Ingredients
Method
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
* A note on the flour: You could use all cake flour (2 cups/240g) if you like, but the cupcakes will be fragile at room temperature. If you do choose to use all cake flour, you could chill and store them in the refrigerator so the coconut oil hardens and helps to keep the cupcakes more sturdy.