Chocolate Heaven

Chocolate Heaven...

Okay, these cupcakes will satisfy any chocolate or sweet cravings you may have. They are rich, moist, fluffy, and melt in your mouth delicious.  Not to brag too much – but these are the best cupcakes I have ever made. I have been sick and finally had my taste buds back and after looking through dozens of recipes, I struck out on my own and came up with this.

Warning: If you don’t like your chocolate cake to taste too sweet, or do not enjoy actually tasting the chocolate in your cake then these are not for you. But…If you are a chocolate lover who needs to satisfy a monthly craving or chocolate fix of any kind then these are for you!

Cake:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar (or sweetener of choice)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup chocolate almond milk
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup vegan sour cream
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray a cupcake pan with nonstick spray. In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt thoroughly.

2. Combine the chocolate almond milk, apple sauce, sour cream and vanilla in another bowl. Use a hand mixer to blend thoroughly. (The vegan sour cream is sometimes a little thick and needs to be mixed in well)

Create a well in the bowl with your dry ingredients and combine your wet ingredients. Use a hand mixer to blend.

3. Scoop immediately into cupcake pan – distributing evenly and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (if you find a spot without chocolate chips). Be careful not to bake too long or you will get a chewy outside layer (which does not taste bad at all) If you can wait…allow to cool before adding frosting. If not – have at it!

4. For frosting, use your favorite flavor…whatever it might be (chocolate perhaps?!)

5. Decorate your cupcakes and ENJOY!!

Frosting

There are TONS of great frosting recipes I use – and since none of them are my own I will direct you to www.vegweb.com where you can find just about any recipe that has been made vegan. So you can top this with a chocolate butter cream frosting or whatever fits your mood.

Baking Tips

Here are a couple of baking tips I picked up from the Cupcake Queen: Christine Alexander, former owner of Fairgrounds Coffeehouse, in Iowa City (where they have the best vegan cupcakes on earth - outside of these of course).

1.   Always preheat your oven and have your bake ware ready ahead of time.

2.   Make sure you combine your wet and dry ingredients quickly and are ready to immediately get your dish in the oven. Once the baking soda or baking powder combines with the wet ingredients it is activated and the amount of rise and fluffiness is improved with quick turnaround to the oven.

3.   When combining wet ingredients, always have a rubber spatula on hand to get all of the wet ingredients mixed into the dry. Recipes calling for a certain amount of moisture are relying on the full amount of wet ingredients. If you have a good layer of wet ingredients in your bowl then you are shorting your recipe by a couple of tablespoons of wet goodness!