This vegan chocolate cupcake recipe makes moist, chocolatey, delicious cupcakes you wouldn't even know are vegan. These are my only chocolate cupcake recipe as a non-vegan, and the frosting is a perfect dupe for buttercream without any vegan butter.

Let's talk about the recipe!

Ingredients for the Cupcakes

• Plain flour
• Sugar
• Baking soda
• Cocoa powder
• Salt
• Olive oil
• Vanilla extract
• White vinegar
• Cold water

Ingredients for the Frosting

• Coconut oil
• Vanilla extract
• Almond milk
• Salt
• Cocoa powder
• Powdered sugar

Mix the Cupcake Batter

Preheat oven to 350f and grease a cupcake tin (optionally lining with cupcake liners). Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Whisk the wet ingredients together in a separate container and then pour into the dry ingredients and fold until combined. Don't overmix but eliminate any lumps of dry ingredients. Fill each section of the cupcake tin with 1/3 cup of the batter. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Could you skip mixing the dry and wet ingredients separately? Technically, yes, but your cupcakes might come out with lumps or unmixed sections. Once the wet ingredients hit the dry ingredients, clumps start to form, so it's important that the ingredients are already separately mixed so that when this clumping happens, it doesn't stop the ingredients from distributing evenly. Clumpy cupcakes aren't what we want.

Another thing to note is that this batter is fairly wet, but that's not to worry at all! If your batter is super liquid-like, that is very normal for chocolate cupcakes.

One final thing - don't skip the vinegar! The interaction between vinegar and baking soda help keeps the cupcakes moist, bright, and soft! That's why these are the best vegan chocolate cupcakes.

Make the Frosting

With an electric mixer, mix the coconut oil, vanilla, and almond milk until smooth and creamy. Blend in the salt, cocoa, and powdered sugar until smooth and spreadable or pipeable. If the mixture is too stiff, add more almond milk. Once the cupcakes are cooled completely, remove them from the tin and either spread or pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes

Delicious vegan chocolate frosting without vegan butter? Yep, it's possible. We're using coconut oil here because it's virtually tasteless, but like butter, does a decent job of holding its shape at room temperature and firms up in the cold. It would probably taste a little boring in vanilla frosting, but since we've got chocolate frosting for our chocolate cupcakes, the cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt add plenty of flavor, making this indistinguishable from chocolate buttercream. It's also very easy to pipe and spread!

Vegan Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

Download the recipe here

Servings: 12

Active time: 15 minutes

Total time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 5 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 cup cold water

For the Frosting

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp almond milk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350f and grease a cupcake tin (optionally lining with cupcake liners).
2. Whisk the dry (cupcake) ingredients together in a large bowl. Whisk the wet (cupcake) ingredients together in a separate container and then pour into the dry ingredients and fold until combined. Don't overmix but eliminate any lumps of dry ingredients.
3. Fill each section of the cupcake tin with 1/3 cup of the batter. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
4. With an electric mixer, mix the coconut oil, vanilla, and almond milk until smooth and creamy. Blend in the salt, cocoa, and powdered sugar until smooth and spreadable or pipeable. If the mixture is too stiff, add more almond milk.
5. Once the cupcakes are cooled completely, remove them from the tin and either spread or pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes.

See Nutrition Info

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 12
Amount per serving
Calories	357
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 16g	21%
Saturated Fat 9.5g	47%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 195mg	8%
Total Carbohydrate 55.1g	20%
Dietary Fiber 1.3g	5%
Total Sugars 41.3g
Protein 2.2g
Vitamin D 0mcg	0%
Calcium 6mg	0%
Iron 1mg	7%
Potassium 92mg	2%

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About the Author

Hi! I'm Alexandra Massengale, and I've been cooking and baking for over 12 years. My passion is making cheap, convenient, nutrient-dense food that still tastes amazing, and helping to perpetuate healthy eating habits without perpetuating diet culture. I want you to find recipes that make your body and heart happy, without putting any food off limits or making you feel guilty for loving delicious things.

By Alexandra Massengale