Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting

A few months ago, I started making an old Depression cake recipe because it was vegan. It was very good, but then a few weeks ago, I started replacing the water with Almond Milk, and use Apple Cider Vinegar instead of White Vinegar. I’m not sure if it’s one or both of the changes, but this recipe has turned from very good to amazing. 🙂

These cupcakes super quick to make, and you can just mix the cake batter by hand, if you want. And I know that it sounds weird to put vinegar in cake batter, but I promise that you don’t taste the vinegar at all in these cupcakes.

The recipe only makes 12 cupcakes, but for those in smaller households like us, it’s also very easy to cut in half and make 6 cupcakes.

And finally- in a high altitude area (over 6,000 ft), to adjust for the lower air pressure, I generally cut my sugar back slightly (just leaving out maybe about 1-2 tablespoons from 1 cup measure). I also under measure my oil or fat just slightly. But I am little generous in the liquid measurement (i.e., the almond milk) and add an extra 1-2 Tablespoons of flour to the batter. High altitude baking can be challenging sometimes, but over the years, I have found that if I use those small tweaks in any cake or cookie recipe, the texture turns out much better.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

  

Chocolate Cupcakes:

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 cup natural cane sugar
• ⅓ cup oil
• 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon Salt

Vanilla Frosting

• ¾ cup vegan butter (i.e. Earth Balance sticks)
• ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3-4 teaspoons unsweetened almond milk (or more, as needed)

Instructions

 

To make the Cupcakes:

• Preheat oven to 350° F (180° C). Place cupcake liners in cupcake tin.
• In a large mixing bowl, add the milk, sugar, oil, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined.
• In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
• Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients and beat until smooth and no lumps of flour remain.
• Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, about ¾ full
• Bake 20-24 minutes, until the cupcakes spring back when touched or a tookpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
• Allow the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack

To make the Vanilla Frosting:

• In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, salt, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
• Turn the mixer to low speed, and gradually add the powdered sugar.
• Increase the mixer speed and add in the milk, one teaspoon at a time until the icing is the desired consistency.
• Once the cupcakes are completely cool, put the frosting to a piping bag with a large star tip, and a swirl of frosting on top. Or with a spatula, spread the frosting onto the cupcakes.
• Leftover cupcakes can be stored, in a covered container, for a few days, or frozen for 1 month.

Notes

If you are just spreading the frosting on with a spatula and need a slightly smaller batch, you can cut the frosting measurements back to: 

• 1/2 cup (100 g) vegan butter (i.e. Earth Balance)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (250 g) powdered sugar
• 2-3 teaspoons unsweetened almond milk, as needed. 

Keyword Chocolate, Cupcakes, Vegan