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Vegan Chocolate Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Here's an embodiment of sweet tooth heaven - chocolate cupcake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting and topped with peanut butter and dark chocolate bite, all vegan and refined sugar free! Plants are quite sweet huh ;)

These vegan cupcakes are such a dream - deep, moist, fluffy, decadent, and get this, super easy to make! Since I piped on some thick cinnamon flavored sweet vegan cream cheese made of sunflower seeds, I didn't want the cupcakes to also be too sweet so these are made without sugar at all. Instead, I used apple sauce and a little maple syrup. But of course, if you want your cupcakes sweeter, add more sugar or syrup or your sweetener of choice, no judgement.

Besides adding sweetness without needing refined sugar, the apple sauce also makes the cupcakes more moist and fudgy! And you won't taste the apple at all. You can either use store-bought or easily make your own. I didn't have any on hands so you'll find instructions on homemade apple sauce below.

And here are more vegan desserts you wouldn't want to miss - Black Forest Mug cake, Oatmeal Tiramisu, and Vegan Gluten Free Pumpkin pie.

*This is a small batch recipe, based on the size of your cupcake pan you'll get 3 - 4 cupcakes out of this measurement. Scale up the amount of each ingredient if making more.

INGREDIENTS:

For Apple Sauce -

1 small apple

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup water

For Chocolate Cupcake -

1/3 cup spelt flour or all purpose flour

2 tablespoon cacao powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoon melted coconut oil

2 tablespoon apple sauce

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup plant milk or water


TO MAKE:

- If making apple sauce yourself, peel, de-core and finely chop the apple, in a non stick sauce pan, heat the apple with the rest of the materials, stir well, bring to a boil and reduce heat, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes till mushy, then transfer to a blender and blend till smooth, you can add sugar or sweetener if you prefer it sweeter;

- Preheat the oven to 350°F;

- Mix well all the dry and wet ingredients separately, then pour wet into dry in a large bowl, stir till smooth;

- Insert cupcake liners in a cupcake pan, fill the cake mix into the liners, only fill 2/3 of the cup at most, the cakes expand in size quite a bit during baking;

- Bake for 20 minutes on the middle rack, let cool down completely;

- Add your favorite frosting and toppings, enjoy! 

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