These Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes have a dairy and egg-free chocolate sponge and dairy-free chocolate buttercream and are topped with vegan sprinkles.

I haven’t posted a vegan recipe in such a long time, sorry! The two most popular vegan recipes on my blog are my Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes and Vegan Chocolate Cake, so I thought why not kind of merge both together and make a Vegan Chocolate Cupcake?

The basis for this Vegan Chocolate Cupcake is very similar to my Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes with the extra addition of cocoa powder.

In the past, I have struggled with Vegan recipes, because you don’t have butter and eggs in these cupcakes you need to find suitable replacements without compromising on the flavour and texture of the cupcakes.

This recipe, I find, is perfect because it still makes a lovely and light chocolate sponge which is full of flavour.

Jump to Recipe

How To Make Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

I started by whisking together the dry ingredients until evenly distributed. In this recipe, I decided to use light brown sugar rather than caster sugar as I find it just gives the cupcake a fudgier texture. You can use caster sugar though if you prefer.

Just be careful with the cocoa powder too. A lot of cocoa powders aren’t suitable for Vegans. I use Dr Oetker Fine Dark Cocoa Powder, but I am sure there will be others out there just double-check the ingredients before you purchase.

Next, I added the wet ingredients. You can use any dairy-free milk, I used Soya, but you could also use almond or coconut milk. Just remember if you do use coconut milk the cupcakes may have a slight hint of coconut flavour.

I also used a tablespoon of white wine vinegar. Don’t worry though you don’t taste this once the cupcakes have baked. I also folded through some Vegan Chocolate Chips to make the cupcakes extra chocolatey.

Because of the amount of milk in this recipe, the cupcakes will be quite runny, but this is normal so don’t worry.

As always, I used Baking Cups from Iced Jems. They come in so many different colours and designs I absolutely love them. They also have flat bottoms so you can put them straight onto a flat oven tray rather than a muffin tray and they hold their shape while baking.

Related Recipes

Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes

Raspberry and Coconut Vegan Loaf

Vegan Chocolate Cake

You will know the cupcakes are ready because they will spring back when touched. You could also use a cake tester. If it comes out clean the cupcakes are baked. If the tester doesn’t come out clean or the cupcakes don’t spring back pop them back into the oven for 3-4 minutes and repeat.

Not all ovens are the same so you might find that your cupcakes bake quicker/longer than the recipe states. I would recommend just keeping an eye on them after about 15 minutes.

Because I baked these using baking cups and used a flat oven tray, I just left them to cool completely on the tray. If you are using cupcake cases and a muffin tray, leave the cupcakes to cool for 10-15 minutes and then move them to a wire rack to cool fully.

The cupcakes need to be completely cool when you come to decorate them because we are using a vegan spread, rather than unsalted butter the buttercream will be softer. So, putting it onto a hot cupcake just means that it is going to melt.

Once the cupcakes have cooled completely make the dairy-free buttercream. I use Stork block butter for the buttercream, but you can use any Vegan butter.

I add it to the mixer with the icing sugar and cocoa powder and mix until it comes together. If you find the mixture is too thick you can add a tablespoon of dairy-free milk and mix again.

Pipe the buttercream onto the top of the cupcakes and finish with some vegan sprinkles. I used Confetti Popper Sprinkles from Sweetapolita which are also vegan.

Alternatives

Why not add some orange extract or orange juice and zest to make them chocolate orange flavoured?

Commonly Asked Questions

What’s the difference between vegan cupcakes and regular cupcakes?

The main difference between vegan cupcakes and regular cupcakes is that vegan cupcakes don’t have any dairy or eggs in them. These ingredients are replaced with dairy-free milk, white wine vinegar and vegetable oil. Using these ingredients means that the cupcakes are still moist, fluffy and full of flavour.

Are vegan cakes dairy free?

These ones are! I used dairy-free spread in the buttercream and dairy-free milk in the cupcake batter.

Why is my vegan frosting runny?

This could happen if you add too much milk. Don’t worry though, just add 50g more icing sugar and mix. Repeat until your buttercream thickens up.

Equipment

*I earn a small amount of money if you buy any of these products. You will not be charged anything extra for this. Thank you for supporting A Spoonful of Vanilla.

Pin it For Later!

If you do have any questions about these Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes or any other recipes on my blog you can contact me either by sending me a DM on social media or an email. You can find all my details on the left-hand side of this page.

Print Recipe