Moist, fluffy, and SO rich. The ultimate vegan paleo dark chocolate cupcake topped with a fluffy berry buttercream, perfect for valentine’s day!
SPONSORED BY HU
What could be more first recipe of February apropos than a berry-topped deep dark chocolatey treat?
We’ve made it through the month of all things health (although I threw in some decadence anyways), and now it’s officially time for sweet and shareable and bake for someone special chocolate stuff. I’m not too big on the holiday to be honest, mostly just here for ALL THE CHOCOLATE.
The Perfect Vegan Paleo Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
It took me many attempts to figure out how to make an actually fluffy chocolate cupcake without eggs or grains, but this is the one. And bonus fun fact: they are super easy too! Just 8 ingredients, one bowl, 30 minutes. Very lovable any and every month of the year.
Dark Chocolate Cupcake Ingredients
The list is short and simple, no complicated mix of 27 expensive flours, and they happen to be oil-free too. You will need:
- Dark chocolate. Preferably Hu Gems because there is no higher quality, better tasting, silkier melting, simpler ingredient dark chocolate I know.
- Coconut sugar. Or brown sugar would work too, either will make the cupcakes much more moist and rich than regular sugar. We love that.
- Almond milk. Or your favorite nondairy milk.
- Apple cider vinegar. Or lemon juice, you just need an acid.
- Cassava flour. I know I know, a little “fancy”. But I promise its the easiest to work with grain-free flour, cheaper than almond flour for sure, and worth trying. If you aren’t gluten/grain free, all purpose flour would be fine here too.
- Cocoa powder. Or cacao powder.
- Baking soda and salt.
Dairy-Free Raspberry Frosting
Naturally sweetened, naturally colored, and just 2 ingredients – its the perfect cupcake companion. The base is coconut cream chilled overnight (or longer never hurts!), and the flavor/color comes from freeze dried raspberries. They are much more potent in tangy flavor and color than fresh berries, and won’t thin out the frosting.
Be sure to use a very dry blender or food processor to grind the berries, otherwise they will clump instead of powder-ify. And I recommend whipping with a hand mixer for the fluffiest texture, and then re-chilling for an hour or so after whipping before frosting your cupcakes.
Tips For Perfect Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
- Make sure all ingredients are room temp or warmer. Since there is melted chocolate in the batter, cold ingredients will cause it to seize up when mixing.
- Fill your cupcakes at least 3/4 of the way for those perfect domed tops. Without eggs or gluten they won’t rise as much as a traditional cupcakes.
- Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting. The pink swirls will melt right off if you don’t.
- Keep the cupcakes in the fridge tightly sealed so they stay as moist and fresh as possible. Frosting right before serving is best!
More Valentine’s Recipes You’ll Love
- Cutout Heart Sugar Cookies
- Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cookie Dough
- Fudgy Raspberry Brownies
- Strawberry Chocolate Truffles
Raspberry Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 8 cupcakes 1x
- Category: cupcakes
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: american
Description
Moist, fluffy, and SO rich. The ultimate vegan paleo dark chocolate cupcake topped with a fluffy berry buttercream, perfect for valentine’s day!
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1/2 cup Hu Gems
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1 1/4 cup almond milk
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/4 cup cassava flour
- 1/2 cup cacao or cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Frosting
- 1 can coconut cream, chilled 24 hours
- 1 cup freeze dried raspberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Melt the chocolate with the almond milk. Stir until smooth.
- Whisk in the coconut sugar and apple cider vinegar.
- Add the rest of the cupcake ingredients and mix.
- Spoon into a cupcake pan with paper liners, filling each ¾ of the way.
- Bake for 25 minutes at 350ºF.
- Cool completely before frosting.
- For the frosting: Scoop out just the solid part from the can of coconut cream. Beat (preferably in a chilled bowl) until fluffy. Blend the freeze dried raspberries (in a DRY blender) until powdery. Stir in freeze dried raspberry powder to desired color/taste. Chill to thicken.
- Frost cooled cupcakes and eat.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 325
- Sugar: 22g
- Sodium: 354mg
- Fat: 8g
- Saturated Fat: 4g
- Carbohydrates: 48g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 2g
Keywords: paleo, vegan, gluten-free, grain-free, cassava, healthy, valentines, cake, dairy free
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COULD YOU PLEASE GIVE THE RECIPE IN GRAMS? THANK YOU !
Hi! Is it possible to use fresh raspberries instead of freeze dried? Thanks!
You can, but it will water down the coconut cream a bit and may make it a thinner frosting. I’d recommend just using as small amount of raspberry juice as possible and then re chilling the frosting after!
Thank you! I’ll give that a try and see how it goes!
Love the recipe! can i replace cassava flour with oat flour?
Oat flour won’t make them as fluffy and you might need to adjust the amount a bit, but you can try it. I do have this oat flour cupcake recipe if you prefer: https://feastingonfruit.com/the-best-healthy-chocolate-cupcakes/
Hey Natalie! Do you know how many oz or grams 1 cup of freeze dried raspberries is? I want to make sure I order enough. thanks!
1 cup of freeze dried raspberries should be about 25g!
I have made these several times. So good. A favorite for me and my husband. I am wondering if I’m doing something wrong though. Mine never look like the picture. They are very dense and dry on the edges. There is no rise or change in shape at all. I do make 12 with the batter instead of 8, could this be why?
I also have such a hard time with the frosting. It never holds it’s shape, I’m assuming that’s because it’s hot where we live. Any advice on perfecting these would be fantastic
Thanks for the great recipes!
Hi Liz! So happy you like these 🙂 Since this is an egg free recipe they aren’t going to rise as much as a traditional cupcake hence why I typically fill them almost to the top of the cupcake liner, so making 12 vs 8 will make them quite small and not like the photos. Also check or possibly replace your baking powder, it does lose effectiveness with time. Something else I’ve been doing lately in cassava cupcakes is adding a few tbsp of coconut flour and that makes them much fluffier if you want to try it. Like this recipe: https://feastingonfruit.com/chocolate-chai-cupcakes/
For the frosting, yes it really is mostly about temperature with coconut based frostings. And the brand of coconut cream, which one are you using? Is it gum free by chance?
I’m going to make these in the next day or so, but I was going to use regular milk. Will that work?
Thanks,
Kelly
In the cupcake, yes that will work. Hope you enjoy them Kelly!
Okay, great! Thank you 🙂