Makes 12 cupcakes
A rich chocolate cake with a creamy mousse topping, this is a classic cupcake combo for chocolate lovers. Of course, you can use this cupcake without the mousse for all your basic chocolate cupcake needs. Prepare the mousse first so that it has time to set, and garnish the cupcake with a berry and chocolate shavings, if you like! This recipe is modified from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.
For the mousse:
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (one package is usually 12 ounces)
12 oz extra firm silken tofu (the vacuum packed kind)
1/4 cup plain soy milk
2 tablespoons agave syrup or maple syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the cupcakes:
1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray
Prepare the Mousse:
Crumble the tofu into a blender. Add the soy milk, agave and vanilla extract. Puree until completely smooth. Set aside.
In a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips. Obviously you don’t have a double boiler so take a small sauce pan and fill half way with water. On top of that place a small sauté pan. Fill the sauté pan with chocolate chips and bring the water to a boil. Use a rubber spatula to mix the chocolate as it melts. Once melted, remove from heat and let cool for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the chocolate to the tofu and blend until well combined, use the spatula to scrape down the sides of the blender every so often.
Transfer the mousse to an air tight container or a bowl covered in saran wrap and let chill for an hour.
Prepare the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with paper liners.
Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and other extract, if using, to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK).
Lightly spray the liners with cooking spray and pour batter into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
To assemble:
Once the mousse is chilled and set and the cupcakes have cooled, remove from the refrigerator and stir with a fork to a spreadable consistency. Fit a pastry bag with a wide decorating tip. Fill the bag with mousse and pipe it onto the cupcake in a spiral, starting from the outside in or in. Add chocolate chips or chocolate shavings if you are feeling especially fancy pants.
Chill the cupcakes or a half hour to let the mousse set again and serve cold.
I’ve been making these forever, but don’t use the frosting if they can’t be refrigerated. Does the frosting actually need refrigeration – or could I bring them to an outdoor birthday party?
This is my go to cupcake recipe. My only change is to increase the cocoa to 1/2 cup. This makes the cupcake a bit denser and even more chocolatey! The mousse is fantastic, but I’ve mixed things up by using a vegan buttercream frosting – mint, coconut, vanilla, banana, maple… I’ve used almond milk, coconut non dairy milk, brown sugar, coconut sugar… This recipe works perfectly every time and is always a hit! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
These were SO GOOD! Made them this evening and served for non-vegan family and friends – they absolutely loved them! Found myself just eating the mousse from the bowl with a spoon. This some seriously addictive shiiiat 😉
I love this recipe, and am making next week-end for a world vegan day bake sale! I would recommend making the frosting without the milk and adding it only if the texture is too stiff. There are too many kinds of tofu out there to get a consistent result.
Hi Isa,
I love your books, everything turns out perfectly!
How do you get the tofu completely smooth? My blender still leaves tiny chunks because everything sinks to the bottom. Would I be better off mashing it and then beating with an electric mixer?
Also, can I replace the maple syrup with golden syrup when I’m out of maple? 🙂
Weird, that doesn’t sound right. Just blend until it’s smooth, using a spatula to stir every now and again. Perhaps you just need to blend a bit longer?
I’ve tried that but everything just collects below the blades. I think I need to stop being such a cheapskate and get a better blender!:) I’ve been VCTOTW cupcake crazy this week. Cappuccino Cupcakes on Thursday, Maple Cupcakes on Friday and Crimson Velveteen Cupcakes today!
Hello, do you think I could make these as a cake? If so, how many minutes and what temperature would you recommend? Thanks!
Can you make a cake with this same recipe? Or would it fall apart?
Ha! too funny the person before me just asked the same thing. I just finished reading all the reviews and one person did make a cake out of the recipe. i’m so excited to finally have a birthday cake to make for vegan friends and family! Thanx!
Isa, your recipes are the best! I just made a batch of the marbled cupcakes. Mmmm.. In your book you say that adding some agar powder can give the cupcakes shiny tops. How much water do I need to use to dilute the agar before adding it in?
Thanks!
I added 2 tablespoons of finely ground flax seed, substituted apple sauce for the oil and used a full tablespoon of baking soda. It came out so good, and less oil (which I like) – but still very moist! Yum! Thanks for this awesome recipe.
These look amazing. I’d like to try them for a friends birthday and wonder if they can be made ahead and frozen?
I have your cookbook “vegan cupcakes” and those are the cupcakes I made for my bday…lol, they are delicious. I love your cookbook!
Hello Isa!
This is a general question: Can I use fresh coconut milk (I live in India) instead of soy or almond/ Soy/almond milk is relatively expensive here. If not, can I use rice milk?
If so, is it a 1:1 substitution or should I dilute the coconut milk with water?
I would use rice milk as first choice, or yes, dilute coconut the coconut milk with water to a dairy milk consistency.
My first vegan cupcake baking trial went well with this recipe. Came out very moist, almost too moist but as they cooled they got more dense and crumbly like cake. I may add in the future more cocoa if that wouldn’t throw off the balance w/ the baking powder and soda (?) because I like my chocolate very rich. Anyway, super tasty and easy! Thanks, I look forward to getting your cookbooks! For frosting I just veganized a ganache recipe: soy milk + semisweet baking chocolate came out super smooth and went on pretty.
Hi, what are your thoughts on using whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour in chocolate cake/cupcakes? I love all your cupcakes from your cookbook, but I have always used AP flour.
For this, I recently made a peanut butter mousse and used a melon baller to hollow the cupcake and filled it with the peanut butter mousse. After filling, I recapped with cake cork made by the melon baller. It was a huge hit! It would probably also be great if you made a raspberry mousse filling.
i couldnt find silken tofu, just regular extra firm tofu. will that work too?
Do you happen to know how much cacao powder to use for the mousse? Vegan chocolate chips are hard to come by here where as the powder is much easier to find.
You’re a genius!
Yummers! Just made these for my chocoholic 8 year old. LOVE the fact that the frosting isn’t margarine based and is so creamy. I even spiked it with a little raspberry vodka for us adults:-) Thanks for the new go to cupcake recipe!
The vacuum sealed type of tofu is not the kind that comes in the little tray with liquid, right? Should I try & press the liquid out? Or is it fine as is?
It’s a realllllly different texture. Don’t even try these with the fresh stuff packed in liquid.
isa, these are fantastic!!! The mousse came out thick and delicious without even putting it in the fridge (depends on the amount of water in the tofu…). The chocolate sponge cake base is so easy to make and very moist. Everybody loved them!
I haven’t tried the mousse but I just tried the cupcakes (with a simple coconut oil “buttercream” frosting). My family went gluten free on January 1 and my baby’s first birthday is on the 11th, so I needed a good cupcake recipe QUICKLY! I tried this recipe subbing Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose baking flour and my cupcakes came out great! I had first tried a cupcake recipe from a fancy vegan/GF bakery and they were not suitable to serve to my omni-gluten-eating extended family. These totally are! I subbed almond milk for the soy milk and refined coconut oil for the canola, and used almond extract as the optional extract. Great flavor and texture! Thank you Isa!!!
I was hesitant to try this mousse frosting because I was really convinced it would taste like tofu. I used the same brand as recommended because in my experience different brands can have different consistencies and flavors. It came out amazing! I made it the night before and put it in the fridge, and let it sit outside the fridge for an hour before using it. It was firm enough to hold its shape, the first vegan frosting I’ve ever made that hasn’t melted all down the cupcake at room temperature. Now for a vanilla version.
OMG! This looks amazing! I just want to it it now!!!!!!!
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though
you relied on the video to make your point.
You obviously know what youre talking about, why throw away your intelligence
on just posting videos to your blog when you could be giving us something informative to read?
Hi Isa!
I’ve made these cupcakes before with your chocolate ganache recipe and they were great! I was going to try them with this mousse and was considering filling the center of a baked and cooled cupcake with the ganache (sort of “inject” the cupcake with it, for lack of better terms haha). Do you think that would work okay or would the ganache get all weird inside the cupcake? Thanks for the inspiration!
My favourite number is 8!
I added 3/4 T sriracha to the cake…awesome
I’ve made these scrumptious cupcakes numerous times and they are always a big hit! The chocolate mouse topping is amazing! Thank you for sharing such a great recipe!
Made a batch of these last weekend… I whipped up 24 mini-sized (reduced the baking time to 8 minutes) and they were AMAZING! The mousse turned out perfectly and was to die for… My omni-friends couldn’t believe the frosting was made from tofu and that the cupcakes tasted so delicious. I’ll definitely be making more of these!
Hi Isa!
I’ve used this recipe a million times. Not for cupcakes, but for delicate truffles!
I often skip the soymilk, but add a little liquor instead, such as contreau.
Then I put in it the fridge overnight, and the next day I’ll form it into little truffles, and either coat it with melted chocolate, or (this is what I do the most) roll them in pure cocoa powder, cocoa powder mixed with licorice powder (I’m Danish) or cocoa powder mixed with maldon sea salt flakes.
Perfect with a glass of good port!
I just won our workplace cupcake challenge with this–I added half a frozen banana to the mousse and a sprinkle or two of cayenne to the cake. Almond-coconut milk instead too. Thanks !
I’d suggest chilling mousse for at least two hours though.
These look good! I am going to try to follow this recipe to a T, with the exception of adding a little extra cinnamon.
I bet one of the high street chains is going to rip off your recipe… watch this space!
SUPER!
Hi mine didn’t rise like in the picture, they are delicious but what could I have done wrong? X
Can this be made into a cake with chocolate mousse filling?