Pure chocolate bliss in every single bite – these gluten free vegan chocolate cupcakes are bound to become everyone’s favourite. They look amazing, taste spectacular, and are super easy and quick to make! Plus, you couldn’t possibly guess that they contain no gluten, no dairy and no eggs!
There’s something terribly charming about dark, almost fudgy chocolate cupcakes, topped with a small mountain of swirly, fluffy chocolate frosting. It’s basically chocolate on chocolate… with even more chocolate in the form of dark chocolate sprinkles.
Yes, I’ve just used the word chocolate SIX TIMES in only one paragraph. This will be a chocolatey post, folks. The chocolatey post – with a chocolatey recipe for gluten free vegan chocolate cupcakes.
Remember last week? We talked about how vegan baking is actually a piece of cake, and today we’re continuing that story.
The brilliant thing about last week’s vegan chocolate cake recipe is that it’s easily adapted to cupcakes – and that’s precisely what I’ve done here. And that, in essence, is what baking of any sort is all about. A few basic recipes that you can modify and adapt to any shape, size or flavour.
And this recipe is definitely one that you’ll find yourself coming back to again and again. Cupcakes, cakes, muffins – a few small tweaks and vegan chocolate goodness of all sorts is within your reach.
Another benefit of this recipe: it’s so darn simple. The vegan chocolate cupcakes themselves only require 9 baisc ingredients:
gluten free flour
xanthan gum
salt
baking powder
baking soda
cocoa powder
sugar
vegetable oil
almond milk
Making the vegan cupcake batter involves mixing all the ingredients together and baking them. Aaand… that’s it.
The vegan chocolate frosting is equally uncomplicated:
coconut cream
powdered sugar
cocoa powder
melted chocolate
Yes, there’s cocoa powder AND melted chocolate in the frosting – double the chocolate, double the flavour, double the deliciousness.
The end result is utter chocolatey perfection. Seriously, there’s nothing not to love about these gluten free vegan chocolate cupcakes. They’ve even passed the non-vegan/non-GF test: nobody could tell that they contain no gluten, no eggs and no dairy!
They’re perfectly fudgy, moist and chocolatey, without being too dense – they really are cupcakes rather than brownies. (Being too dense is actually a common problem with vegan baking – but not in this recipe!)
The frosting is airy, sweet, rich and ridiculously decadent. I piped it super tall (because more is more when it comes to chocolate frosting, right?) but you can decrease the amount if you want. (Why would anyone want to do that, though?)
And it all comes together within 45 minutes.
Yes, this vegan chocolate cupcakes recipe is the very definition of EASY and QUICK. But the results… oh, the results. Pure chocolate bliss in every single bite.
On that note: apparently I’ve used the word chocolate 25 times in this post (26 counting this sentence). That pretty much speaks for itself, doesn’t it?
Recommended products + tools
To make things easier for you, here are the products I’ve used and recommend for this recipe! So often, I get asked about what kind of gluten free flour I use or which kind of baking pans are best – and I know that the baking/cooking world can be overwhelming, what with the bazillion different products available out there. Well, no more.
The links below are affiliate links, which means I make a small commission for every purchase you make, at no additional cost to you. This allows me to fuel my – and your 😉 – chocolate addiction, so thank you for supporting The Loopy Whisk! (For more information, check out the Disclosure Policy.)
- When it comes to gluten free flour blends, I recommend using one with a very simple ingredients list. I use a Lidl Brand “Just Free” (available in UK), that only contains rice, potato and maize flour. However, people have had excellent results using Bob’s Red Mill all purpose GF flour and 1-to-1 baking flour. Alternatively, you can mix our own blend from rice flour, potato flour and maize flour.
- I get many questions about xanthan gum. This is a common ingredient in gluten free baking, acting like “glue” (the binding agent) in the absence of gluten. It gives your baked goods elasticity and flexibility, so that they don’t crumble away to nothing.
- When it comes to the frosting, you can either use a high quality coconut milk with few/no additives to get the coconut cream… or just buy straight-up coconut cream, if you want to avoid the extra step of separating the cream from the milk.
- You want your coconut cream frosting to be as fluffy as possible – I like to make it in my KitchenAid stand mixer, but a quality hand mixer will work just as well. I recommend the VonShef hand mixer, it works like a dream.
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Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes (Gluten, Dairy & Egg Free)
Ingredients
For gluten free vegan chocolate cupcakes:
DRY:
- 2 cups (240 g) plain gluten free flour blend (I've used a simple store-bought blend of rice, potato and maize flour with no added xanthan gum)
- 1 1/3 cups (260 g) caster sugar (Note 1)
- 1/2 cup (60 g) cocoa powder
- pinch of salt
- 3/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
WET:
- 1 cup (240 mL) vegetable oil
- 2 cups (480 mL) non-dairy milk (for instance coconut milk, rice milk or almond milk if not sensitive to nuts)
For vegan chocolate frosting:
- 2 cups (400 g) coconut cream (Note 2)
- 2 cups (220 g) powdered sugar, sifted (Note 1)
- 1/3 cup (40 g) cocoa powder
- 3 1/2 oz (100 g) dark chocolate, melted and cooled until warm (or room temperature)
- 1/8 cup (30 mL) non-dairy milk (optional)
Instructions
For gluten free vegan chocolate cupcakes:
- Pre-heat the oven to 355 ºF (180 ºC) and line a cupcake baking tin with 12 cupcake liners.If you're uncertain about the quality of your cupcake liners, brush the inside with some vegetable oil for easier cupcake liner removal when eating.
- Mix all dry ingredients together.
- Mix the wet ingredients together, and add them to the dry ingredients. Stir well, until you get a smooth cupcake batter.
- Transfer the cupcake batter into the cupcake liners, so that you fill each cupcake liner about 3/4 full. Bake in the pre-heated oven at 355 ºF (180 ºC) for about 35 minutes or until the tops are springy/bouncy to the touch and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.While the cupcakes are baking, prepare the vegan chocolate frosting.
- Allow to cool.
For vegan chocolate frosting:
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or using a hand mixer with the double beater attachment, beat the coconut cream until smooth and slightly increased in volume.
- Add the powdered sugar. Gradually increase the mixer speed from low (at the beginning while the powdered sugar is being incorporated into the coconut cream) to high. Beat at high speed for about 5 minutes, or until the frosting is fluffy and increased in volume.
- Add the cocoa powder and beat until evenly incorporated. The cocoa powder will make the frosting firm up slightly.
- Add the melted chocolate and beat until evenly incorporated. As the chocolate cools, the frosting can become a bit hard – at this point add the almond milk if needed. It will loosen up the frosting, bringing it to piping consistency.If your kitchen is very cold, your frosting may still be too hard for piping. If that is the case, warm the outside of the mixer bowl gently with a hairdryer while beating at medium-high speed. (Weird, but it works every time!)
Assembly:
- Using a piping nozzle of choice (I've used this Wilton Star Tip No. 32 (affiliate link) – it's a favourite!), pipe the vegan chocolate frosting on top of the cooled cupcakes.
- Enjoy!
Storage:
- The gluten free vegan chocolate cupcakes keep well in a closed container in a cool dry place for about 3 - 4 days.
Notes
Looking for more sweet vegan goodness? I’ve got just the recipes!
Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Cake
1-Bowl Gluten Free Vegan Sugar Cookies
