When I say these cupcakes are for everybody, I mean everybody. They are dairy-free and egg-free, peanut-free, and with some simple substitutions can also be gluten/wheat-free and nut-free. Which also means they are vegan and vegetarian. None of this matters if they don’t taste good. I am happy to report that they taste great and would please those without food allergies.
We were visiting our friends, Ricardo and Annalai R, for lunch earlier this summer. I was assigned a dessert and gladly accepted the challenge. I needed a dessert that was peanut-free, dairy-free, gluten-free and egg-free to satisfy our collective dietary restrictions.
I was thrilled when I came across this recipe on New York Times Cooking. The original recipe called for regular all-purpose flour. It looked like a recipe that would adapt well to using gluten-free flour and I felt even better when I reviewed some comments from people who had successfully made this substitution.
I had almond milk on hand, but you can use soy or rice milk which would also make it nut-free. If you’re avoiding soy, then use almond or rice milk. If dairy isn’t an issue, you can use cow milk, too. So many options (my husband loves to point out that I love options!).
These cupcakes taste like your favorite devil’s food cake. A great chocolate taste without being too heavy. I baked the cupcake base a few days in advance and froze them. I took them out to defrost the night before and then made the easy chocolate glaze in the morning.
Ed insisted on adding sprinkles since Ricardo and Annalai have young girls, but that was really just an excuse because he loves sprinkles as much as kids do (perhaps even more so).
I doubled the recipe so that I could keep a supply in the freezer. You never know when you’re going to want a bit of chocolatey goodness.
For See’s Candies fans, the chocolate sprinkle cupcakes look like their Bordeaux chocolates (one of my favorites). These cupcakes are a bit bigger!
| Chocolate Cupcakes for Everybody | Print |
- 1 cup almond, soy or rice milk (see Notes)
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- ¾ cup granulated white sugar
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup regular or gluten-free all-purpose flour (see Notes)
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- ¼ cup cocoa powder, sifted
- 3 tablespoons almond, soy or rice milk (see Notes)
- Optional: Chocolate and/or rainbow sprinkles
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. This recipe makes 12 cupcakes – line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Set pan aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the almond, soy or rice milk, white vinegar, sugar, vegetable oil and vanilla extract.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and coarse sea salt.
- Sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, pausing two or three times to stir, and keep stirring until all the large lumps are gone.
- Pour the batter into the cupcake liners until they are about two-thirds full.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes.
- Cool on a wire rack.
- When cupcakes are cool, in a small bowl whisk the confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder and almond, soy or rice milk until smooth.
- Spread the glaze on the cupcakes. If you choose, top with sprinkles.
- Cupcakes keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days or frozen (without the glaze) for up to 3 months.
* If you want to make this gluten-free, use gluten-free flour (such as Cup4Cup Multipurpose Flour) in place of the all-purpose flour.
* Recipe doubles well.
* I baked the cupcakes and froze them. Remove what you need from the freezer the night before serving and glaze them the next day.
Source: Variation on recipe from New York Times Cooking
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