These Vegan Halloween Cupcake Monsters are more sweet than spooky with a dark chocolate cupcake, naturally purple frosting fur, and big green grape eyes! Vegan, gluten-free, naturally colored.
So maybe these are not the most terrifying Halloween dessert you’ve ever seen. Next to really spooky sweets like these or these or these these they are borderline adorable. Next to a puppy in a ghost costume the puppy would most likely win for spookiest look. But they are very delectable little not-so-terrifying monsters! And vegan too, how many monsters do you know that can claim that?!
The cupcake. There’s no better base flavor for a menacing monster than chocolate. I slightly modified my favorite Everything-Free Chocolate Cupcake recipe to make them extra dark and chocolatey, although now I might have to make them like this all the time because that extra cacao made them extra delicious!
The frosting. My favorite part! Yep, I was that kid who always wanted the corner piece of birthday cake and felt that frosting piled higher than the cupcake itself was as it should be. This frosting is made with just 3 ingredients, no refined sugar, and the color is completely natural thanks to purple sweet potato! How lucky is it that sweet potatoes just happen to come in the perfect shade for monster-making? Very lucky! The sweet potato is not just great for color, but thick, creamy, low-fat texture too. And it is perfectly pipe-able and stays put just like regular frosting.
The eyeballs. Purple and green are like the funky untraditional halloween color pair, so of course the eyeballs had to be green. Green grapes (or if you can find them kiwi berries) are perfect for the job. Slice them in half, pop a mini chocolate chip in the center, and soon your cupcake monsters will be giving you the fruity stare-down. Or if you want to get a little eyeball-elaborate, freeze the grapes/kiwi berries, slice them, coat them facedown with coconut milk, and let it harden into the whites of their eyes.
The sprinkles. These are optional, but what’s a monster without sprinkles? Actually, now that I think about it, it could be mistaken for monster dandruff…um let’s not think about that. Anywho, you can use any colors you like, but I went with black (chocolate), white, and yellow.
Vegan Halloween Cupcake Monsters
- Prep Time: 60 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 85 minutes
- Yield: 6 cupcakes 1x
Ingredients
Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
- 1 cup pitted dates
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup cacao powder (or cocoa)
- ¾ cup oat flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp baking powder
Purple Frosting
- 1 cup baked and mashed purple sweet potato
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 4–6 tbsp non-dairy milk
Decorations
- 3 green grapes or kiwi berries
- Mini chocolate chips
- Chocolate (yellow, and coconut sprinkles)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Blend the dates and water on high until smooth.
- Add the rest of the cupcake ingredients. Blend/process to form a thick batter.
- Divide beweren 6-8 muffin cups lined with paper liners or lightly oiled.
- Bake for 25 mins at 350F.
- Remove from the oven. Cool completely before frosting.
- In a food processor (works better than a blender for this), combine the mashed purple sweet potato and maple syrup. Process while slowly adding the milk until thick and smooth. This may take a while to get it really smooth.
- Spread a thick layer of frosting on each cupcake. Dab with a dull knife to create a “fur” effect.
- Top with sprinkles.
- Slice the grapes/kiwi berries in half. Insert a mini chocolate chip into the center of each. Place on top of the cupcakes.
- Enjoy! They are best eaten the day you decorate them or the grapes get a little funky.
And that’s it. Or is it…(cue spooky suspense music!) It’s not, there is more…
This recipe is part of a collaboration with 4 amazing vegan bloggers/youtubers so that means there’s even more spooky and sweet stuff to make for your haunted halloween high-carb vegan feast.
Candy Corn Parfait from Caitlin {@frommybowl}
Date-Sweetened Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread by Jasmine {@sweetsimplevegan}
Pumpkin Spice Twix, Chocolate Witch Fingers, and Eyezzz from Lisa {@lisakng_}
Mummy Bites from Steph {@stephsplate}
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