Classic Chocolate Cupcakes

February 14, 2006 at 6:05 am | In Baking / Cooking, Food | 15 Comments

How many times have we all heard the dreaded comment: “Pretty good for a vegan dessert….”

No, stop right there. Not today.

As my Valentine’s gift to all of you out in blog land, I present with a fluttering heart, my perfect chocolate cupcakes. I know, every recipe out there claims to be the “ultimate” or “best ever,” but stick with me here, try these little cakes and you will never go back to that hodge-podge little brownie you usually end up with when omitting animal products.

Right from the start, you have to know that this batch will be different. After all, just look at those tops – they rise in the oven, such a novel concept! A firm, almost chewy exterior protects a soft, moist cake for the body. Oh, the flavor? A chocolate to suit any tastes – not too overpowering or sweet for the mature palate, but sure to be an instant kid pleaser without any alterations neccissary.

I made a double batch of these and gave them out to some test subjects friends yesterday, all of them traditional dairy / egg consumers… and not one of them had any idea. I got rave reviews, they absolutely couldn’t get enough of them. When everyone was stuffed and couldn’t eat other bite, kids we walking out the door with two or three in their hands to horde for later! Needless to say, I returned home with only an tray, with the odd fallen sprinkle or two.

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/3 Cup Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Cup Vanilla Soymilk
2 Teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and line medium cupcake tins with papers. The papers do tend to adhere themselves a bit to the cake, so you could sprinkle the papers with just a little bit of flour or cocoa powder… but you really don’t have to. They’ll still come out just fine.

Mix all of the dry ingredients a medium size bowl – no electric mixer required. Combine all the wet ingredients in separate bowl – *EXCEPT VINEGAR.* Add your wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and stir until everything is mixed in, but don’t go crazy trying to beat out every single little lump. Now, add the vinegar quickly and stir in – pour batter into the pans and immediately put them in the oven. Bake for approximately 14 to 18 minutes. Allow them to cool in the pan for just a little bit, and then I placed mine on newspaper as a make-shift cooling rake until I was ready to frost them.

Makes one dozen lovely little snacks.

Printable Recipe

For the holiday, the obvious choice for this batch was to go the pink route, so I opted for a sugary sweet strawberry frosting, topped off with adorable little pink and white heart sprinkles. I admit, I was in a bit of a time crunch, so I cheated a little and used a store bought vanilla frosting as a base. For those of you planning on recreating these masterpieces at home, be sure to check labels carefully – Not all brands are vegan! For the proper flavoring, I added in about 1/3 cup of pureed frozen strawberries, along with a little less than a teaspoon of strawberry flavoring for an extra kick. No artifical coloring required, this is exactly what I ended up with.

…Now, who says vegan baked goods can’t compare?

15 Comments »

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wow you are quite the baker, an extremely articulate too! :)

Comment by Bristol — February 18, 2006 #

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sooo good, i just made these for cinco de mayo.

Comment by alyson — May 5, 2007 #

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Thank you so much for such a DELICOUS recipe! Well, i’m actually not certain how the finished product tastes, but the batter is very good. I made heart shaped cupcakes. If they don’t turn out, that’s okay, because I ran out of oil, then had to half the dry ingredients, without a scale.

Anyway, thank you. I’m sure I will be very happy in 10-14 minutes!

Comment by emma — February 2, 2008 #

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omgd, i want to make these cupcakes!!!!!!!!! one question: what type of vinegar do i use? white or apple cider? but i’ll be sure to make these!!!!

Comment by franni — June 3, 2008 #

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[...] I made my vegan baked good for the week. It turned out wonderful. I made Chocolate Cupcakes with this recipe from Bitter Sweet. I was extremely impressed with how they turned out. Who needs eggs and milk to [...]

Pingback by Baking Adventure #1 « Omnidude, Me & The Bean — July 5, 2008 #

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Absolutely amazing recipe! This is my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe from now on. The cupcakes came out perfectly moist and just chocolatey enough. You would never know that these are vegan cupcakes. I am waiting for them to cool, so that I can slather on peanut-butter-cream-cheese-buttercream frosting. LOL.

Comment by Vi — September 16, 2008 #

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Hey Hannah, I was wondering, what kind of vinegar do you use? And is it okay to use plain soymilk and then add in vanilla extract?
Thanks!

Comment by Mersha Lynn — October 19, 2008 #

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I made these cupcakes for my husband’s birthday and they were the rave of the party! I also used your Ganache and Frosting recipe’s from the Root-beer Float Cupcakes. I added the ganache in the middle and I’m pretty sure everyone had at least two each! XD

Thank you for the wonderful recipe!

Comment by Stephanie — January 11, 2009 #

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[...] community, this wasn’t difficult. I made a bee-line for Bittersweet and found recipes for chocolate cupcakes and cinnamon rolls. I englished up the recipes (no idea where I’m supposed to find canola oil [...]

Pingback by My little tea party « My Little Stitches — February 2, 2009 #

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I just found your website searching for chocolate cupcakes recipes. I was hesitant to try a vegan recipe but.. they are so delicious! I will make again. Now I want to try your other recipes.

Comment by ahava — February 16, 2009 #

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Put some powder sugar on top and you’ve got perfect cupcakes.
No one will know.

LOVE

Comment by Sydney — March 1, 2009 #

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mmmm I just doubled the recipe to make a 2 layer cake. It came out beautifully

Comment by Parisa — March 18, 2009 #

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The cupcakes looks delicious…i can’t wait to make it! I was wondering, what kind of vinegar do you use? Is it okay if i use plain soymilk and then add in vanilla extract? Thank you.

Comment by gabriella — June 10, 2009 #

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Wow! There were AMAZING! Defenantly worth a try. =~)

Comment by niki — July 1, 2009 #

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WOW! I am in love with these cupcakes. I’ve made them twice now, and they are perfect; and SO easy. The first time, I slathered them with a tangerine icing and took them to a party–they were a huge hit. Today’s batch rose even more beautifully than the first one (I ran out of regular sugar, so substituted 1/4 cup of brown sugar; but I don’t think this has anything to do with them rising so nicely). I’m serving them to out-of-town company tomorrow. THANK YOU for this recipe! Yum, yum, yum.

Comment by Jason — July 23, 2009 #

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