I learnt one thing after finding out I was also gluten intolerant after years of being vegan, free from cake baking is HARD. Cookies, tarts, even brownies, were all relatively easy to adapt, but sponges seemed to be the hardest thing to be consistently right. Which makes me very happy to say that 2021 seems to be the year I’ve finally figured out the cupcake, and decided to add a little hint Christmas to this gluten free vegan chocolate cupcakes recipe.
And the hint of Christmas is a hint. It’s literally just some crushed candy canes sprinkled over the icing. With it being so close to Christmas, I wanted to make something a little bit festive but also wanted to show that this is a chocolate cupcake recipe that can be used all year. If you want to make it more Christmassy, feel free to add some peppermint extract to your batter or make your icing with mint chocolate instead (or orange/ any other Christmas flavour of your choice).
Suggested Recipe: Candy Cane Cookies
Ingredients Choices
Although this recipe uses a bicarbonate of soda and apple cider vinegar mix to keep the mix lighter and help it rise, I’ve still opted for a small amount of GF self-raising flour along with the plain flour. I find most GF bakes need all of the help they can get, so the added self-raising flour helps a lot. Usually, I add some oat flour in with my GF flour options to keep the cakes a little lighter in texture. I didn’t opt for that method this time, but if you wish to try it that way, swap half of the GF plain flour for the oat flour.
The soy milk can be swapped for any milk alternative of your choice.
Nutritional Information
Each cupcake contains 257 calories, and 2.5g of both fibre and protein. Each cupcake also contains 10% of the RDA of vitamin B12 and 1.3mg of iron.
Further Reading: Check out the NHS iron guide for more information about how much iron you need depending on age and gender.
How to store and does it keep?
Store somewhere cool so to ensure your icing doesn’t melt. One cooked, keep in an airtight container and they should stay fresh for 4-5 days.
Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe
An easy vegan and gluten free chocolate cupcakes recipe with thick chocolate icing sprinkled with crushed candy canes for a little hint of Christmas.
This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, nut free and vegan. It can be soy free if you opt for a different milk alternative.
Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe
Ingredients
- 180 ml soya milk
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 165 g caster sugar
- 50 g dairy-free spread
- 100 g GF plain flour
- 50 g GF self raising flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 40 g cocoa powder
- ½ tsp salt
For the vegan icing
- 50 g chocolate chips
- 150 g icing sugar
- 75 g dairy-free spread
- 3-4 candy canes optional
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Line a cupcake tray with 10 paper cupcake cases.
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Whisk together the soya milk and cider vinegar in a jug. Set aside.
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Cream the sugar and margarine in a large bowl with a hand -held whisk until soft and smooth and set aside.
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Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder into a bowl and stir in the salt
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Tip the dry ingredients into the sugar and margarine and pour in the soya milk mixture. Stir together with a wooden spoon, using a figure of eight motion. The mixture will seem dry at first, but will loosen quickly.
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Spoon the batter into the cases using a dessert spoon. Be careful not to over-fill, fill to about ¾ full.
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Bake in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes, or until the cakes spring back to the touch. Leave to cool completely in the tins before decorating.
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To make the icing, sift the icing sugar to ensure its smooth, then cream with the vegan butter. Melt the chocolate chips over a pan of boiling water and then stir the melted chocolate into the creamed sugar mix. It should be relatively thick.
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To decorate the cupcakes, you can either dollop on some icing and swirl it with a knife, or use a piping bag. See the tips section for other ways to decorate. I opted to spoon some on, then swirl.
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Add the candy canes to a food processor and pulse until they’re broken down into small chunks, then sprinkle them over the icing.
Serve and enjoy!
I hope you enjoy these little festive treats!
Until next time,
Sophie
These look so tasty and I love the festive topper! it’s great you’ve nailed the perfect cupcake recipe too! 🙂
Hope that you had a wonderful weekend! We went to a couple of fun Christmas parties 🙂
These cupcakes sound amazing. I definitely need to try and make them. Thank you for sharing.
Ooh they look so delicious! I’ll have to give this recipe a try
Yum! Chocolate cupcakes are delicious and I’m sure these are too – they definitely look amazing. I love the candy cane touches too 🙂 x
These look so cute with the crushed up candy canes! I’d never have thought to use them to decorate in this way! Love it!
Milli x – http://millidavison.co.uk/
I was floored the first time I tasted a chocolate cake with the same ingredients. Moist, full of flavor, and the texture was great. I wasn’t vegan at the time, but I appreciate these types of recipes now.
These cupcakes look and sound delicious Sophie! The peppermint/chocolate combination is one of my favourites especially at this time of the year. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
These gluten free vegan chocolate cupcakes look so delicious. I want to eat them now. Thank you for sharing your recipe with us! I love how you also mentioned what to do to add a bit of Christmas into the recipe! I have to try making this! 😀
These look so delicious!!! I’m going to have to make this recipe 🙂