Dark Chocolate Mini Cupcakes with Frosting

For this recipe, I simply veganized Hershey's chocolate cake recipe and turned it into scrumptious mini cupcakes.  Yummers!  Here's the easy recipe, along with their veganized frosting.

Dark Chocolate Mini Cupcakes with Frosting

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:
Non-stick spray
A little flour for dusting
2 cups vegan or raw sugar
1 and 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup dark cocoa
1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 and 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer
4 Tbs. water
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Frosting:
1/2 cup vegan margarine
2/3 cup dark cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
For the cupcakes: Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray the mini cupcake wells with non-stick spray.  Sprinkle a little flour in each well and swoosh around to cover the spray.  Pat out the extra flour into your sink.  In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In a mug, whisk together the egg replacer and the water.  Pour that mixture and the soy milk, oil, and vanilla extract into the large bowl with the dry ingredients.  Mix with an electric blender on medium speed for two minutes.  Pour in the boiling water and mix on low, until the water is blended in.  Batter will be thinner than you might expect, but it's okay.  Fill each cupcake well about 3/4 full.  Bake for 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into one of the middle cupcakes comes out clean.  Cool in pan on a cooling rack for ten minutes, then remove cupcakes from pan and put directly on rack to finish cooling.  Repeat with the rest of the batter.  Makes six dozen cupcakes!

For the frosting: Melt the margarine either in the microwave or on the stove top.  Put melted margarine in a medium mixing bowl.  Whisk the cocoa into the margarine.  Alternate adding the powdered sugar and the soy milk into the cocoa mixture, mixing on medium low speed with an electric blender.  Add vanilla and beat for at least two minutes on medium speed, until the frosting has a creamy consistency.  Spoon by dollops onto cooled cupcakes.  Eat and enjoy.  Feeds five hungry vegans for several desserts.

Buttermilk Chocolate Chip Chocolate Cupcakes

First off, I have to start this post by saying that something has gone strangely wrong with blogger for me. It no longer recognizes my html codes; they completely disappear no matter how many times I enter them in, so all spacing is messed up. Any spacing between lines you see, are lines that I've forced there. I also can no longer post my ingredients list single-spaced, only double-spaced. I've bolded different headings, to make it easier to read. I hope this is not going to be a problem for readers. This is highly frustrating for me.

Anyway, on with the recipe.
So good. That's what you'll think when you have one of these treasures. We had two birthday parties to go to recently, so I made these to bring along for us. When my children are invited to a birthday party, I always make a dessert for them to have, and I try to make it as yummy as possible, so they never feel left out. These were so good, I had a few, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. There are chocolate chips inside the cupcake, as well, so you are not left feeling as if you been chocolate-shortchanged.

Buttermilk Chocolate Chip Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Batter:

2 and 1/4 cups soy milk

2 Tbs. lemon juice

2 cups vegan sugar

1 cup vegan margarine, softened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer

4 Tbs. water

2 and 1/2 cups flour

1 cup cocoa

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 pound bag of vegan chocolate chips (approx. 2 cups), divided

Frosting:

6 Tbs. vegan margarine, softened

2 and 2/3 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1/3 cup soy milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

For the batter: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cupcake pans with paper cupcake liners. In a small bowl, whisk together the soy milk and lemon juice, and set aside - this is your "buttermilk." In a large mixing bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar. Add the Egg Replacer and water and beat with a mixer, until blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Alternate beating in the dry ingredients and the soured soy milk into the sugared mixture on medium speed. With the last addition of your 'buttermilk," add in the vanilla.  Beat until thoroughly mixed. Add all but a half cup of the chocolate chips to the batter, and stir well with a spoon. Scoop out batter into paper liners, and fill at least two-thirds full. Bake for 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into a couple of them comes out clean. Cool completely on cooling racks.

For the frosting: In a large bowl, mash margarine really well, or beat it with a mixer. In a separate bowl, whisk sugar and cocoa together. Alternate beating in the sugared mixture and soy milk with the margarine. Start on slow speed and work your way up to medium. When completely mixed, add the vanilla, and beat for one minute longer. Spread on cupcakes. Top each cupcake with several chocolate chips. Makes about two dozen cupcakes. Feeds five hungry vegans for a few days. Yummers.