Rich vegan chocolate cupcakes with a purple lavender buttercream frosting. These delicate floral cakes would make an excellent Mother’s Day treat or as part of an afternoon tea.
Firstly, please excuse my non-professional icing skills. It’s never been my forte, I’m afraid but I promise it tastes really good!
That’s the most important thing, right?
I’ve also tested her recipe using gluten-free flour and it works very well, I’m pleased to report.
So feel free to use equal amounts of gluten-free flour for these cupcakes if you wish to make them gluten-free.
The cupcakes are rich, despite the chocolate flavour coming from just cocoa powder alone, and fluffy yet gooey. Chocolate cupcake perfection!
You could even serve these as part of a vegan afternoon tea for your mum.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Chocolate Lavender Cupcakes
Delicate lavender paired with bitter-sweet chocolate makes for a dreamy flavour combination in these pretty vegan cupcakes. This recipe has been tested with gluten-free flour too, if you prefer to make them gluten-free.
Ingredients
For the chocolate cupcakes
- 175 g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder + ½ tsp bicarbonate soda
- A pinch of salt
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 225 g light brown sugar
- 275 ml hot water
- 60 ml sunflower oil, or other mild-tasting vegetable oil
- 1 ½ tsp apple cider vinegar
For the lavender buttercream
- 1 tbsp dried lavender buds + extra for decoration
- 125 g good-tasting dairy-free butter
- 250 g confectioner's sugar
- A small amount of natural violet food dye, optional
Instructions
To make the buttercream frosting
- Heat 2 tbsp of the dairy-free butter in a small saucepan with the lavender buds. Strain and allow the butter to re-solidfy in the fridge or freezer.
- Once the butter has set again, mix it with the rest of the butter in a stand mixer along with the powdered sugar and a small amount of purple food dye until you have a thick, fluffy buttercream. Keep refrigerated until use.
To make the chocolate cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 180c. / 350f. and line a muffin tray with 12 cases.
- Mix the first five ingredients together until well combined.
- Stir in the remaining wet ingredients until the mixture is smooth and lump-free.
- Divide the mixture equally between the 12 muffin cases and bake for 15 minutes. Use a cake tester or skewer to test the middle of the cupcakes come out clean. If not, bake for a further 5 minutes.
- Leave to cool before frosting.
- Transfer the frosting to a icing bag and pipe on top of the cupcakes. Decorate with dried lavender buds and serve!
Kara says
I made this recipe today and have a request: could you please translate measurements to cups? I was lucky to have a scale handy to use, but I’m an American so otherwise, it would have been a lot of math!! : ) Yes, I know to google for conversions, but still…. Also, I used confectionary sugar instead. The frosting came out quite thick and I didn’t have enough to put very much on each cupcake. Otherwise, they are delicious and I love the lavender and chocolate combination!!
Meg says
Could you substitute coconut flour? How much more liquid would you recommend adding? Looks delicious!
Celina Lara says
I made these this Easter and everyone went crazy over them! They couldn’t believe they were vegan, haha!
Would I be able to use stevia in place of the coconut sugar in the cupcakes, and if so what would you suggest for the amount?
Thanks so much! Definitely saving this fabulous recipe!
Marlene @ Idle Hands Awake says
Oh my goodness, just used your lavender frosting recipe today on carob cupcakes (I can’t eat chocolate), and it was phenomenal! I have never eaten lavender before and didn’t expect the flavor to be so strong (in a good way!). Soooo delicious and my relatives at them up!
Christine Hughes says
Has any one tried baking this as a large cake? Would it be suitable as a wedding cake tier?? My daughter and partner are vegans and want a vegan wedding cake with each tier flavoured with, Rose, Lavender and elderflower. I’ve got your Elderflower with lemon curd and white chocolate recipe that I though I might use, unless anyone has a good vegan vanilla cake recipe that I could just add the flavour to? I hope the great bakers out there can help me! Thank