You guys, these vegan cupcakes are some of THE BEST cupcakes I’ve ever had! Not only is the chocolate cake so amazingly moist, but it's filled with coconut salted caramel sauce and topped with silky salted caramel buttercream. OH MY GOODNESS!
Are you drooling yet? I sure am! They’re perfect for birthdays, parties, or you know, anytime you're craving chocolate cake, which happens to be pretty much every day for me.
How to make vegan salted caramel chocolate cupcakes
When developing these vegan cupcakes, I used my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe as the base. I've taken out the egg and replaced it with a flax egg - a combination of ground flaxseed and water. I've also taken out the sour cream and milk and replaced them with Chef's Choice coconut milk and some vinegar to add acidity to react with the baking soda.
To make vegan chocolate cupcakes, sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, instant espresso, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Mix in the flax egg, coconut milk, coconut oil, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Dish the batter out into a muffin tin lined with paper liners and bake them for about 20 minutes.
After the chocolate cupcakes cool completely, I cored out the center using a piping tip - a secret chamber for the salted caramel! You could also use an apple corer or a pairing knife to core out the cupcakes. If you have absolutely nothing to core it out with, you could poke a hole using a chopstick, wiggle it around, and inject the caramel through a piping bag.
Traditional caramel vs vegan caramel
Traditionally, caramel is a combination of butter, sugar, and heavy cream. On the other hand, there's a variety of vegan caramel recipes out there. Some use coconut milk, others use puréed dates.
The one I used for my vegan salted caramel chocolate cupcakes recipe is a mixture of coconut milk, cane sugar, coconut sugar, and sea salt.
I haven't had many vegan caramel sauces, but this salted caramel sauce by Nature's Charm is by far my favorite caramel sauces ever! As in favorite of all caramel sauces, both vegan and traditional. College me would've eaten the whole jar with a spoon in one sitting! Probably accompanied by a batch of warm brownies and a tub of vanilla ice cream.
How to make vegan salted caramel buttercream
How to make buttercream without butter? Vegan butter!
Vegan butter is hard to come by in Japan. My local store has margarine, but none are dairy-free. So whenever I need vegan butter for a recipe, like my vegan chocolate banana cupcakes, I like to make my own cultured European style vegan butter.
The texture of the vegan buttercream is silky, and pipes beautifully, as you can see! And I think it goes without saying that adding salted caramel to buttercream makes it irresistible.
These vegan chocolate cupcakes are truly one of the best cupcakes I've had! The cake is super moist, the salted caramel buttercream is so silky, and the salted caramel oozes out when you bite into it... How can anyone resist these cupcakes?!
They would be perfect for any occasion, so get in your kitchen and make a batch!
More Chocolate Cakes
- My gluten-free chocolate cake is so moist, I make it for most occasions and always get rave reviews!
- My mocha cake and German chocolate cake recipes are also delicious, and great if you want something a little different than just the classic chocolate cake.
- If you love chocolate cupcakes, try my moist chocolate cupcakes or my peanut butter chocolate cupcakes. They're so easy to make, and all so moist!
Want more desserts? Check out this list of gluten-free dairy-free desserts - there's vegan recipes in there too!
Vegan Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
Chocolate cupcakes
- 2 cups (400g) sugar
- 1½ cups (180g) cake flour*
- ¼ cup (32.5g) all-purpose flour*
- ⅔ cup (56g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons (2g) instant espresso powder
- 2 teaspoons (12g) baking soda
- 1 teaspoon (4g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (4g) fine salt
- 1 can (400ml) Chef's Choice coconut milk
- 5 tablespoons (75ml) water
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) ground flaxseed
- ½ cup (120ml) refined coconut oil, melted
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) vinegar
- 2 teaspoons (10ml) pure vanilla extract
Filling
- ¼ jar (100g) Nature's Charm Coconut Salted Caramel Sauce
Salted caramel buttercream
- 1 cup (225g) unsalted vegan butter
- 1½ cup (188g) powdered sugar
- ½ jar (200g) Nature's Charm Coconut Salted Caramel Sauce
Topping
- ¼ jar (100g) Nature's Charm Coconut Salted Caramel Sauce
Instructions
Chocolate cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 338°F/170°C, and line a cupcake pan with paper liners and set aside.
- Mix together the water and ground flaxseed in a small bowl or dish and set aside to let it thicken.
- In a large bowl, sift together the sugar, cake flour, all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, instant espresso, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the coconut milk, thickened flaxseed mixture, coconut oil, vinegar, and vanilla to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Separate the batter into 24 paper liners (each cupcake will have about 8 teaspoons/40ml of batter) and bake in the preheated oven for about 18-20 minutes. If you stick a toothpick in the center of a cupcake and it comes out clean, they're ready to come out of the oven. Let them cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before taking them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Filling
- Core out each cupcake using a large piping tip, apple corer, or a pairing knife. Fill the holes with salted caramel sauce.
Salted caramel buttercream
- Beat the vegan butter using an electric mixer for 3-5 minutes until it's fluffy. Add the powdered sugar little by little, beating after each addition. Beat in the salted caramel sauce until smooth.
- Put the buttercream frosting into a piping bag and pipe onto each cooled cupcake.
Topping
- Drizzle each cupcake with some salted caramel sauce.
Notes
Disclosure – Thank you to Nature’s Charm for sponsoring this post! It’s a delight to be working for people and a business I find inspiring. I love the values the company is built on, and am proud to be collaborating with them!
Val says
I just made the frosting and the taste is amazing! However, it was a bit soft even after putting it in the fridge for 10 minutes. You can pipe basic swirls but my rosettes fell apart. I will make this again and maybe use less caramel to see if the consistency is firmer.
Ai Willis says
Hi Val! You may have added too much caramel. If you do try it with less caramel, I'd love to know how they turned out!