These vegan chocolate cupcakes are light but rich and decadent with a smooth and creamy vegan chocolate frosting.  They’re also super simple and I hope will become your go-to vegan cupcakes recipe!

So, to date, I only seem to have posted muffin recipes (other than these monstrously delightful Halloween Cupcakes) and decided it was well past time I did something about it!  And what better than with the honest to goodness best vegan chocolate cupcakes?!

I’ve seen a lot of recipes highlight the fact that a) you won’t be able to tell these are vegan cupcakes and b) it’s a recipe with no strange ingredients.  Well it’s true on both counts for these vegan chocolate cupcakes!  In all honesty, if you regularly bake vegan or try vegan recipes you’ll know by now just how easy it as to make things that are just as good as, if not better, than their non-vegan counterparts.

And the ingredients generally aren’t all that strange – flax and chia seeds are often used in vegan baking, as is nut milk, coconut yoghurt and vinegar.

For vegan baking to be successful, the most important part is replacing the egg.  Egg in baking gives things richness and lift.  Simply adding either a flax or chia ‘egg’ replicates the lost moisture of egg but doesn’t always give it that oomph that you find in light, airy cupcakes.

So for this vegan chocolate cupcakes recipe I’ve used a tried and tested favourite – apple cider vinegar and baking soda.  These two ingredients used together in a recipe make a carbonated chemical reaction and results in that light crumb associated with the most delicate of cupcakes.

The rich chocolate flavour comes from raw cacao powder.  I only ever use this in baking now.  It has the most amazing smell and taste and delivers all that chocolate goodness with less processing and refinement as well as being high in heart healthy antioxidants.  I’ve used it in these easy vegan cupcakes in both the batter and frosting because if you’re going to call something chocolate it should really scream CHOCOLATE right?

These vegan chocolate cupcakes are really rather good without the chocolate frosting but in moments of quiet reflection I don’t ever want to wonder why I didn’t eat more frosted cupcakes.  Life is just too short sometimes to leave things unfrosted.

I even went an extra step on some of these  and drizzled over the luscious thing that is Sweet Freedom Choc Shot.  This stuff shouldn’t be as damn good yet as healthy as it is.  There’s witchcraft or magic involved in it I’m sure.

If you’re looking for other chocolate recipes we’ve got you more than covered!  Here’s a few of our most popular:

• Chocolate Tart – the chocolate dessert to beat all other chocolate desserts right here
• Double Chocolate Scones – afternoon tea heaven with homemade blackberry jam
• Orange Spiced Vegan Chocolate Muffins – more Sweet Freedom deliciousness and a choice of toppings!

If you make this recipe or any of the recipes from The Cook & Him we’d LOVE to see! Just snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #thecookandhim and tagging @thecookandhim in the photo itself (as this guarantees we’ll see your picture!)

And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram , Facebook or Twitter for even more recipe inspiration and chat, competitions, behind the scenes and so much more!