
It’s my party and I’ll cry eat delicious cupcakes if I want to!
Ok, it’s not technically my party, but it is my girlfriend’s birthday tomorrow and we’re have a girl’s get together for lunch. I was ever so politely asked (note: begged) to bring a dessert along and I have had cupcakes on my mind ever since!
It feels like forever since I have made cupcakes (which probably means 2 weeks in my world) and I knew I had to do something to remedy this situation.
Liz loves cupcakes. I love cupcakes. Other people love cupcakes. It’s a win-win-win. Beat that Team Sheen.
Cupcakes, to me, are a triple threat. They are one of my favourite desserts to bake (easy), decorate (fun + easy), and photograph. You really can’t screw up a photograph with a cupcake in it!
It’s impossible.
On second thought…sometimes cupcake photos can turn out like poo-poo…

I present the ever-horrifying chocolate turd cupcake.
In all my excitement, I didn’t realize that I had piped perfectly formed turds on my beloved cupcakes until after I uploaded the photos.
It was not a proud moment.
Eric and I could not stop giggling at them. Seriously. It was bad.
Shits ‘n giggles?

Luckily, I redeemed myself with these delicious Chocolate cupcakes topped with fluffy sweet clouds of frosting and a fruity raspberry glaze. They are a fun cupcake to bring to any Spring or Summer gathering because they are just so light and fluffy with a hint of fruit on top. Gathering or not, you should make them just because you are special. That should be reason enough!

I love cupcakes because the batter can be thrown together in just a few minutes. This recipe doesn’t get any easier too. It is literally- 1) Mix wet, 2) Sift in dry, 3) Mix. 4) Scoop.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
Yield: 12 cupcakes
Adapted from the famous eggless chocolate cake recipe. <—awesome!!
Cupcake Ingredients:
- 1 cup non-dairy milk (I used Vanilla Almond milk)
- 1 cup sugar (I used natural cane sugar)
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (or other oil)
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp pure almond extract (optional, but awesome)
- 1.5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted (I used Dutch-process)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt, to taste
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. With an electric mixer, beat together the following ingredients in a large bowl (non-dairy milk, oil, sugar, apple cider vinegar, vanilla, almond extract). Beat on medium speed for a minute or two.
2. Now sift in the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt). Mix well, until the clumps are gone.
3. Spoon the batter into prepared cupcake pan, about two thirds full for each. Bake for about 22 minutes at 350F, or until the cupcake slowly springs back when pressed with a finger. Allow to completely cool before frosting.
4. LICK THE BOWL!
My Aunt got me hooked on this famous eggless chocolate cake recipe years and years ago! I adapted it only slightly. It always seems to turn out no matter how I make it!

These cupcakes are chocolaty, fluffy, and flavourful with a hint of almond and vanilla.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting.

Fluffy Almond ‘Buttercream’ Frosting
Yield: ~2 cups
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup Earth Balance buttery stick or equivalent, room temperature
- 3 cups icing sugar, sifted (I used organic)
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp pure almond extract (may sub. other extracts)
- 1.5-2 tbsp non-dairy milk, to achieve your desired consistency
Note: If making the frosting as shown in the pictures, please double the frosting recipe above.
Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl, beat 1/2 cup of Earth Balance (or equivalent) with an electric mixer. Add in the milk, extract, and salt. Mix. Now gradually add in the sifted icing sugar, starting with 1 cup and mixing slowly until fully combined. I like to use my stand mixer when making frosting because I leave it mixing for about 5-10 minutes until nice and fluffy. Alternatively you can beat the frosting with a handheld mixer, for at least 4-5 minutes. Reserve about 1/2 cup of the frosting if you want to make the raspberry glaze (shown below).
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I thought I would show you how I like to pipe my cupcakes!
My favourite decorating tip in the entire world is the very large Wilton 1A tip, as shown below. It eats small tips for breakfast. And you don’t need a coupler either!

1) To use, simply insert the tip into a pastry bag. Snip off the end of the bag so the tip fits through (as shown above).
2) Now place the pastry bag into a tall glass to hold it up and fold down the sides around the glass (image left).
3) Fill the bag with frosting and carefully twist the end of the bag tightly (image right). Secure the end with a rubber band, if desired.
Now you are ready to pipe delicious, fluffy mounds of frosting! Don’t be scared, it is easy! You can always do a couple practice trials too and don’t worry they don’t have to look perfect.
To pipe, start near the centre of the cupcake, squeezing the frosting out evenly working your way up the cupcake in circles. I like to make 3 tiers for an extravagant effect.
This is a great how-to video!
Fluffy clouds of heaven.
You can stop right there or you can top them with a glaze if you are feeling frisky like I was.
I saved a bit of the frosting (~1/2 cup) and I made a raspberry glaze. I mashed about 5-6 fresh raspberries with a fork and mixed it with the frosting. The raspberries release a bit of water and the frosting thins out into a lovely glaze that you can drip over the cupcakes. It added a lovely hint of raspberry to the cupcakes that paired well with the chocolate and almond flavours!

Of course, I was ‘forced’ to taste-test before giving them to Liz.
I slowly unwrapped the corners of the liner, revealing a chocolaty cupcake…

I slid the fork through each layer of fluffy frosting…

And I devoured every last crumb!

After devouring this cupcake in a blissed out trance, I deemed they were birthday quality, which is sort of a shame because I wanted to keep all of them. I am comforted knowing that tomorrow I will be able to enjoy another at lunch. ;)
Sweet Dreams.
This is my go-to recipe for chocolate cupcakes! I’ve made two batches and they’re so quick and easy to make, and super delicious! Thank you :)
Glad to hear that Christina!
Angela, these look incredible, and I have all the ingredients in the cupboard! One question, though: why is there so much sugar? 6 cups for the frosting, that’s two whole bags of sugar! I had to resort to the non doubled three. Is there any way I could cut down on sugar, and replace it with agave or something? Also, 1 tablespoon of vanilla is also a lot for a cupcake, can I cut that down?
Sincerely,
Your concerned but drooling fan, Aneliese
Hi there, You could definitely get away with cutting down the sugar – probably in half for the cupcakes (1/2 cup instead of 1 cup would be the lowest I’d go). I haven’t tried a liquid sweetener yet, but if you do please let me know how it goes!
I just made these cupcakes, and all I have to say is YUM. So good! I used soy-free Earth Balance for the frosting, but it seems to be very “melty”. Oh well, that just means I had to refrigerate it before eating it with a sp…I mean, before frosting the cupcakes! (Mine don’t look nearly as pretty as yours, but they taste awesome!)
We just finished eating these- without icing they just might be the best chocolate cupcakes I’ve ever tasted!! Vegan or not!!! Next time I’ll try icing them, but they don’t need it. Thank you for the amazing recipe!!!
Hey Angela!
These cupcakes look amazing! I’m so happy I found them for my sons bday party next week. I was wondering if you have made them without sugar? Or would i be able to substitute in maple syrup or honey (the two sweeteners I use)? Thanks Angela! Love your website.
Hi Mandy, I haven’t tried it yet, but someone in the comments might have? I would give them a look through. Please let me know how it turns out if you do try it. I’ll have to attempt it when my cookbook testing is done. All my best!
I made these with Trader Joes gluten and wheat free flour mix and made icing with powdered sugar,cocoa and almond milk. Out of this world!
hi! thank you so much for this recipe! every year for my boyfriend’s birthday i make him his favorite–chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. he’s a classic kind of guy :) i have been trying to find a healthier-but-still-yummy chocolate cake recipe, and this one looks very promising! i am about to embark on making it with the two-ingredient chocolate frosting you posted a few of days ago. one question, would this batter recipe work for a two-tier 9″ cake? thank you!
So, I have a co-worker who is vegan and pregnant. Since I am an intern and leaving, a few of us decided to throw her a baby shower on our last day. I am known for my chocolate chip cookies and other baked goods, but they are not vegan nor am I. I went in search of a recipe that wouldn’t be too difficult and purchased the ingredients to make these cupcakes. THEY were a hit! Not only with her but the non vegan / vegetarian folks as well! I have promised to make these over and over and not tell anyone they are vegan until AFTER they have eaten them…people just seem suspicious when you say you made something without the animal products. Thank you for posting this recipe!
I’m so happy to hear they were a hit! Thanks for letting me know :)
Holy cow! These are deeelicious! Maybe the best chocolate cupcake I’ve ever eaten. My four year old and I just made these. We didn’t have everything for the almond butter cream, so we improvised with the fudge frosting made with dark choc. chunks and coconut milk. Woo hoo! Thank you for sharing!
is there a recipe for the chocolate frosting? looks delicious!
I just added sifted cocoa powder to the frosting recipe. It turned out great!
Making these right now! Some are kinda small. My daughter couldn’t wait. She loves the batter so much!! They already smell so good! Can’t wait!!
Hi Angela! I’m having a bake sale soon to raise money and I’m going all out vegan this year! I’m in love with these cupcakes already! I was just wondering, what would happen if I replaced almond milk with coconut milk? I had some on my hands that I want to get rid of. Thanks!
Im sure that would work just fine!
Trying these out this weekend- but, would they turn out okay if I made them gluten free with oat flour? I’m trusting your expert opinion!
Ps. You have a wonderful site! I just stumbled upon it a few weeks ago, and I’ve made (and enjoyed!) several of your recipes. Thank you for sharing :)
Hey Anne, In my experience, oat flour needs a binder – since it doesn’t have gluten I don’t think it would work alone in these cupcakes. Unfortunately I haven’t played around with a GF recipe yet. If you try anything let me know how it goes!
did you ever try this with the gluten free flour?
Hi again! I just prepared some cupcakes and made the frosting. It’s the night before the bake sale and there’s one huge problem. The cupcakes are a little bland and the frosting is REALLY REALLY REALLY sweet! I doubled the frosting recipe and added 5 cups of powdered sugar before I taste tested it and the frosting was WAY too sweet. I added some salt to help cut the sweetness and now it’s too sweet and a little salty…..Help please?
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe :) I made these this past weekend for my daughter’s 5th birthday party, and they were a hit! Both parents and kids loved ’em!
Living in Austin, Tx, I can assure you that the buttercream icing will stand true even in 95 degree heat with absolutely no melting. (Seriously, what icing does that?!) It’s a recipe I am going to keep on hand for sure!
Hey Alison, I’m so happy you all enjoyed the cupcakes! Thanks for your feedback :)
I made these this morning! YUMMY! I used a mini muffin pan so the recipe made 36 little cupcakes (only 49 calories each) – bake for about 11-12 minutes. The almond frosting didn’t come out so well because I made the icing sugar (regular organic cane sugar run through my Vitamix), but it still tasted good.
I’m new to the plant-based lifestyle so this was a real treat! Thanks!
Is unbleached all-purpose flour really healthy for vegans? I’m new to the vegan world so I need all the food recipes I can get. Right now I’m doing a reboot by juice fasting; an idea I got from watching Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead by Joe Cross on Netflix. So far, I’m in day four. Anyhoo, please let me know so that, once I’m done with the fast and start my vegan lifestyle, I won’t get bored in the dessert department.
Thanks!
THIS IS AMAZING. the frosting is better than any non-vegan frosting ive ever had, too.
So awesome I found you! Well…I didn’t FIND you persay, but I recently developed an allergy to dairy AND soy. This recipe is awesome and looks up my alley. Will have to try! =)
I just made these for a “vegan cook-off” event at my office – I used a different frosting recipe, but the cupcakes themselves are AMAZING. So yummy and moist. I must admit though, I couldn’t stomach licking the bowl. It just tasted like chocolate olive oil, but the finished product was/is delightful! Thank you for sharing!