Airy Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Caramel
Delectably light, velvety and rich, these vegan chocolate cupcakes topped with a peanut butter-date caramel are a great way to bring in the new year. Moderately reminiscent of german chocolate cake, these little beauties have it all: texture, taste and pizzazz.
Equipment
- Food Processor
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsweetened or regular soy milk, or your favorite plant-based milk
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ tablespoons ground golden flaxseed
- ⅓ cup vegan butter, slightly melted
- ¼ cup white granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons boiling hot water
- ¼ cup semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips
- ¼ tablespoons all natural dutch cocoa powder, divided in half (2 tablespoons each)
- 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the Date Caramel
- 1 cup medjool dates, de-pitted and roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened plain coconut yogurt
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk, or your favorite plant-based milk
- 2 - 3 tablespoons warm water
- Dash of ground cinnamon
- Dash of salt
For the Peanut Butter Caramel
- 1 cup date caramel, (the recipe above this)
- ½ cup unsweetened coconut shreds, lightly toasted
- ½ cup pecans, roughly ground
- ⅓ cup smooth peanut butter, natural is best
- Some toasted coconut shreds, as garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line a 12-count cupcake tin with cupcake papers. Also, In a small bowl, whisk together the soy milk, apple cider vinegar and ground flaxseed, and set this aside.
- In large mixing bowl, whisk together the slightly melted vegan butter with the brown and white sugar until smooth and creamy. Whisk the vanilla extract into that afterwards.
- Once the oven is preheated, in another small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of boiling water with the ¼ cup of vegan chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder. Whisk this until the chocolate chips have melted and are smooth.
- Now, sift the all-purpose flour, the other 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into the large mixing bowl with the whipped butter, then add the soy milk and flaxseed mixture to that, as well as the melted chocolate mixture. Fold all the ingredients together with a spatula until lightly and fluffy and no flour remains. It should be very airy, almost like a mousse.
- Fill the muffin tins about ¾ of the way full with the light chocolate cupcake batter, and bake them for 20 - 25 minutes, until the tops touched bounce back and are firm but not hard.
- While the cupcakes are baking, make the date caramel. Combine the dates, warm water, coconut yogurt, almond milk, cinnamon and salt together in a food processor and process until very smooth. Next, lightly toast the coconut flakes in a pan over low-medium heat for about 3 - 5 minutes, until slightly golden brown.Then, take 1 cup of the date caramel, and combine that with the coconut shreds, ground pecans, and smooth peanut butter in a medium mixing bowl.
- Once the cupcakes have been removed from the oven, let them cool for 10 - 15 minutes before frosting with the peanut butter caramel. After frosting them with a generous heap of the peanut butter caramel, let them cool completely before serving, as the light and airy batter is very delicate when hot.
Nutrition
Serving 1 cupcake Calories 264 kcal Carbohydrates 29.7 g Protein 4.8 g Fat 15.7 g Saturated Fat 8.7 g Sodium 342 mg Potassium 147 mg Fiber 3.9 g Sugar 13.6 g Calcium 46 mg Iron 2 mg
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