These are the Best Dairy Free Chocolate Cupcakes! They are everything you wish for in a cupcake. Moist, rich, and of course super chocolatey. Paired with our dairy free chocolate frosting for an absolute treat.
When you say chocolate cake or cupcakes, people instantly know they are in for a treat. When you are vegan or dairy free, that’s no exception. You still want to indulge on a delicious chocolate cupcake every once in awhile. You’re in for a special treat because we have the absolute best dairy free cupcakes for you. And while we may be a little biased, we’d venture to say it’s even the best chocolate cupcake period.
These dairy free chocolate cupcakes are:
- Smooth and dreamy
- Moist
- Velvety
- Super Rich
- Insanely Delicious
- Decadently Sweet
- Indulgent
- and of course super Chocolatey
Listen, this dairy free chocolate cupcake recipe is so good that you wouldn’t even realize that it’s a completely vegan chocolate cupcake. You won’t miss the milk or eggs at all. Move over death by chocolate cake. And get out the way better than s*x cake, because this dairy free chocolate cupcake is everything you’ve dreamed of and more.
This is a vegan chocolate cupcake recipe, which means there’s no dairy or eggs. However, we also describe below how you can make this a gluten free, vegan cake as well. Win. Win.
Watch how to make this dairy free chocolate cake:
What ingredients do I need to make a dairy free chocolate cupcake?
While this dairy free chocolate cupcake recipe does need what seems to be a lot of ingredients, it’s still an easy chocolate cupcake recipe. In order to make this cake without eggs and without dairy, you need a bit of creativity and chemistry. The end result though is so perfect. For this cake you’ll need:
- vegan all-purpose flour (*See below if Gluten Free)
- cake four (*See Below if Gluten Free)
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- Vegan Sugar
- Baking Soda
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- White Vinegar
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Unsweetened Almond Milk
- Applesauce
- Maple Syrup
- Vanilla Extract
- Coconut Oil
- Dairy Free Chocolate Frosting
- Optional: Chocolate Syrup and Chocolate Bars for Shavings
How to make dairy free chocolate cupcakes?
Because we are making these dairy free chocolate cupcakes also a vegan chocolate cupcake recipe, we need to make this cake without eggs. In order to do that we are replacing the typical milk or buttermilk in a regular chocolate cake recipe with almond buttermilk. For the eggs, we are doing a combination of applesauce, baking soda, and apple cider vinegar.
Once we had the replacements we needed to make this dairy free chocolate, we were ready to bring you the most delicious dairy free cupcake recipe ever.
In one bowl, you’ll combine all the dry ingredients by sifting them into the bowl. Then, you’ll make the almond buttermilk and let that sit up. In another bowl, you’ll add all the wet ingredients, except the coconut oil and additional almond milk.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients with a mixer on low speed in four increments, just until blended. In a small saucepan, bring the coconut oil and almond milk to a boil. Pour that in and stir to combine. Let mixture sit for 5 minutes.
Grease 2 cupcake pans and evenly pour batter into each one.
See below tips and tricks for making this dairy free chocolate cupcake recipe perfect!
How to make a moist dairy free chocolate cupcake recipe?
Sometimes people hear vegan chocolate cupcake and get paranoid. They think it’s not going to be as good as a “normal” chocolate cupcake recipe. But, we beg to differ. This dairy free chocolate cake is rich in chocolate while still remaining moist. In order to have the divine milk free chocolate cake recipe is in the ingredients. The right amount of fat (coconut oil) combined with making our own almond buttermilk (acid) and adding in leavening agents (baking soda and baking powder) all act together to insure this will not be a dry dairy free chocolate cupcake.
Also, the importance of minimally processing the ingredients together. We only mix until combined. We do this because the longer you beat flour, the more gluten forms making for a not so great cupcake.
Can I make this into dairy free chocolate cake?
You can absolutely make this into a dairy free chocolate cake. Simply make the recipe as normal and then instead of greasing cupcake pans, you will fill 3 cake pans and increase the time. Find all the directions on making a vegan chocolate cake recipe here.
What is the purpose of the dairy free “buttermilk”?
By adding some acid to your batter, you are creating a dairy free cupcake that is moist and delicious. It helps to break down the tough gluten strands, yielding in the most delicious dairy free chocolate cupcake recipe. Don’t skip this step!
What does it mean to bloom the chocolate?
When you get to the step about boiling the almond milk and coconut oil together, you may be tempted to skip that step, but don’t. It’s very critical to do so in order to make this perfect dairy free chocolate cupcake.
You add the boiling milk mixture in order to help the cocoa power “bloom”. When cocoa powder it mixed with a hot liquid (you can do this with water, coffee, milks, etc) it allows the powder to dissolves and release flavor particles. Essentially, it brings out all the flavor in the cocoa powder, ensuring you have the best dairy free chocolate cupcake ever.
I’m dairy free but not vegan, can I just use eggs in this dairy free chocolate cake?
You could definitely swap the applesauce for the eggs in the recipe if you are not wanting a vegan chocolate cake. You would want to remove the applesauce entirely and instead use 4 whole eggs when making the wet ingredients bowl.
Can I make these gluten free dairy free chocolate cupcakes?
Absolutely! Did I just make your day? You can swap out the vegan all-purpose flour for Gluten Free Cup for Cup flour. You can also swap out the cake flour with a gluten free version. All the other ingredients that we use in this recipe are naturally gluten free and no swaps are needed.
How can I frosting this dairy free chocolate cupcake recipe?
We highly recommend use our dairy free chocolate frosting recipe.
However, we know that some people want other options than chocolate on chocolate. Other ideas for how to frosting a dairy free chocolate cupcake are:
- Using Dairy Free Whipped Topping (Homemade “Cool Whip”)
- Make a Dairy Free Cream Cheese Frosting (omit the pumpkin spice)
- Make a Dairy Free Vanilla Frosting
What are other dairy free chocolate desserts I can make?
Whether you are having a chocolate bar of delicious at your next get together, or you just want to have even more amazing chocolate dairy free desserts, we recommend you trying out some of these delicious non-dairy desserts (all are vegan):
- Dairy Free Brownies
- Triple Chocolate Dairy Free Cookies
- Dairy Free Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Coconut Cream Pie
- Dark Chocolate Mint Avocado Pudding
Dairy Free Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups flour use gluten free if needed
- 1 ½ cups cake flour use gluten free if needed
- 1 ½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 ¼ cups vegan sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 2 ¾ cups unsweetened almond milk divided
- 1 cup applesauce love this homemade applesauce
- 1 ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup coconut oil + more for greasing pans
Optional Ingredients
Instructions
- Place cupcake liners in 27 regular size cupcake tins. Set aside.
- Add all 7 dry ingredients into a sifter and sift into a medium sized bowl. Set aside
- Inside a one cup measuring cup, add the 1 tablespoon white vinegar. Fill the remaining measuring cup with almond milk until you get to the top of the measuring cup. Let sit for 10 minutes. (This makes the almond buttermilk)
- In a large bowl, add the applesauce, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, vanilla, and almond buttermilk after it has set for 10 minutes. Beat on low speed just until combined.
- In a small saucepan, add the remaining 1 ¾ cup almond milk and coconut oil to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil.
- While waiting for the almond milk mixture to boil, in 4 parts, mix in the dry ingredients to wet ingredients on low speed. Just until blended. DO NOT OVER MIX.
- Once boiling, remove almond mix mixture from heat and pour into chocolate cake bowl. Using a spatula, fold in just until combined, scraping down any mixture if needed.
- Let bowl set for 5 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Fill up cupcake tins ¾ of the way full.
- Bake in oven 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. Let cool completely in order to frost.
- Frosting cupcakes one at a time.
- Add any optional toppings – some ideas would be chocolate shavings, fresh berries, coconut flakes, or chopped nuts like walnuts or peanuts.
Sam
can you use all purpose flour??
Larisha Bernard
yes
Julia Marie Caballero
Do you have the recipe in grams?
LarishaBernard
Not at this time. It’s a project we hope we can take on soon. But hopefully this guide can help: https://makeitdairyfree.com/basic-metric-conversion-chart/
Meredith
Love these super simple and ingredient accessible recipes! These cupcakes were inhaled by my family. I love the fudgey chocolatey goodness! Another awesome recipe from Make It Dairy Free!
LarishaBernard
Yay! We love that it’s a hit with your family! Thanks for taking time to leave a review
Joey
Can I use another type of oil other than coconut oil?
LarishaCampbell
another neutral oil like vegetable or canola will also work
PJ
Your recipe doesn’t mention how much of each ingredient to use. Do I have to watch the video to get that information?
LarishaCampbell
All the amounts are right above the two pictures if you scroll up just a bit