A surprise success, you wouldn’t know these chocolate cupcakes have no eggs or dairy in them! If you need a reliable vegan chocolate cupcake recipe, look no further.
I’ll be honest – I was very sceptical of these. How can you have a cake with no eggs? Eggs are an absolute staple in baking, they underpin the structure of everything (deep, I know!) and you’re often taught not to play around with egg quantities and temperatures in concern of a recipe failing. So how on earth can you have a cake without eggs?
Well, it turns out you can quite easily and without any funky, hard-to-track-down ingredients. I can’t really explain how the below ingredients make up for the lack of eggs, but they do and these cakes still come out delicious, light and fluffy. It’s magic!
If you, like me, are new to the world of vegan cakes, I will warn you about two things. 1 Vegan cake batter is wetter than a usual cake batter. Don’t be afraid and think you’ve done something wrong! 2 Because of this, you need to make sure the cupcakes are properly baked. Something I would rarely advise, but err on the side of caution and bake them for another minute if you’re not sure if they are ready. As delightful as they are when they are fully baked, when under-baked they can get a little bit pasty. Imagine the texture of a very under-baked cookie… you know how it can have a bit of a mushy texture, and it hangs around in your mouth a little too long? That’s what can happen to these. So – you have been warned. Now… BAKE!
Makes 12 cupcakes. Takes 45 minutes plus baking and cooling time.
- Cake:
- 240 ml soy milk
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 225g caster sugar
- 80ml oil
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 128g plain flour
- 42g cocoa powder
- 3/4tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- tiny tiny pinch salt
- Buttercream:
- 84g dairy free butter
- 140g icing sugar
- 28g cocoa powder
- Chocolate chunks to decorate, if wished.
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees, and line a 12 hole cupcake tray with cases.
- In a bowl, whisk together the soy milk and vinegar. Set it aside for a few mins whilst it curdles slightly, then add sugar, oil, vanilla. Beat until foamy
- Sift together the dry ingredients – flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder and salt – sift into a bowl.
- Add the dry mix to the wet mix in 2 batches, mixing it in until no large lumps remain.
- Pour into cupcake cases, filling each one 3/4s of the way up.
- Bake for 18 – 20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Vegan cupcakes have a tendency to be very moist, so make sure that skewer is spotless, otherwise the cupcakes could have a bit of a pasty texture when you eat them. Leave them to cool.
- Once the cakes are cool, make the buttercream. Either by hand or in a mixer, beat the dairy free butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder until light and smooth.
- Pipe or smooth the buttercream onto each cupcake. Decorate if wished and serve.
