupcake liners with an additional layer of foil inside. As long as you portion the batter into the liners with some care, they won’t discolour when you bake them.

These frosted chocolate cupcakes are perfect for holiday get-togethers and birthdays. You can decorate them for any season or theme!

Baking can be pretty finicky so I recommend using the ingredient weights in the recipe for the best and most consistent results. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, be sure to measure your flour as accurately as possible. I use the “fluff and spoon” method. Use a whisk to fluff up the top few inches of your flour (right inside the container or bag). Use a large spoon to gently scoop the flour into your measuring cup. Try your best not to compact the flour into the measuring cup. Use a flat edge to level off the measuring cup. If you simply dip and scoop your measuring cup into the flour you’ll end up using more needed for the recipe and your cupcakes might not turn out correctly.

Happy baking and decorating!

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes and Buttercream Frosting

★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews

• Author: brittany mueller
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 22 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hours 42 minutes
• Yield: 12 cupcakes 1x
• Category: Dessert
• Cuisine: Vegan

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Description

These vegan chocolate cupcakes are moist, rich, super chocolatey, and insanely decadent. The vegan buttercream frosting is soft, fluffy and perfect for decorating.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

• 1 cup / 250ml / (135g) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 ¼ cups / 310ml / (266g) granulated sugar
• ½ cup / 125ml / (40g) cocoa powder
• ¾ tsp / 3.75ml baking powder
• ¼ tsp / 1.25ml baking soda
• Pinch salt
• 1 cup / 250ml soy milk (any kind: unsweetened, original, vanilla, etc.)
• ⅓ cup / 80ml canola oil
• 1 tsp / 5ml vanilla extract
• ½ tsp / 2.5ml white vinegar

Vegan Buttercream Frosting

• 1 cup / 250ml / (220g) vegan butter, slightly softened at room temperature
• 4-5 cups / 1000ml-1250ml / (560g-700g) icing sugar
• 1 tbsp / 15ml vanilla extract

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Instructions

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
2. Prepare muffin tin with cupcake liners. If not using cupcake liners, grease muffin tin with non-stick spray or canola oil and dust with flour.
3. Combine dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Whisk for 3 minutes.
5. Equally divide batter into muffin tins.
6. Bake for 22 minutes. Test with a toothpick inserted into the center of cupcake, it should come out clean.
7. After baking, let cupcakes sit for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
8. Wait until cupcakes are cool before frosting (approx. 1 hour at room temperature.)

Vegan Buttercream Frosting

1. Use a stand mixer or hand mixer to cream butter until soft and fluffy.
2. Add vanilla and mix.
3. Add icing sugar, ½ cup at a time, until the frosting is light and fluffy. Keep in mind that the buttercream frosting will get softer as it warms up.
4. Optional: Add food colouring and mix until you achieve your desired colour.
5. Optional: If piping the buttercream frosting onto cupcakes, transfer it to a piping bag.
6. Chill in refrigerator until ready to use.

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Notes

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

For the best and most reliable results, weigh ingredients where weights are provided in the ingredient list.

If you don’t have a kitchen scale, be sure to measure flour as accurately as possible. I use the “fluff and spoon” method. Use a whisk to fluff up the top few inches of your flour (right inside the container or bag). Use a large spoon to gently scoop the flour into your measuring cup. Try your best not to compact the flour into the measuring cup. Use a flat edge to level off the measuring cup.

For best results, use soy milk or a non-dairy milk with 6g protein/cup.

This recipe was developed for use as cupcakes. I haven’t tried baking the batter into a cake.

Freezer-friendly. Thaw at room temperature before serving.

Vegan Buttercream Frosting

I used the vegan butter brand Melt which had a great flavour in this buttercream frosting. You could also use Earth Balance. Do not use vegan margarines. Use a vegan butter that is very firm and difficult to spread when chilled.

If buttercream frosting gets too thick, add non-dairy milk, a tablespoon at a time, until it softens up.

If buttercream frosting is too thin, add more icing sugar and chill if it gets too warm.

Wait for cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

Store the vegan buttercream frosting and any frosted cupcakes in the fridge.