Oh baking, how I've missed you...
Just me, my Kitchen Aid mixer, some good music, chocolatesugarflour...oh the fun, oh the memories.
I seriously love baking - I love experimenting and finding new ways to make classic desserts. I love experimenting and finding new HEALTHIER ways to make classic desserts. I am still excited about today's post and recipe.
This chocolate cupcake is vegan, & {refined} sugar free, {refined} flour free. I know you are saying, "Great - so a cupcake that tastes like what, a vegetable?"
I promise - this cupcake tastes like...a cupcake. My husband ate 2. They are rich, fluffy and delicious. And once I had the cupcake down, I was on to the real challenge - the frosting. How to make a vegan/dairy free frosting AND not use white/refined sugar? It took a little experimenting, a lot of researching and of COURSE...Pinterest.
A basic chocolate vegan cupcake recipe from Chow.com - I tweaked the original recipe, so check out my version below.
And, for frosting...
Are you ready?!
Chocolate Vegan Cupcakes with Chocolate Mousse Frosting
Printable Recipe
Yield: 10-12 cupcakes
1 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup coconut palm sugar
1/3 c. pureed prunes + 1 Tblsp melted coconut oil (I literally pureed prunes in my food processor and added the melted coconut oil for a smooth consistency)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coffee extract (optional)
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
Whisk together the almond milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, prune mixture, vanilla extract, and other extract, if using, to the almond milk mixture and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients slowly and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK).
Pour into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
Note: You can use any kind of milk, regular sugar, canola oil instead of the prunes and white flour if you don’t have any of the above ingredients!
Chocolate Mousse Frosting
Yield: approximately 5 cupcakes, generously frosted. You might want to double this for a full batch!
1 can coconut milk
1/4 cup plus 1 T cocoa powder (I used dutch processed cocoa for this and only put in 3 T of cocoa powder and it is still a little too much cocoa for me...so adjust according to your tastes!)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
sweetener to taste (I used about 2 tsp of coconut palm sugar that I ground up in my spice grinder. Took literally about 5 seconds to become the consistency of powdered sugar!)
Open the coconut milk, and leave the can (or transfer to a bowl) uncovered in the fridge overnight. (Don’t shake the can before opening.) It should get very, very thick.
Once thick, transfer to a bowl (you can opt to leave out the watery bit at the bottom of the can, if you want it even thicker) and whip in your cocoa, vanilla, and sweetener . Stored uncovered in the fridge, the mixture gets even thicker. Pipe onto cupcakes!
Adapted from Chow.com and Chocolate Covered Katie
Can you believe those things are healthy? And dairy free? And made with whole wheat flour? I know, me neither...
~miranda
