Makes 1 dozen cupcakes
Delicate vanilla cake dotted with real vanilla bean. Glossy chocolate ganache messing up your fingers. It’s the simple things in life! This is basically the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World cupcakes, only made a teeny bit more awesome.
For the cupcakes:
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped
For the ganache:
1/3 cup almond milk
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
Bake the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners. Spray lightly with cooking spray.
Whisk the almond milk and vinegar in a measuring cup and set aside for a few minutes to get good and curdled.
Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl and mix.
Beat together the almond milk mixture, oil, sugar, vanilla extract and vanilla bean in a large bowl. Sift in the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix until no large lumps remain.
Fill cupcake liners two-thirds of the way and bake for 20 to 22 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool.
In the meantime, prepare the ganache.
In a small sauce pan, bring the milk to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer and add the chocolate and syrup. Mix with a rubber spatula for about 30 seconds. Turn heat off, continue stirring until the chocolate is fully melted and the icing is smooth.
To assemble:
Let ganache cool for about 10 minutes. Dip the top of the cupcake in the ganache and then set them on a cooling rack. Spoon the remainder of the ganache over cupcakes. Let set in a cool room for an hour or so, or place in the fridge to set. Serve to happy people!
Wow! Dee-lish! “ganache” making is not a gift i am blessed to have, but it all came out sooooo verrrrry gooooood! I might not share the left-overs!
I am sooo making these for my son’s birthday tomorrow! looks YUMMY! lol!
Vanilla beans are fairly inexpensive if you buy them on ebay. I just got 30 for about $10 with shipping on there. Don’t let those fancy food store prices stop you! Also, the reason vanilla beans are so expensive is because they take FOREVER to grow and the plants are really sensitive. I visited a spice farm in India and the guy couldn’t even touch the bean pod and we had to stand 5 feet back to make sure we did not hurt the vine. Crazy!
My cupcakes tend to stick to the paper, does this happen to anyone else? Any ideas on fixing that?
Also @raena, I was looking around because EnerG egg replacer has calcium lactate in it and it looks like calcium lactate can be vegan or non vegan. And in commercially produced products is usually vegan. The Lactate part doesn’t mean that it’s from milk, it’s referring to lactic acid added to the calcium.
Spray the liner with non-stick cooking spray.
Will this taste just as good with soymilk?
Yep!
Isa these sound great! Any idea of the baking time for a cake as opposed to cupcakes? 🙂
@raena try to find Enjoy Life chocolate chips. They’re dairy-free (top 8 allergen free actually). I have a ton of food allergies and those babies are great to use!
– Liz {www.prettysweetlife.com}
Liz, I used the recipe for a cake (doubled all the ingredients) and kept it in the oven for an hour at 350 F. It turned out well!
I just made it for a group the other night (one of the guests was allergic to dairy and soy which limits what I could make and this recipe totally blew my expectation away, and one of the guests told me later that it was so much better than regular store bought cakes)
I made a layer cake out of the recipe using the ganache as both a filling and a topping, everyone said it was so moist and did not taste like it was any different than a traditional cake (with all the eggs and butter). I made two layers by doubling the recipe and it held up very well (and the fact that it is probably healthier than a cake with butter and eggs doesn’t hurt).
Would anyone have any idea how to make it without the cornstrach? What would someone substitute in for that? Also, what is a substitute for the all-purpose floor when it comes to baking? My best female friend/one of my best male friends’ girlfriend is allergic to corn, wheat, eggs and soy… and her birthday is coming up in a couple weeks. I want to try my hand at making these or a cake that would fit her needs… she’s never had a birthday cake or cupcakes she’s not allergic to. Can anyone help me out at all? 🙁
These look really tasty and I’d love to make her birthday just a little better this year. Both her boyfriend and myself have been trying to bake things that would work for her for months but it’s just not turning out right for us. We’re using the wrong things as substitutes…
Thank you.
I would just do an all purpose gluten free baking mix (that is corn-free) and use tapioca instead of cornstarch. And what a good friend you are!
These were delicious!! I used coconut milk instead of almond milk, and added an almond paste little star on top :-p
I think they turned out quite cute: http://moby.to/rys4su
Anyway, thank you for the recipe! I recently bought Vegan Cupcakes take over the World, and I am having a lot of fun baking them!
These cupcakes are delicious! I am not sure what happened but my ganache came out runny with a more water-like consistency that didn’t really stick. Did anyone else have this problem, and if so what did you do to fix it?
Perhaps just let it cool for a bit, but not so much that it entirely sets.
Made these tonight on a whim for a newly-vegan friend.
Having been vegan or vegetarian for most of my life, I’ve done a ton of vegan baking over the years. I’d never had great results with a cake or cupcakes so was worried going in. I had to make them last minute and was even more worried about the ganache setting correctly.
Needless to say, they came together in less than 10 minutes. I baked most of the batter in an 8″ round pan (didn’t rise much) and made a few cupcakes with the leftovers. The ganache also came together quickly and set up nicely in the fridge after about an hour.
All in all, this was a tasty combo. The vanilla flavor is quite strong but is balanced well with the not-too-sweet chocolate. The texture was TERRIFIC. Super soft, moist, and slightly chewy–which was actually great for such a thin cake. The cupcakes were exceptionally moist.
Total baking time for the 8″ round was about 20 minutes. The cupcakes came out in 15.
Rave reviews from my tasters–mostly they asked how a vegan cake could be so moist.
Next time I’m thinking of tweaking the vanilla flavoring and maybe doing a layer cake with raspberry/strawberry jam between layers.
Thanks for the great recipe! My finished cake looked like it came out of a magazine and was so insanely easy to make.
I am new to baking and this recipe was easy to follow. I made the almond milk using a Vitamix and 1/4 cup almonds, 2/3 cup water. I chilled the ganache for about 1.5 hours in a glass Pyrex container and frosted the cupcakes before serving. This was a definite hit with my husband (former chef @ the Vegan; Maui). I am eager to try this recipe for a layer cake with raspberry in the center.
I made these cupcakes, but I altered the recipe a bit…I am gluten free, so I subbed almond flour instead of white flour. I also subbed coconut oil for canola oil, and coconut palm sugar for white (horribly bad for you) sugar 🙂
It turned out great!
OMG freaking delicious!! My brother, who is HIGHLY suspicious of any and all vegan treats said this: “You can’t even tell they’re vegan!”
I subbed agave for the sugar – instead of 3/4 cup white sugar, I used 1/2 cup of agave nectar – and had great results. Moist, tender and not too dense of a cupcake and a seriously yummy chocolate ganache topping!
i LOVE this recipe and use it all the time. I use quinoa flour and it works like a charm. I also make a butter cream frosting with coconut oil in place of butter and put a big dollop on top of the ganache. so stinking good. 🙂
Can I sub arrowroot, kuzu, or tapioca for the cornstarch?
Oh wait, I see the previous comment about this…nevermind!
Hi Erin,
Could you share your buttercream (coconut oil) recipe?? I’m new to vegan baking and have no clue how to make it.
Thanks!
scrumptious! used coconut oil instead of canola. go make these now! 🙂
These are AMAZING!!! I added unsweetened shredded coconut to the batter and used dark honey instead of maple syrup in the ganache. they were absolutely wonderful, especially straight out of the oven!!! =)
I just made these for my family. We are eating more veg and my friends are vegan, so I decided to try this recipe out. AMAZING, unfortunately I didn’t have vanilla beans, but whatever. I had Guittard dark chocolate, almond milk and all the other ingredients. My hubby and children giggled with glee over the taste of these. I look forward to making these often, they are superb. Next time I’m following another post above and ordering vanilla beans from eBay. 5 stars!
Something really weird just happened – followed the recipe exactly aside from replacing cornstarch with arrowroot powder – the batter tasted great but the cakes themselves were AWFUL. I really have no idea what happened…!
Hope you don’t mind but I made these to take to a party and then blogged about how wonderful these little treats are for any day. You can find it at http://genkikitty.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/vanilla-bean-cupcakes-with-chocolate-ganache-review-recipe/. I did put a link to this page since I was talking about your recipe. Thanks again for the awesome cupcakes! Yum!
God, these were amazing.
How many cupcakes does this recipe make? I am so going to make these for my birthday in 3 weeks, and I’d love for all of my visiting extended family to appreciate the veganness, but I need to know if I should increase the amounts or not. I am very excited to make these!
1 dozen. Says so right up there!
Haha I’m a ditz! Thanks very much.
These are to die for! I have your Cupcakes cookbook and love it!!! Every single cupcake has been a success, especially with my non-vegan friends and family. I usually replace the soy/almond milk with coconut milk so my sister can be my taste tester – she has a nut allergy. Quick question – where do you find chocolate extract?
Alright, old vegetarian, very new to veganism. This was my first shot at vegan baking and I’m really wondering if I’m using the wrong almond milk? The kind used didn’t curdle with the vinegar, even after 10 minutes, and the ganache never set, even after a last ditch effort in the fridge. Is there a particular brand I should look out for? I’d really really love to master this recipe.
VEGAN??? With choc-chips?
Yep, many (if not most) semi-sweet, bittersweet and dark chocolate chips are vegan. Just check the package to be sure!
How thick do you recommend the cupcake batter should generally be for any of your cupcakes?
I swear this is my go to ganache. Tonight I plan on layering it over a strawberry caramel tart, with more caramel sauce drizzled on top of course! Thank you Isa!
I am making these for my birthday party on Saturday, and I have made 3 test batches, had friends make batches, and gosh darn it, they’re just the teensiest bit off. They look fine when they come out of the oven, they taste AWESOME, but they always end up noticeably gummy in the middle. I think they sink after coming out of the oven. I’ve gone through the usual suspects, I don’t overmix, I’ve tried batches with all-purpose and some with baking flour, I measure very precisely, I don’t open the oven, the oven’s the right temperature, the raising agents are brand new. Have you, Isa, (or any of you out there!!) weighed your flour for this recipe? I’ve noticed sometimes that Veganomicon/PPK recipes are a little thinner for me and turn out fine when I add a little extra flour– is it possible I just measure my flour really light? Would adding a little extra flour solve this slight gumminess problem or make it worse? I can tell these cupcakes should be AMAZING but they’re just not quite right and I don’t know how to fix them. I have a bunch of omnivores coming over and I want to prove to them without a shadow of a doubt that vegan cupcakes taste AWESOME. Please help!!!
If they’re gummy in the center is it possible they’re underbaked?