Vegan Recipe Revamp: German Chocolate Cupcakes

By Sarah Matheny on January 6th, 2010

Maybe you aren’t willing to lose your burger. Maybe you don’t like chickpeas. But there’s no excuse not to try a vegan dessert. Eggs, butter, and, thankfully, meat aren’t necessary to a tasty cupcake. Since German Chocolate is my mama’s favorite, and I like to sneak her vegan food whenever I can, I revamped this classic.

vegan-cupcake-1
Vegan German Chocolate Cupcakes

Cake (makes about 12 cupcakes):

1 1/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 c. Nu Naturals Stevia baking blend and 1/2 c. organic sugar, or 1 c. organic sugar
1 heaping c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. brewed coffee
1/2 c. water
1/4 c. canola oil
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Caramel pecan coconut topping:

1/2 stick Earth Balance
2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. almond milk
2 T. cornstarch
1/2 t. agar agar powder
1/3 c. toasted unsweetened coconut
2 c. toasted pecans

Chocolate Frosting:

1/2 cup Earth Balance
2 cups powdered sugar
1 T. vanilla extract
2 T. almond milk
1/4 cup cocoa powder
dash of salt

For the cake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the dry ingredients and mix well.

In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients and add them to the dry, stirring until just moistened.

Place batter in a lined muffin tin. Bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

For the caramel pecan coconut topping, melt the vegan butter in a sauce pan and add the brown sugar. Quickly whisk in the cornstarch and agar agar. Bring to a slow boil and set aside to thicken (you can refrigerate at this point as well to thicken more rapidly). When topping has thickened, stir in toasted coconut and pecans.

When the cupcakes are cooled, put a thin layer of chocolate frosting on top and then a spoonful of the caramel topping.