Double Chocolate Cupcakes

Double Chocolate Cupcakes

(Roughly adapted from the Post Punk Kitchen)

Makes 16 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

• 1 + 1/2 cups almond or other non-dairy milk
• 1 + 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 + 1/8 cup raw turbinado sugar
• 1/2 cup safflower oil
• 2 + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 + 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 + 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 + 1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a muffin tin lightly with cooking spray and insert paper or foil cupcake liners. Combine almond milk and apple cider vinegar in a large bowl and whisk until combined. Let the bowl sit for a few minutes (you're basically making vegan buttermilk!) Add sugar, oil, and vanilla extract to the vegan buttermilk bowl and whisk until the mixture is frothy. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Combine with a dry whisk to make sure that the dry ingredients are uniformly mixed. Add dry ingredients to wet ones in two batches, whisking after each batch until most lumps are absorbed. Make sure you scrape the sides of the bowl; flour always gets trapped there! Once your batter is nice and mixed, spoon or pour it into the cupcake liners, filling each liner about 3/4 of the way full. I ended up doing one batch of 12 and another of 6. Bake about 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Once the cupcakes have cooled slightly, use a butter knife to gently lift the cupcakes out of the pan. 

For the chocolate topping:

• 1/3 cup almond milk
• 1/3 cup vegan semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp pure maple syrup

Bring almond milk to a boil in a small saucepan, then reduce heat to low. Add chocolate chips and maple syrup, stirring until chocolate has melted and dissolved into the almond milk. Once the mixture is uniform, turn off the heat and let it cool for about 10 minutes. When cupcakes have cooled sufficiently, dip them one at a time upside down in the chocolate. They will be runny at first so stick them in the fridge to set once they've been dipped.