These vegan chocolate cupcakes are deep, dark, rich, moist, and fudgy, with no dairy and no eggs required for the recipe!
Chocolate cupcakes without eggs
Do you know the simple secret to making cupcakes rise without eggs?
The answer is sitting in your kitchen.
This basic chocolate cupcake recipe combines common kitchen pantry ingredients, vinegar and baking soda, to create a bubble forming acid-base reaction.
The bubbles cause the cupcakes to rise beautifully as they bake in the oven.
Remember that famous volcano experiment from elementary school?
Unlike many other vegan chocolate cupcake recipes, this one does not include tofu, black beans, avocado, or flax eggs.
In fact, it calls for just a few basic ingredients you might already have at home.
This has been my foolproof chocolate cupcake recipe for over three years now, and it is incredibly versatile.
Every time I serve the cupcakes, they are always completely devoured by vegans and meat eaters alike!
Also try these Vegan Brownies
The best vegan chocolate cupcakes
These classic chocolate cupcakes will take you right back to childhood.
Irresistibly light and fluffy, they hold their own against any box of Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker cake mix, with none of the unhealthy corn syrup or artificial ingredients.
And even if you are not a vegan, it is a good idea for everyone to have a go to vegan cupcake recipe. You never know when you will need it!
For example, have you ever been asked to make a last minute dessert for a potluck, party, or school bake sale when you had no eggs on hand?
Or maybe you needed a recipe suitable for a child with dairy allergies or a surprise vegan guest.
Perhaps you just want a basic one bowl cupcake recipe that is super quick, easy to make, and turns out perfectly every single time.
Trending now: Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients for the recipe
You need cocoa powder, flour, sugar, water, applesauce, oil, pure vanilla extract, vinegar, salt, baking soda, and optional mini chocolate chips.
Cocoa powder – To achieve the best results (i.e. the richest, most chocolatey cupcakes that taste like they came from a bakery), use both Dutch cocoa powder and regular unsweetened cocoa powder.
If you only have regular cocoa at home and do not wish to make a trip to the store, you may replace the Dutch processed cocoa with additional unsweetened.
Flour – I recommend either spelt flour, white flour, or Bob’s Red Mill all purpose gluten free flour. I also give a keto option for those eating low carb and vegan.
Use whole wheat flour, almond flour, coconut flour, or any other option not listed here at your own risk, because I have not tried these substitutions.
Sugar – The recipe asks for three fourths cup of sugar. This can be plain white sugar, unrefined coconut sugar, or granulated xylitol for sugar free cupcakes.
You can technically go with pure maple syrup or agave. The cupcakes will just have a gummy texture and will not rise as much.
Applesauce – This ingredient adds moisture and structure to the vegan cupcakes.
Instead of applesauce, you may choose an equal amount of plant based yogurt, pumpkin puree, or sweet potato puree.
Oil – My favorite option is melted coconut oil. However, vegetable oil works as well.
For oil free chocolate cupcakes, use softened peanut butter or almond butter.
Chocolate chips – These are optional. I often like to include them, turning the recipe into double chocolate cupcakes, or triple chocolate cupcakes once you add frosting.
Mini chocolate chips give you more chocolate in each bite.
Salt – Just a pinch of salt balances the sweetness and heightens the chocolate flavor.
Also make Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes or Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes
Vegan chocolate cupcakes recipe video
Above – Watch the video how to make vegan cupcakes
How to make dairy free cupcakes
Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line a typical cupcake pan or muffin pan with liners, or grease each tin well.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the water, applesauce, oil, vanilla extract, and white vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
Optionally, sift the flour to ensure it is free of lumps. Then add the flour, cocoa powders, sugar, salt, baking soda, and optional chocolate chips to the bowl.
Stir until just evenly mixed. It is important to not overmix the batter, because overmixed cupcakes may yield a tough texture, or they can deflate in the oven.
Tip: If your cupcakes do sink in the middles for any reason, just hide the undomed tops with frosting or nondairy Coconut Whipped Cream.
Fill up each lined cupcake tin about two thirds of the way, leaving space for the chocolate cakes to rise.
Bake on the center rack of the oven for twenty minutes or until fully cooked in the centers. A toothpick inserted into the center of a cake should come out mostly clean.
Carefully remove the pan from the oven and let the vegan dessert cool.
If you can wait, the dark chocolate flavor is much bolder and the cupcakes are even more delicious after sitting on the counter overnight, very loosely covered with a cloth.
Liners should peel off easily after sitting for a day as well.
Chocolate frosting and flavor ideas
Once cooled, ice the recipe with store bought or homemade chocolate or vanilla frosting. Or spread them with a layer of peanut butter or almond butter, or dust with powdered sugar.
Garnish with raspberries, sliced strawberries, cherries, or bananas.
A great vegan frosting hack is that many brands of store bought frosting are accidentally vegan. This includes some milk chocolate and cream cheese frostings as well as more traditional frosting flavors. Check the Pillsbury containers at the grocery store, and you might be surprised!
If you feel fancy, pipe the frosting through a pastry bag fitted with a 1M star tip, effortlessly turning the cupcakes into a culinary work of tasty art.
You can easily turn the basic chocolate cupcake into new flavors by using different extracts, fillings, or frostings.
Try peppermint extract to make mint chocolate cupcakes, or replace the applesauce with banana for chocolate banana cupcakes.
A few drops of maple extract or almond extract are also wonderful variations.
*For the recipe in the photos, I used my vegan Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.
The recipe was adapted from this classic Vegan Chocolate Cake.
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup applesauce or nondairy yogurt
- 1/4 cup oil
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup flour (Spelt, white, or Bob’s gf flour) (For low carb: Keto Chocolate Cupcakes)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp Dutch cocoa powder or additional unsweetened
- 3/4 cup sugar or coconut sugar or xylitol
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)
- 1/2 tsp salt (just over level)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
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*I’ve included a few of my favorite vegan frosting recipes earlier in this post, or use your own favorite frosting.To make vegan chocolate cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a cupcake pan with liners. In a large bowl, whisk liquid ingredients. Let sit at least ten minutes, then stir in remaining ingredients until just evenly mixed. Smooth into the liners, filling each cupcake tin about two thirds of the way to the top. Bake twenty minutes on the oven’s center rack. Let cool. If you very loosely cover cooled cupcakes with a cloth and let them sit on the counter overnight, these taste even richer the next day. Liners peel off easily after a day as well. View Nutrition Facts
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