chocolate cupcakes

Yes these gorgeous chocolate cupcakes are free-from gluten, eggs, dairy, soy & nuts; they are also packed full of wonderful chocolatey flavour and YUM!

They are always a great hit and are often requested by Aars if we are having a little tea-party as they are simple to make and really chocolatey. I love them unadulterated as they come out of the oven – warm and chocolatey. But Aars is an icing demon so prefers them once they have cooled topped with our vegan chocolate icing. As there are often little people at our parties I leave some with no icing on and others with a dot of icing and little melt-in-your-mouth chocolate biscuit on top. It surprises me that little ones go back for more as these cupcakes are über chocolatey, but they are also light and really scrummy.

We grind our own flaxseeds to make our flax-*gg which is an important component as it helps bind the mix together. The recipe works without flaxseed but the end result is a little crumbly as you can see in the photo of the iced chocolate cupcake on the right. If you don’t have flaxseed or chia seeds to grind, you could use another egg-replacement like half a banana mashed up into the mix.

I hope that you little ones enjoy these chocolate cupcakes as much as we do when we are after a really chocolatey treat! We’d love to see how you decorate yours. My melt-in-the-mouth biscuit you can see on top of all our chocolate cupcakes is not yet on my website, but is a variation on the chocolate kisses I make – piped into tiny treats and baked for 5 minutes only. The chocolate kisses recipe is at the bottom of this post incase you fancy giving it a little adaptation and go!

I hope you have a wonderfully tasty weekend surrounded by people you love,
Rai x

chocolate cupcakes

• Yield:

  makes 18 cupcakes

• Cooking Method:

  baking

• Prep Time:

  10 mins

• Cook Time:

  15 mins

Allergens:

no allergens

Dietary:

dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free, vegan

This is a really simple chocolate cupcake recipe free-from allergens & super scrummy. It is über chocolately and everyone loves these as part of an afternoon tea or a children's party. If you don't have ground flaxseed (we grind our own) the cupcakes will be a bit crumbly - as the ground flaxseed works as a flax-*gg binding everything together. We have made them without and they taste great (just are a little messy) so I would recommend you use another egg-alternative like half a mashed banana instead. 

These are great topped with my vegan fluffy light chocolate icing. If you prefer a little contrast go for a vanilla or coffee icing. I like to pop a little melt-in-your-mouth biscuit on top too! 

Ingredients:

• 1 C water
• ¹⁄3 C oil
• 1 Tbs vanilla extract
• 1Tbs cider vinegar
• 1 Tbs ground flaxseed
• 1 C gluten-free self-raising flour
• ½ C raw cacao powder
• 1 C golden caster sugar
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C (fan oven). Prep your cupcake tins with cupcake cases. 

   

2. In a bowl combine all your wet ingredients. Then add all your dry ingredients and stir to combine.

3. Once your batter is well mixed spoon out into the waiting cupcake cases so they are all ¾ full of mix.

4. Pop into the oven for 15 mins* once they are baked get them out and leave in tins for 5 minutes before placing on a cooling rack. 

5. If you are going to ice these make sure that they are completely cold before icing them. The cupcakes centres have residual heat which may melt your icing if you do not let them get completely cold.

Notes:

*if you are making muffins these will take more like 22 minutes to bake - you can test to see if the cupcakes are ready to come out of the oven by skewering them - if the skewer comes out of the cake clean it's thoroughly baked.

If I ice these I make my chocolate icing as Aars is generally up for a proper chocolate-fest. I tend to ice some cupcakes with a lot less icing than others - (better for little ones) and I tend to top them with my mini melt-in-your-mouth chocolate biscuits which is a variation of my chocolate kisses recipe.

chocolate vegan frosting (light & fluffy)

• Yield:

  ices 24 cupcakes

• Prep Time:

  15 mins

• Cook Time:

  0 mins

Allergens:

no allergens

Dietary:

dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free, vegan

This chocolate vegan frosting is really light and fluffy - you beat the air into it, so I recommend you use a machine to do this tiring job for you. I use my kenwood chef and it's K-beater attachment. That said it is worth the time and effort as it is  another lovely vegan frosting.

It makes me very happy that our children don't miss out just because they cannot have unhealthy butter cream. I also love that vegan food can still be naughty and nice. You don't have to smother cupcakes in icing to make them look cute and pretty!

Ingredients:

• ¼ C trex
• ¼ C sunflower spread
• 1 ½ C icing sugar
• ¼ C raw cacao powder
• ¹⁄8 C m!lk alternative (we use Koko)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. In a mixer beat the trex & spread until they are well combined and fluffy (about 4 minutess in my kenwood chef with a K beater).

2. Add the icing sugar & raw cacao powder and beat for another 4 minutes.

3. Then add the m!lk alternative & vanilla; beat for about 7 mins until really light and fluffy. Pop the lot into the fridge for at least half an hour to cool before icing your cakes. 

Notes:

Always ensure your cakes are cold when you ice them, if they have any internal warmth still they will melt your icing. 

And just incase you want to play with a biscuit on top here’s the basic chocolate kiss recipe for you 🙂 have fun!

gluten-free & vegan chocolate-peppermint-kisses

• Yield:

  64 biscuits (32 kisses)

• Cooking Method:

  baking

• Prep Time:

  15 mins

• Cook Time:

  15 mins

Allergens:

no allergens

Dietary:

dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free, vegan

These chocolate peppermint kisses are a fresh and yummy combo. For folk like Aars who can't eat After Eights these little melt-in-your-mouth chocolate biscuits, with a spot of peppermint icing are more than compensation! 

Ingredients:

• 6 oz sunflower spread
• 2 oz icing sugar
• 6 ½ oz gluten-free self raising flour
• 1½ oz raw cacao powder*
• PEPPERMINT B*TTER CRE*M ICING
• 2½ oz sunflower spread
• 1C icing sugar
• 1 tsp peppermint extract

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC and prep a baking tray with baking paper. In a bowl beat the spread &sugar thoroughly. When it's nicely creamed add the flour & raw cacao powder* and mix well.

   

2. Even though the mix seems wet & cloying it rolls into little balls surprisingly well. Place your little rolled balls of dough on waiting baking tray, then flatten them with two fingers. Pop into the oven for 15 minutes.

3. Place on a colling rack once cooked and ensure they are cold before making into peppermint kisses (otherwise residue heat will melt the icing!).

4. To make the peppermint b*tter cre*m beat the sugar into the spread then add the peppermint extract. When the biscuits are cold you can put a dot of icing on one and then squidge another biscuit on top. Job done! 

Notes:

*if you don't have raw cacao powder use cocoa powder

The biscuits (with no icing) freeze brilliantly and take less than an hour to defrost so I tend to make a mass of them and pop them in the freezer in a sealed bag, ready to whip out if people drop by. I keep the icing in an airtight container in the fridge so the biscuits can be transformed into kisses at a moments notice. 

B*TTER CRE*M icing is butter-free, better-cre*m icing, it's 100% vegan and I use the *s to avoid confusion - as there is no butter or cream in our recipe.