Get In The Spirit Of Halloween With These Tasty Vegan Nightmare Before Christmas Cupcakes

A fantastic recipe by will cook for friends thats easy to do and perfect for a vegan halloween!

Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting
Vegan and nut-free
Makes 12 full-sized cupcakes

1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour mix
1 cup granulated sugar (or coconut sugar)
1/4 cup plus 2 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3rd cup coconut oil, melted
2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup almond or rice milk
1 TBSP ground flax seed

Frosting
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) dairy-free margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1-4 TBSP almond or rice milk, as needed
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, or other flavoring (orange liquor would be nice!)
Gel food coloring, optional

4oz. vegan chocolate chips, for decorating – optional

Method
Preheat oven to 350f., and line one cupcake pan.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In another bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients and stir in the ground flax.
Mix the wet into the dry, stirring until the batter is smooth – because these cupcakes are gluten-free, you don’t have to worry about over-mixing the batter.
Scoop into the lined cupcake pan, filling each liner almost all the way to the top. Tap the pan firmly against the counter 2-3 times to knock out any air-bubbles, and bake on the center rack for 22-26 minutes, or until just firm on top.
Remove from oven, and let cool 3-5 minutes before removing from the pan, and allowing to cool the rest of the way.

Frosting
While the cupcakes cool, cream together the margarine and 1 TBSP of almond or rice milk. At low speed, ad the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Adjust the consistency of the frosting by adding more milk, or more powdered sugar. Mix in the vanilla, or other flavoring.
For my cupcakes, I separated my frosting into two bowls and colored one orange using gel food coloring.

For decorating, melt 4oz. vegan chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. To make my chocolate darker, I added a small amount of black gel food coloring (be sure to use gel, or paste, coloring – not regular liquid food coloring, as it may cause the chocolate to seize up). I then poured the  melted chocolate into a piping bag (or you could use a zip-top bag with a small corner snipped off) and piped my designs onto the cupcakes. Get creative and make your cupcakes your own!

Happy Halloween!