December 22, 2015

Divine Chocolate Cupcake

Get ready to taste the best chocolate cupcake ever! They are super moist and airy, with a flavor that’s oh-so divine. Be prepared to make more than one batch because these little guys are really addictive. I’ve made these cupcakes with cane sugar, dates puree, banana puree, and coconut sugar, and they all taste great. However, cane sugar would be the best option if you are trying to make cupcakes that taste just like traditional ones. So feel free to use your favorite sweetener, but by all means, resist the urge to add non-dairy milk instead of water and vinegar; trust me, you will be pleasantly surprised in the end.

Ingredients

1 cup + 2 tablespoons cake flour
3/4 cup raw sugar or your favorite sweetener
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons raw cacao powder
1/4 cup almond oil
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)—place cupcake liners in a 12-cup standard cupcake pan.

Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

Add the oil, vanilla, vinegar, and water and mix all the ingredients together until smooth. I’ve also tried just throwing all the ingredients in a bowl without sifting and blending them together with a hand blender, and they have still come out really amazing. So if you’re in a hurry, go for it; it’ll be fine.

Pour the batter into the cupcake liners we placed in our cupcake pan. Filling two-thirds of the liner will suffice, as overfilling will cause the batter to spill over the liner’s edge when it rises during baking. Here is a video that shows different ways to evenly fill the cupcake liners without getting too messy.

When you’,re done filling up the liners just pop them in the oven and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 20 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.

Remove them from the oven and let them cool down to room temperature.

Once they’ve cooled down, you can use a piping bag, an off-set spatula, or a butter knife to frost the cupcakes with creamy chocolate frosting and sprinkle with your favorite toppings. The following videos show some of the different ways to frost a cupcake.