Vegan chocolate cupcakes with vegan chocolate frosting just for you and me!
Admittedly, the only non-vegan ingredient in my regular small-batch of chocolate cupcakes in my Sweet & Simple cookbook was buttermilk. Happily, the recipe was already egg-free, and so all I have to do is find a buttermilk substitute, right? Substituting milk alternatives for cow's milk is easy, right? Wrong.
Recipe testing for vegan chocolate cupcakes:
After a few rounds of sunken cupcakes made with random milk alternatives, I settled on unsweetened almond milk as the best thing to use.
Don't use coconut milk from the can (the extra oil is problematic) or homemade almond milk (too thick, presumably because of the dates). Anything thin and white will work. Alternative milks with texture or excess oil won't work.
But let's talk about what we do have: vegan chocolate cupcakes (small batch) with a ridiculously creamy chocolate buttercream on top.
How to make vegan chocolate frosting without using vegan butter:
We need to talk more about the frosting. It's just peanut butter, coconut oil, cocoa powder and powdered sugar! I also added in some espresso powder, because I really don't make chocolate desserts without it.
So so so good, you guys. I refrigerated it so that it would be pipe-able, but after just a few minutes in my hot house, it melted. But it's okay, because it was still so good.
I would say to save yourself the trouble of the piping bag, just frost these cupcakes with a knife and devour. I'm always a proponent of getting a dessert into your mouth the fastest way possible.
Here's the before photo of the frosting piped:
After stirring the frosting ingredients together, I refrigerated it for about 20 minutes in the frosting bag. I used melted coconut oil for the frosting, and so it needed some time to set again.
About 5 minutes after I piped it out, it started weeping. It's okay, though. You don't need to photograph your cupcakes like I do---you just need to eat them.
You can definitely pipe the frosting, and store them in the fridge before serving! Since our cupcakes don't contain butter, they won't harden in the fridge like regular cupcakes. Oh, how I love a good cake recipe made with oil! It's a bakery and wedding cake maker secret, did you know?
I hope you enjoy these vegan chocolate cupcakes, small batch. Let me know if you have any other vegan dessert requests!
And let me know if you think 4 cupcakes is enough for a small batch dessert :D
Vegan chocolate cupcakes, small batch recipe that makes just 4 cupcakes.Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes (small batch)
Ingredients
For the vegan chocolate buttercream:
Instructions
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4
Serving Size:
1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 401Total Fat: 25gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 17gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 232mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 4gSugar: 22gProtein: 10g
Coreen Battiato says
I would live more vegan small batch cupcakes and mini cakes. Pumpkin, strawberry, or a berry chantilly (like while foods) would be awesome.
Lisa V says
I'm loving your vegan small batch recipes! Thanks so much for developing these!
Sally says
These look AMAZING! Did you use natural or dutch-processed cocoa powder? THANkS!
Christina Lane says
Natural! Sorry for any confusion. Dutch processed cocoa powder scares me!
Hannah says
It would be great if calories per cupcake or per batch were included.
Christina Lane says
I'm working on that behind the scenes, Hannah. It's actually not a quick fix, as I have hundreds of recipes on this site that would need to be updated with calorie info. But someday soon!
Kayle (The Cooking Actress) says
Vegan chocolate desserts are oftentimes even yummier than non vegan so these cupcakes look amazing-I love that there's pb in the frosting too!
Lexi says
I made these today for my family and OH MY were they GOOD!! Absolutely loved the texture and flavor! Thank you!
Stephanie says
This cupcake recipe is the best! So easy and so delicious and I love the ingredients! The frosting was also delicious, but my peanut butter must be much much thicker than yours because the mixture turned out like a very dry cookie dough. I tried adding bits of oil and almond milk, but still ended up just scooping some out, patting it into a flat disc, and setting it on top of the cupcake - ha! Looked silly, and not the texture I was hoping for, but absolutely delicious! I read and reread the recipe over a dozen times to try to figure out where I had gone wrong - no idea. I still have a ton of the frosting mixture left. Thinking I will add it to oats with more PB and a bit of honey and chia seeds and make some energy bites. Thank you! Small batch vegan recipes are the best! And vegan butter freaks me out, so I was glad to not see any of that in the recipe :)
jannn says
I really like small batch recipes! Thank you!
Paula Bain says
Your small batches are perfect for those of us whose children are grown and gone. Thanks and keep making your magic!
shawnna says
hey girl- these look oh so yummy!