We’re talking light, bouncy, and fluffy cupcakes, with a tender, melt-in-your-mouth interior and a slightly crisp, buttery top. They’re delightful on their own, but when topped with a rich, fluffy chocolate buttercream frosting, they become truly irresistible. And the addition of orange zest and cardamom elevates them a few notches to gourmet dessert heaven. 

Enjoy this crowd-pleasing dessert for Easter, birthdays, baby showers… or honestly, any occasion that needs a really good cupcake. 

Table of Contents:
1. Why you’ll love this recipe
2. Ingredient notes
3. Step-by-step instructions
4. Tips for making this recipe
5. Recommended tools for baking cupcakes
6. Frequently Asked Questions
7. Recipe card with notes

Why you’ll love this recipe

• Undetectably vegan. Seriously—no one will guess. These cupcakes are every bit as moist, tender, and buttery as their dairy-filled cousins (if not more). No dense or dry vegan cupcakes here! 
• That texture, though. These babies are light, fluffy, and bouncy on the inside with a slightly crisp, buttery top. Paired with a dreamy, chocolate buttercream frosting, it’s the kind of melt-in-your-mouth combo that makes you close your eyes and do a little happy dance.
• Simple ingredients, no fancy fuss. No need for creaming butter and sugar, no hard-to-find ingredients, no stand mixer required. If you can mix pancake batter, you can make these cupcakes. And the frosting requires just 6 ingredients and comes together in mere minutes. 
• Classic, but with a glow-up. These may look like classic cupcakes, but the flavors are anything but basic. A generous splash of pure vanilla, a whisper of cardamom, and bright orange zest elevate these into “ooh, these are fancy” territory. Finished with a traditional American-style chocolate buttercream frosting but with a more grown-up, balanced sweetness.

Ingredient notes

Ingredients for the cupcakes

Soy milk

When mixed with an acid like vinegar, soy milk curdles a lot due to its high protein content, yielding a fluffy vegan cupcake batter that fluffs up delightfully well when exposed to the heat in the oven. 

And the acidity in the apple cider vinegar helps break down the gluten strands in flour, lending a more tender crumb.

Substitute: If you can tolerate soy, use soy milk for the best results. If you have a soy allergy, I would try a full-fat oat or barista variety of almond milk (I like Elmhurst best), or pea milk if you have access to it). 

All-purpose flour + cornstarch 

Some cake and cupcake recipes call for cake flour since it has a lower protein content (this causes less gluten to form, which translates to a softer texture). But I know that most of my readers don’t keep cake flour stocked in their pantries. 

Luckily, mixing a bit of cornstarch into all-purpose flour produces a similar effect to cake flour. The cornstarch lowers the total protein content of the flour mixture, giving these cupcakes a wonderfully light crumb and tenderness. 

Substitute: Want to make these gluten-free? Check out the FAQ section. 

Vegan Butter 

As mentioned, these cupcakes are undetectably vegan thanks to their rich buttery flavor (and tender, fluffy crumb). 

There are so many great vegan butter blocks on the market these days that work perfectly well in most baked goods, especially simple baked goods like cupcakes. Our favorite widely available option is Violife’s plant butter. 

Substitute: I don’t recommend substituting the butter with oil, as it will add no flavor to the cupcakes and it’s more likely to make them greasy. 

Orange zest and cardamom

The orange zest really shines in these cupcakes, elevating them from a standard cupcake into something truly extraordinary. The subtle floral citrus notes work wonders with the chocolate frosting, brightening it yet also magically deepening the flavor. 

I love using orange zest in various desserts and sweet treats, like waffles, French Toast, and fruit compotes because it really adds a je ne sais quoi element that makes your palate say “now, what is that delicious flavor?” 

And just for fun (and a little extra elegance), a hint of cardamom sneaks in to add the most delicately rich spiced warmth.  

Ingredients for the chocolate frosting  

Dutch process cocoa powder 

For our vegan chocolate frosting, we need cocoa powder, and I prefer to use Dutch process cocoa powder over natural cocoa powder. 

Dutch processed means the natural acidity in cocoa has been neutralized, so you’re left with a purer chocolate flavor that’s smoother. Dutch process cocoa also tends to have a higher fat ratio, which makes it richer compared to natural cocoa.

Tips for buying: Sold as “Dutch process” cocoa powder or alkalized cocoa powder. Or, simply labeled “cocoa powder” but the ingredient list will say “processed with alkali” like this (affiliate link).

Natural cocoa powder is typically just labeled “cocoa powder” (e.g., your standard American Hershey’s or Ghirardelli cocoa powder) or may be labeled “natural cocoa powder” like this (affiliate link).  

If you live in Europe, most cocoa powders are Dutch processed, whether labeled or not. And most European brands sold in the U.S. (e.g., Valrhona, Droste) are Dutch processed. 

If you need help picking a Dutch process cocoa powder brand, try Serious Eats put together a guide to the best brands (I’m also a fan of Guittard! – affiliate link).  

Vegan butter

Traditional American-style buttercream frosting is made by creaming softened butter and sugar, so of course we need butter! 

Tip: Be sure to use softened butter, as cold butter will not cream or mix well and your frosting will have little clumps of solid butter. 

Butter is appropriately soft when it’s malleable but not melted or greasy. It should feel room temperature to the touch and if you press your fingertip into the butter, it should make an indent. Most vegan butters soften more quickly than dairy-based butter. 

Powdered Sugar

AKA icing sugar or confectioners sugar. This superfine sugar is perfect for frostings and icings, as it melts into the frosting without adding any graininess. 

PS: If strictly vegan and you live in the U.S., choose organic powdered sugar, as most conventional sugar grown in the US is filtered with animal bone char (UGH).  

Pure vanilla extract

Just a little accents the cocoa powder and brings out its rich flavor. It also cuts through the richness of the butter and sugar by adding a little dimension. 

While I always recommend using pure vanilla extract, not the imitation or artificial stuff, it’s especially important in unbaked applications like this. You will absolutely taste the difference! 

Step-by-step instructions 

For the cupcakes 

Make the “buttermilk”: Mix the vinegar into the soy milk and set aside to curdle. 

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Whisk well to combine. 

In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter, oil, “buttermilk,” vanilla, orange zest, and cardamom if using. Whisk to combine.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently stir until combined. 

Divide the batter across 12 lined and greased muffin cups, filling each ⅔ full.

Bake at 325ºF / 163ºC in the center rack of the oven for 22 to 24 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean or with only a few moist crumbs. 

For the frosting  

Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder together to remove clumps. 

Add the softened butter to a bowl and beat with an electric handheld mixer on medium speed until creamy and fluffy, about 1 minute.

Add the sifted cocoa-sugar, vanilla, salt, and plant milk to the softened butter. 

Start mixing on low for 30 seconds, then gradually increase to high and beat until frosting is smooth, fluffy, and thick and it holds its shape. 

Tips for making this recipe  

Use foil or silicone liners 

If possible, avoid using paper liners, as they tend to squish the cupcakes and make them come out with dents. Foil liners or silicone liners were much sturdier in our recipe tests (affiliate links). 

Pro tip #1: Spray the liners before filling with batter, as this makes it easy to unwrap the cupcakes without them getting stuck to the lining. 

Pro tip #2: If using silicone liners, pop them out of their molds before applying the frosting. Once they are frosted, it will be tricky and messy to pop them out. 

Ensure your leaveners are fresh

Before baking anything with baking soda or baking powder, always test that it’s fresh (unless you used it very recently and it worked as intended). 

Baking powder and baking soda should be replaced 6 months after they’re opened, which is sooner than home cooks might expect. 

To test if baking soda is fresh: simply add a small amount to a glass or bowl and splash in a few teaspoons of an acidic ingredient, such as distilled white vinegar. If it bubbles immediately and vigorously, it’s fresh. If it doesn’t bubble or only a little, replace it.

To test if baking powder is fresh: simply add a small amount to a glass or bowl and pour in some hot or boiling water. If it bubbles immediately and vigorously, it’s fresh. If it doesn’t bubble or only a little, replace it.

Use a scale to measure (or spoon and level your flour).

If you don’t use a digital scale (affiliate link) to weigh out ingredients (the preferred method for baking), be sure to correctly measure the flour using the spoon-and-level technique. 

Don’t overfill 

Fill your muffin liners ⅔ full (or no more than ¾ full). 

Filling the liners too much causes the cupcake tops to spread out onto the pan. The tops will likely stick to the pan, making it difficult to pry the cupcakes out of the tins without breaking. 

Overfilling may cause the cupcakes to look taller when they come out of the oven, but underneath the flat muffin top, the interior of the cupcake has actually sunk.  

When in doubt, it’s better to underfill than to overfill. 

Use an oven thermometer.

Home ovens can be all over the place when it comes to temperature (the oven in one of my apartments in Brooklyn was 75ºF off from the stated temperature!). 

For the most accurate results, make sure you have an oven thermometer any time you bake. 

I swear by this Thermoworks DOT thermometer (affiliate link) that sits on the outside of your oven so you can see it at all times. 

Don’t let the cupcakes rest too long

After removing the cupcake pan from the oven, let them rest in the pan for only 5 minutes. Then, carefully remove each cupcake from the pan (don’t unwrap yet) and rest the cupcakes on a wire rack to cool completely. 

If you let the cupcakes sit in the pan for too long, it traps the steam from the heat of the oven, leading to soggy bottomed cupcakes. It also makes it more likely that the liners will stick to the cupcakes. 

Enjoy with the best chocolate frosting 

Frost these adorable vegan cupcakes with my classic and ridiculously delicious but easy-to-make vegan chocolate buttercream frosting (recipe in the recipe card below). 

This frosting recipe comes from my cookbook, Big Vegan Flavor, though the version here omits the optional melted dark chocolate to keep the frosting light and fluffy. 

If you frost the cupcakes with a spatula or spoon, you should have plenty of frosting. 

However, if you want to get fancy and pipe your frosting, piping typically uses a lot more frosting (and you lose some frosting to the piping bag), so I recommend doubling the frosting recipe (don’t worry, leftovers freezes well; see the FAQ section). 

As for toppings, those are totally up to you! I used sprinkles in the photos for a fun vibe, but when I make these just for stuffing them in my face, I omit the sprinkles (they’re not my favorite) or I top with a few fresh raspberries. Fresh sliced strawberries would also be nice! 

Recommended tools for baking cupcakes 

While you don’t need any fancy equipment to make these cupcakes, here are a few tools I use to make cupcakes as easy as possible (affiliate links). 

12-cup muffin pan. A muffin pan like this is one of the few pieces of required equipment. 

Large ice cream scoop. I use this scoop to measure out the cupcake batter into each tin. 

Wire rack. To cool the muffins after baking. 

Offset spatula. For a rustic style of frosting, all you need is a small offset spatula. If you do want to pipe your frosting to look fancier, you’ll need piping bags and piping tips. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

More classic vegan desserts! 

• Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies  
• Vegan Brownies
• Vegan Lemon Cake 

If you try and love these Vegan Cupcakes, please give the recipe a rating and review below! And of course, tag me with your remakes on Instagram!

Print

Ultimate Vegan Cupcakes

These light, fluffy, and moist vegan cupcakes are anything but standard cupcakes, thanks to a glow-up of citrusy orange zest and cozy cardamom. Paired with a rich chocolate buttercream frosting, they’re the kind of treat that’ll have everyone begging for the recipe.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Diet Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Bake time 22 minutes minutes

Total Time 52 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Calories 341kcal

Author Nisha Vora

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons (200 mL) soy milk, at room temperature (see Note 1)
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
• 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (see Note 2)
• 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons (13.5g) cornstarch
• Heaping ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 teaspoons (7g) baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup (200g) organic cane sugar
• 1 stick (112g) vegan butter in block form, melted
• 3 tablespoons (42g) sunflower oil (or neutral oil of choice)
• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) pure vanilla extract
• ½ tablespoon orange zest
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (see Note 3)

• 1 ½ cups (172g) organic powdered sugar (AKA confectioners or icing sugar)
• ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (36g) Dutch process cocoa powder (see Note 4)
• 1 stick (112g) vegan butter in block form, softened at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 ½ tablespoons plain plant-based milk of choice
• ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt, more as needed

Instructions

Cupcakes

• Arrange a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325ºF / 165ºC. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners, ideally foil liners or silicone liners, as paper liners tend to squish the cupcakes. Spray liners lightly with cooking spray or brush with oil (this prevents the cupcakes from getting stuck).
• Make the “buttermilk.” Measure out the soy milk and allow it to come to room temperature OR heat in the microwave for 10 seconds, stir, then heat for another 10 seconds, or until at room temp. Stir the vinegar into the milk and set aside to curdle.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Whisk well. Now whisk in the sugar.
• Add the melted butter to a medium bowl. Pour in the curdled “buttermilk,” oil, vanilla extract, orange zest, and cardamom if using. Whisk well to combine.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Use a silicone spatula to fold the wet into the dry until the batter is smooth without any flour clumps, taking care to not overmix.
• Divide the batter across the muffin tins, filling them ⅔ full (or ¾ at the most; otherwise, the cupcake tops will spread out onto the pan and stick).
• Transfer muffin tin to the oven. Bake at 325ºF for 22 to 24 minutes, or until the tops are rounded and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean or with only a few moist crumbs.
• Transfer pan to a wire rack and cool cupcakes in the pan for just 5 minutes. Now gently remove each cupcake from the pan (don’t unwrap) and cool completely on the wire rack (this method prevents the bottoms from becoming soggy due to trapped steam).
• Once cooled, use an offset spatula or piping bag to frost the cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. NOTE: If using silicone liners, pop the cupcakes out of their molds before frosting.
• Store leftover cupcakes (frosted or unfrosted) in an airtight container at room temp for about 2 days. After that, store in the fridge for up to 6 days. Allow to come to room temp before consuming (otherwise, they are a bit dry and not as fluffy/soft).

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

• Sift the sugar and cocoa: Hold a fine-mesh sieve or sifter over a large enough bowl. Add the sugar and cocoa to the sieve and gently tap the side of the sieve to remove clumps and sift the ingredients into the bowl.
• Add the softened butter to a medium-to-large bowl. Use an electric handheld mixer on medium speed to beat the butter until creamy and fluffy, about 1 minute. NOTE: You can also use your stand mixer if you prefer.
• Add the sifted cocoa-sugar to the butter along with the vanilla, milk, and salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then gradually increase the speed to high. Beat until smooth, fluffy, and thick and it holds its shape, another 30 to 60 seconds.
• Taste, adding more salt as desired. If the frosting is too thick or dry, add a teaspoon of milk and beat again. If too loose or wet, add a bit more cocoa powder and/or sugar and beat until the frosting holds its shape.

Notes

1. Soy milk helps make these cupcakes, so try not to substitute it with another plant milk unless you have a soy allergy.
2. For gluten-free substitute, see the FAQ section (question 5).
3. If using piping bags for frosting, you may need to double the frosting, as this method uses a lot more frosting than spreading with a spoon/spatula. 
4. To soften butter: slice the measured amount of butter into small pieces and let sit at room temperature until softened and malleable.

Nutrition

Calories: 341kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Sodium: 252mg | Potassium: 167mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 76IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 89mg | Iron: 2mg

The post Ultimate Vegan Cupcakes appeared first on Rainbow Plant Life.

Every bite is textural heaven, with soft and gooey middles, crisp edges, and a serious chewiness throughout. 

And their flavor? These cookies are rich and buttery, with notes of caramel interspersed with melty pools of dark chocolate and flaky sea salt.

I can’t think of anything better. It’s truly my ultimate chocolate chip cookie! And they can even be made gluten-free, YAY! 

Table of Contents:
1. Why this recipe works
2. Ingredient notes
3. Step-by-step instructions
4. Tips for making this recipe
5. Frequently Asked Questions
6. Recipe card with notes

Watch: How to Make Amazing Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies — literally the best I’ve ever had

With over 135K views on YouTube, these chocolate chip cookies are a huge hit with my audience. I hope you love them just as much!

Baking Science = The Perfect Cookie

Cookie Chemistry at Its Finest

No shortage of research and testing went into this vegan chocolate chip ccookie recipe. I spent days if not weeks reading about cookie science from the experts and playing around with ratios of all kinds: sugar to butter, flour to baking soda, butter to (vegan) eggs, you name it. 

Armed with research, my recipe tester Callie and I tested every practical variable: chocolate chips vs. chopped chocolate vs. chocolate feves, browned butter vs. creamed butter, brown sugar vs. white sugar, the ideal time to rest cookie dough before baking, various oven temperatures, gluten-free alternatives, and more than I can list. 

All in all, we baked nearly 300 cookies to develop our perfect grown-up chocolate chip cookie.

Here’s just a very small sampling of some of the variables we tested.

All the good textures!

We all have different preferences when it comes to cookie texture. Some like it softer, others chewier, while some prefer dense gooey and others crispy. 

To me, the perfect cookie has all of those traits. 

And after lots of trial and error, I’m proud to report that these cookies have a soft and almost gooey middle (but not too soft where it’s like you’re eating cake), lovely crispy edges (but not too crispy where it’s like a cracker), and a wonderful chewiness throughout (the kind you can really sink your teeth into). 

Rich and buttery, just like cookies should be 

These are as addictive as classic chocolate chip cookies but with more pizazz and depth of flavor, making them extra special.

They’re infused with vegan browned butter, which lends nutty caramel notes. And dark brown sugar, with its nearly double molasses content, amps up these notes, adding a rich, caramel-esque flavor. 

We also quickly realized that regular chocolate chips weren’t going to cut it in these grown-up cookies. We needed big, melty pools of chocolate, which you can achieve by roughly chopping up a (dark) chocolate bar. 

A sprinkle of flaky sea salt adds the perfect finishing touch, lending an addictive balance of sweet, salty, and chocolatey flavors.

Ingredient notes 

Melted (browned) vegan butter

You’ll rarely find a chocolate chip cookie recipe without butter…and a lot of it. Most cookie recipes either use creamed & softened butter or melted butter…or a variation of melted butter: browned butter.

In our tests, browned butter was the clear winner.

Melting butter, as opposed to creaming it, produces a more pronounced chewy texture. Taking the melting a step further to browning adds a more mature, nutty, and caramelized flavor.

We recommend butter sticks, not in a tub (the sticks are formulated to mimic dairy-based butter better). If your butter is unsalted, use a bit of extra salt, a heaping ¾ teaspoon instead of ½ teaspoon. 

Tips for browning vegan butter

Vegan butter doesn’t brown the same way as dairy butter because it doesn’t contain milk proteins, but it will still become slightly darker in color and nutty in aroma after 5 to 7 minutes, depending on the brand used.

Use a stainless steel or light-colored skillet or saucepan so you can see the color change. 

After many rounds of testing, our clear favorite brand for these cookies is Violife salted butter (soy-, nut-, gluten-free). It contains a little fava bean protein, which aids in browning. If you have access to this brand, seek it out!

If you don’t have this brand, you can try adding a teaspoon of almond butter or cashew butter to the butter in the pan, as the protein helps with browning and nuttiness.

If using Miyokos butter, keep in mind that it browns very quickly (in less than 3 minutes). Earth Balance buttery sticks are widely available, but they don’t change much in color; that said, the flavor is nuttier than if purely melted, and is a totally fine option to use. 

Flax egg

We tested these cookies with a few other vegan egg replacers and found that flax eggs (ground flaxseed mixed with water) worked the best. They bind the dough together and, when baked, give the cookies a delightful chewiness, which is typically what eggs do.

All-purpose flour 

No fancy flour is needed here. All-purpose flour worked best at giving the cookies a classic chewy-soft texture.

Gluten-free? Check out the FAQ section to find out which flour substitutions work best.

Dark brown sugar + cane sugar

There’s a reason why most chocolate chip cookies combine brown sugar and white sugar; white sugar only yields thin and crispy cookies, and brown sugar only prevents the cookies from spreading, yielding a soft or cakey middle.

Here, a 2:1 ratio of dark brown sugar to cane (white) sugar delivers soft centers, chewiness throughout, and nicely crisped edges.

Sugar Tips

If you find yourself tempted to reduce the quantity of sugar, resist the urge. Sugar not only adds sweetness, but it lends structure and moisture. Reducing the amount of sugar will impact the texture of these cookies…and not in a good way.

For strictly vegan cookies, buy organic sugars (at least in the US, where conventional sugars are typically processed with animal bone char). If you can’t find dark brown sugar, light brown sugar still works well.

Baking soda

Baking soda helps the cookies spread while baking, leading to evenly baked cookies that aren’t too thick.

We tested a variation of this recipe with baking powder as a substitute, and it gave us cookies that were puffy and cakey—no thanks! 

Baking Soda Tips

Not sure if your baking soda is still fresh? Combine ¼ tsp baking soda + 2 teaspoons vinegar in a small bowl. If it bubbles immediately, it’s still fresh. If you see no bubbles or only slight bubbles, it’s time for new baking soda. 

Be sure to use baking soda (AKA bicarbonate of soda), not baking powder.

Bittersweet or dark chocolate

In our many tests, the best cookies were made not with chocolate chips but with dark chocolate bars, somewhere in the 60% to 75% cacao content range.

Here’s why:

• Most chocolate chips contain melt-resistant chocolate, which means you only get individual tiny pockets of chocolate. In our tests, cookies with chips yielded thicker cookies that didn’t spread as much.
• Using chopped chocolate bars gives you (1) melty chocolatey pools dispersed throughout the cookie = more chocolate in each bite (yum!); (2) melted chocolate = more moisture = cookies spread a bit more = no thick or cakey cookies (phew!).
• Also, dark chocolate prevents the cookies from being overly sweet; its slight bitterness balances the sugar. 

Chocolate Tips

I recommend using 65-75% dark chocolate bars for a balanced, not-too-sweet taste. If you prefer things a bit sweeter, use 60% dark chocolate. If you prefer less sweet desserts, use chocolate in the 75+% to 80% range.

Pure vanilla extract and sea salt

I always pair vanilla and salt together in desserts because they work together to bring out the other layers of flavors. I use the duo to enhance my Vegan Apple Crisp and here, it enriches the chocolate, buttery, and sugary flavors of the cookies. Without them, the flavor would be a bit flat.

A little flaky sea salt sprinkled on top of the freshly baked cookies also balances the sweetness and enhances the dark chocolate flavor. We love Maldon flaky salt—just a little goes a long way!  

Step-by-step instructions

Add the vegan butter to a stainless steel or light-colored skillet or saucepan. Turn to medium heat and allow the butter to melt, stirring occasionally.

Once foamy and at a bubble, stir or swirl the pan frequently, or until it gives off a nutty aroma and is slightly darker in color. Immediately pour it into a bowl, then refrigerate for ~30 minutes so the butter can cool to room temp.

Tip: If your butter is still warm, the dough will be too sticky!

Next, make the flax eggs: whisk the flaxseed meal with warm water. Set it aside to gel. 

Meanwhile, coarsely chop the chocolate. 

Combine the dry ingredients: Whisk the flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. 

In a large bowl, combine the gelled flax eggs, cooled brown butter, brown sugar, cane sugar, and vanilla. 

Beat the liquid ingredients with an electric mixer until well combined and fluffy.

Use a silicone spatula to fold half of the dry ingredients into the fluffy wet mixture until no dry spots remain. 

Repeat with the other half of the dry ingredients and the chopped chocolate. 

Scoop out cookie dough rounds with a ¼ cup measuring cup (or a large cookie scoop like this or this) onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. No need to space them out since they’re going to chill. 

Refrigerate the pan until cookie dough balls are set. Afterward, you can transfer them to a reusable bag or container and refrigerate for 24 hours or up to 72 hours.

When it’s time to bake:

Preheat your oven and line a sheet pan with parchment. Space 6 cookie dough rounds on the pan, leaving 3 inches (7.5 cm) of space in between each (these babies are going to spread).

Bake the chocolate chip cookies until the edges are golden brown and a bit set but still gooey and soft in the center, 15 to 16 minutes. 

Top freshly baked cookies with a little flaky sea salt. Cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Enjoy!

Tips for nailing this recipe

The best cookies have two important features: (1) chopped chocolate (not chips) and (2) the dough has rested in the fridge for ~24 hours. 

Lots of science in the next two tips, so here’s the big summary: 

(1) If you don’t have time to refrigerate the cookie dough, it’s even more important to use chopped dark chocolate over chocolate chips.

(2) If you only have access to chocolate chips, not dark chocolate bars, it’s even more important to rest the dough for 24 hours.

Let the dough rest (it’s the most important thing you can do)

I know, I know. You want cookies now! But in our two dozen tests, letting the dough rest in the fridge for ~24 hours was the biggest game-changer. Here’s why:

When the cookie dough rests in the fridge, the flavors meld together and the dough gets hydrated. This results in a cookie with better flavor (more developed and complex, richer, caramel-like) and significantly better texture (the crispest edges and the chewiest, gooey-ist center; not at all cakey or thick).

Waiting for cookies can feel like a chore, but it’s absolutely worth the wait and the experts–the likes of Kenji López-Alt, Jacques Torres, dessert queen Claire Saffitz.

Tips for resting cookie dough

If you’re really short on time, even a shorter rest of 8 hours (or even 2 to 4 hours!) makes a significant difference. Or, if a 12 hour rest works better for your schedule, that’s totally fine. 

You can refrigerate the cookie dough for up to 72 hours. Any longer than that, and the rested cookie dough should then go into the freezer.

Life hack: Really need a cookie, like, right now? Bake one cookie after making the dough but save the rest of the cookie dough rounds for tomorrow or the next day. 

Use dark chocolate bars (not chocolate chips) 

We tested this recipe with many dark chocolate bars and found that bars with few ingredients and between 65-75% dark or bittersweet chocolate gave us the best result.

If you really want to use chocolate chips, a few important notes:

(1) use dark chocolate chips (anything below 60% cacao, and these will be too sweet);

(2) you must refrigerate the dough for ~24 hours. 

This is because cookies baked with chocolate chips that did not rest at all = underwhelming in flavor and with a thick and puffy, not chewy-gooey texture. Luckily, after a 24-hour rest, though, the cookies had improved A LOT. 

Large cookies > small cookies (by a long shot)

When it comes to chocolate chip cookies, size really does matter. Shaping your cookies with ¼ cup (~72g) of dough creates large cookies that beat their smaller counterparts in every way.

Here’s why: larger cookies don’t bake through as quickly, which means you get gooey, soft centers paired with irresistibly crisp edges—a perfect balance of textures. On the other hand, small cookies bake too evenly, resulting in a uniform texture that lacks excitement and depth. And the fine folks at America’s Test Kitchen agree.

Worried the big cookies are too much for one sitting? No problem! Share with a friend, or slice them in half for a smaller treat. Trust me, this is infinitely more satisfying than settling for a batch of tiny cookies.

Measure with a digital scale 

If you have a kitchen scale, use it to measure all of the ingredients. Not only is it more precise than measuring cups, but you will have fewer dishes to wash (win-win!). 

Don’t overmix 

Only fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until everything just comes together and no dry flour remains. This method prevents the dough from being overmixed into a thick, gluten-ey dough, which would make your cookies dense and bread-like.

Skip the parchment paper for crispier edges

In our tests, cookies baked on naked sheet pans produced slightly crispier edges. But the pans need to be somewhat well-worn aluminum or nonstick sheet pans. Otherwise, the cookies will stick too much.

If you’re not sure, bake your first batch half on parchment paper and half without, and see which you prefer. 

Don’t use warm pans

Let your sheet pan cool to room temp before putting more cookie dough balls on the pan. Warm sheet pans will cause the cookies to spread more. To speed things up, simply run your pan under cool water.

Resist the urge to overbake

Pull the cookies out of the oven when the edges are just starting to set, but when the middle is still soft and gooey. They’ll continue to bake a bit on the pans for ~10 minutes before you transfer them to a cooling rack. 

Double the recipe  

These cookies are so good you’ll want to double the recipe! The good news is that after you rest your cookie dough in the fridge, you can transfer it to the freezer.

And leftover baked cookies also freeze great. See the FAQ for instructions.

Frequently Asked Questions

More delicious vegan cookies! 

• Chewy Vegan Chai-Spiced Cookies
• Vegan Breakfast Cookies 
• Pantry Cookies 
• No-Bake Cookie Dough Bars

If you loved these Ultimate Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies as much as we do, please give the recipe a rating and review below! And of course, tag me with your remakes on Instagram!

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Ultimate Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

These aren’t your average vegan chocolate chip cookies — they’re bakery-style, deeply indulgent, and engineered for maximum payoff. Crispy edges give way to an ultra-soft, gooey center, with rich, buttery flavor and dramatic pools of melted dark chocolate in every bite.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Diet Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 40 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Rest time 12 hours hours

Total Time 55 minutes minutes

Servings 12 jumbo cookies

Calories 316kcal

Author Nisha Vora

Ingredients

• 12 tablespoons (168g) vegan butter, sliced into thick pats (see Note 1)
• 2 tablespoons (14g) ground flaxseed meal
• 5 heaped tablespoons (70 mL) warm water
• 6 ounces (170g) 65% to 75% dark or bittersweet chocolate (see Note 2)
• 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (see Note 3 for GF)
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda (make sure it's fresh, see Note 4)
• ¾ cup (155g) organic dark brown sugar, tightly packed (see Note 5)
• ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (80g) organic cane sugar
• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) pure vanilla extract (not imitation extract!)
• Flaky sea salt for finishing

Instructions

• Brown the butter before doing anything else, as it needs time to cool: Add the sliced butter to a stainless steel or light-colored skillet or saucepan. Turn to medium heat. Swirl the pan or stir with a silicone spatula occasionally until melted, foamy, and at a bubble (it should take 2 to 3 minutes).

  Heat for 2 to 3 more minutes, stirring frequently with a silicone spatula until nutty in aroma and slightly darker. Turn off the heat before it starts foaming up the sides of the pan.

  Immediately pour into a medium heatproof bowl to stop cooking, scraping out all of the butter from the pan with the spatula.

  Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until no longer warm (warm butter = sticky cookies).
• Line a large plate or mini sheet pan with parchment paper and place in the fridge to chill.
• Make the flax eggs. In a small bowl, combine the flaxseed meal with 70 mL warm water (this is 5 heaped tablespoons).

  Whisk well to combine and rest for 15 minutes, whisking again halfway through and once more at the end of the 15 minutes.
• While waiting for the butter and flax egg, coarsely chop the chocolate–some texture variation in small/large pieces is nice. Set aside.

  If desired, reserve 12 pieces of chopped chocolate to press into each cookie.
• Dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda until well incorporated.
• Wet ingredients: Once flax eggs have gelled and brown butter has cooled, add both to a large bowl. Add the brown sugar, cane sugar, and vanilla. Use an electric mixer on medium to mix everything together until well combined and small ribbon-like waves appear, about 30 seconds (or use a whisk and arm power for ~45 seconds).
• Remove the beaters and switch to a silicone spatula. Add half of the dry ingredients into the wet. Fold with a silicone spatula until just combined.

  Add the rest of the dry ingredients and chopped chocolate (minus reserved 12 pieces for topping). Fold together just until no dry spots remain. The dough should be thick but somewhat soft, not stodgy.
• Scoop out cookie dough rounds. Use a large cookie scoop to measure out ~72g per cookie dough round (or use a ¼ cup measuring cup, leveling off the top & using a small silicone spatula to get the dough out of the measuring cup). Place the cookie dough rounds on the lined pan/plate from the fridge, but no need to space them out, as they'll chill first.

  If desired, press a piece of reserved chopped chocolate into the top of each cookie.

  Tip 1: Don't make smaller cookies (see Note 5).

  Tip 2: If the dough is too sticky to handle, refrigerate for 15-20 minutes, then shape.
• Once the cookie dough balls have set, you can transfer them to a ziploc bag or container and refrigerate.

  Chill for 24 hours, or up to 72 hours. If you're short on time, I still recommend chilling for as long as you can (even 2 hours will give you a better cookie than baking immediately).
• When ready to bake: preheat the oven to 350ºF / 175ºC and arrange a rack in the center of the oven.

  If your rimmed sheet pan is not well-worn or not made of aluminum or nonstick, it's essential to line with parchment paper to prevent sticking (see Note 7).

  Add five or six cookie dough rounds, spacing them 3 inches (7.5 cm) apart, as they’ll spread a lot.
• Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, until edges are golden brown and a bit set but still gooey and soft in the center (16 minutes for a slightly crispier edge). While still warm, sprinkle cookies with a little flaky sea salt. See Note 9.
• Cool in the pans for 10 minutes (5 minutes if lined with parchment), then transfer to a cooling rack to cool for a few more minutes.
• Bake the remaining batch (or freeze the cookie dough to bake later).

Video

Chocolate Chip Cookies — literally the best I’ve ever had

Notes

1. For our recommended butter brands, check out the Ingredient Notes.
2. Chopped dark chocolate bars = much better than choc chips. For more details & substitutions, check out the Ingredient Notes and Tips sections (tips #1 and #2).
3. Check out the FAQ for gluten-free instructions.
4. If the baking soda is not fresh, your cookies won’t spread. Combine ¼ tsp baking soda + 2 tsp vinegar in a small bowl. If it doesn’t fizz up immediately, it’s no longer fresh.  
5. If you can’t find dark brown sugar, light brown sugar still works well.
6. Smaller cookies turn out drier and overall less good. Stick with 1/4 cup or 72g per cookie. 
7. If you can’t refrigerate the dough for 24 hours, a shorter rest is still better than nothing. Even 2 to 8 hours produced better cookies than no rest at all.
8. Unlined sheet pans yield crisper edges. But if your pan is new or not made of aluminum or nonstick, line the pan with parchment paper; otherwise, the cookies stick.
9. If your cookies don’t appear to have spread very much, you can try the “pan banging” technique to encourage spreading. Lift up the pan a few inches and gently bang it down on your kitchen counter. Repeat a couple times. 

Nutrition

Calories: 316kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 200mg | Potassium: 9mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 24g | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Ultimate Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies appeared first on Rainbow Plant Life.

Each of these bakery-style muffins is bejeweled with dark chocolate chunks and boasts a melt-in-your-mouth, fluffy interior. A sprinkling of coarse sugar on top is the perfect finishing touch, giving every bite the perfect amount of crunch in contrast to the soft and tender crumb.

This recipe makes enough grown-up, gourmet muffins for breakfast, brunch parties, and weekly snacks. 

Table of contents:
1. Why this recipe works
2. Ingredient notes
3. Step-by-step instructions
4. Tips for making this recipe
5. Frequently Asked Questions
6. Recipe card with notes

Why this recipe works

Light, fluffy, and soft

There’s nothing worse than picking up a chocolate chip muffin from your favorite coffee or donut place only for it to be dry and dense. Ain’t nobody got time for that! 

Which is why this chocolate chip muffin recipe produces light, fluffy, and pillowy soft muffins, the kind of muffins you dream of. 

Their heavenly texture is all thanks to a muffin batter made with vegan sour cream. The fat and acid in sour cream provide the muffins with moisture, richness, and just the right amount of tang. The result? A rich and tender muffin with a melt-in-your-mouth crumb!

To add some contrast to the ultra-soft bites, we finished them with coarse sugar on top. It lends the perfect crunchy topping in contrast to the soft interior. 

Bakery-style big girl muffins

We call these big girl muffins in the RPL kitchen because they have the perfect amount of sweetness. Anyone with or without a sweet tooth will enjoy them.

If your sweet tooth is stronger than others, use the options we’ve included in the Tips and Ingredient Notes sections to make them sweeter.

Cinnamon and nutmeg bring even more flavor to the mix. They give the muffins a warm and comforting flavor while highlighting the richness of the chocolate. 

Lastly, swapping regular chocolate chips for chopped dark chocolate brings a level of sophistication that elevates the muffins to a whole new level (though of course you can use chocolate chips if you prefer).

Easy to make

Whether you’re a novice or an experienced baker, this recipe is just plain easy to make. Most, if not all, of the vegan pantry staple ingredients might already be in your kitchen and the batter is a breeze to put together. 

Let them do their thing in the oven and in less than 30 minutes, you’ll have big, bountiful muffins that your friends will think you picked up from a fancy bakery!

Looking for more delicious sweet treats in bite-sized form? Try my Ultimate Vegan Cupcakes or Vegan Banana Muffins!

Ingredient notes

Oat milk

This adds a neutral base for the liquid ingredients, which means it won’t add any overpowering flavors or textures. We recommend using a creamy full-fat oat milk for the best texture, like Califia and Oatly brands.

Substitute: Oat milk is the best option here because other plant-based milks, such as soy milk, may add more protein to the batter. More protein = different textures in the batter. That said, you don’t need that much milk, so the change likely won’t make a big difference. 

Vegan sour cream

For the best vegan chocolate chip muffins with the most luxurious texture, enter vegan sour cream.

Vegan sour cream is a rich yet slightly acidic ingredient that adds moisture and richness to the batter without making the muffins dense. It also adds a subtle tangy flavor that balances out the sweetness. 

How does it work? As the food science blog, Food Crumbles, explains, sour cream is a pro at adding epic levels of moisture to baked goods because it’s thick and fatty. And despite this richness, it still doesn’t weigh down batters. This is because the acidity in sour cream reacts with the baking soda, which creates gas bubbles in the batter, leaving you with light and fluffy baked goods.

I also use vegan sour cream to make my epic Vegan Pancakes and fluffy Vegan Lemon Cake. If you love the fabulous texture of these muffins, then you’ll want to give these recipes a try as well!

Tips for buying: Tofutti, Kite Hill, and Follow Your Heart are our favorite vegan sour cream brands and all work great here.

Substitute: If you don’t have access to vegan sour cream, you can try using a thick vegan Greek yogurt instead (we love the brands Culina or CocoJune). Consider adding an extra tablespoon of sugar, as yogurt is more tart than sour cream. 

All-purpose flour

This will give the muffins the best structure and a tender crumb.

Substitute: You can use 100% whole wheat pastry flour as a 1:1 substitution, if you’d like to sneak in a little nutrition. Check out the FAQ section for the other types of flour that work well.

Flaxseed meal

When you mix ground flaxseed meal and water together, they take on the same consistency as eggs. This mixture (called flax eggs) is the best egg replacer in this recipe because it binds the batter together and adds some extra fiber, antioxidants, and omega-3 fatty acids. 

Dark chocolate

This is a bakery-style muffin recipe, which is why we used chopped dark chocolate instead of semisweet chocolate chips. Dark chocolate is sweet yet subtly bitter in the best way, and gives these muffins a rich depth of flavor without being cloyingly sweet. Plus, the finely chopped pieces ensure that you get a bit of chocolate in every bite.

Substitute: You can make sweeter muffins by substituting vegan-friendly chocolate chips for dark chocolate. In our tests, both regular-sized and mini chocolate chips work, but mini chips disperse more evenly in the batter (affiliate link).

Cinnamon and nutmeg

These warm spices give the muffins a sophisticated flair. They also complement and enhance the chocolate beautifully without overpowering the rest of the muffin. 

Step-by-step instructions

In a small bowl, make the flax eggs by whisking the flaxseed meal with the warm water. Set aside to thicken.

Next, add 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to the milk and stir gently. This is how you make vegan buttermilk. Set it aside to curdle.

Chop the dark chocolate. 

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl. 

In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flax eggs, melted butter, and sugar together. 

To finish, add in the sour cream, buttermilk, and vanilla extract and whisk well to combine. 

Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet. Stir until the two are JUST combined – do not overmix! 

The batter will be quite thick and not runny. Finish by folding the dark chocolate into the batter.

Fill the prepared muffin tins to the top with the batter. Sprinkle some coarse sugar on top of each muffin before pressing the reserved chocolate onto the tops.

Bake in the oven at 425ºF/218ºC oven for 6 minutes, then lower the temp to 350ºF/175ºC and bake for another 16 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Note: Baking the muffins at a high temperature before lowering it is known as the two-temperature system. It gives you beautifully risen, crisp-on-the-outside and soft-on-the-inside, and tall, bountiful muffins every time. Learn more about this method and how it benefits your baked goods in this guide by The Kitchn.

When they’re done, transfer the big, chocolatey muffins to a cooling rack to cool for a few minutes. Enjoy them right away or store/freeze them for later!

Tips for making this recipe

Use room temperature ingredients

If you want to avoid broken muffin batter, bring your vegan sour cream and milk down to room temperature first. To do so, measure out the milk and sour cream, then leave them on the kitchen counter for 20 to 30 minutes.

This takes time but it’s SUPER important. Room temperature dairy substitutions will, as Sally’s Baking Addiction puts it, “bond together easily.” The ingredients will be incorporated perfectly, the batter will be smooth and free of any cold sour cream chunks, and, most importantly, the muffins will taste their best.

Don’t overmix the batter

Use a spatula to gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined, then stop. Stirring too many times and overworking the batter will knock out the air and give you tough, dense muffins.

Lined vs. greased muffin tins

We’ve had great success baking our Vegan Banana Muffins and Blueberry Muffins in a naked muffin tin that had been greased with nonstick spray or cooking oil (rubbed with a paper towel). 

Muffin liners are convenient but leave a ridged texture behind. Plus, if you leave the muffins in the lined muffin tin too long, they can become soggy.

We prefer to use unlined tins but you need to make sure you generously grease them (otherwise, the muffins will stick). 

Wait for the caramelization! 

You might think that a fresh from the oven, pillowy soft muffin with gooey melted chocolate in every bite is the best it’s gonna get. Wrong! 

After they cool completely, the coarse sugar topping caramelizes, the chocolate hardens, and the muffin is sturdier. 

I’m not going to tell you not to enjoy a warm muffin, but you definitely don’t want to miss out on the room temperature muffin (trust me, it’s sexier than it sounds!). 

Tailor to your preferred sweetness

These are grown-up muffins that don’t taste overly sweet. So if you’re craving a sweeter muffin, use a mixture of dark chocolate and semisweet chocolate, or a dark chocolate in the 60% range. 

For extra sweet muffins, use semisweet chocolate chips (ensure they are vegan-friendly). 

(1) If you opt for semisweet chocolate, use just 1 tablespoon of coarse sugar on top to avoid a too-sweet muffin. 

(2) When using dark chocolate, don’t chop it too finely (the larger pieces create nice big melty pools of chocolate). 

Frequently Asked Questions

If you love this Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins recipe, please rate and review it below! Your support is always much appreciated

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Bakery-Style Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins

With a pillowy soft texture, crunchy caramelized topping, and dark chocolate in every bite, these Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins may just be the muffins of your dreams. They look and taste gourmet but are easy to make.

Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Diet Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 12 large muffins

Calories 322kcal

Author Nisha Vora

Ingredients

• 1 cup (240 mL) oat milk, at room temperature
• ½ cup (115g) vegan sour cream, at room temperature (see Note 1)
• 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 3/4 cups (345g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled or weighed
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional, adds a nice depth of flavor)
• ¾ cup (155g) organic cane sugar
• ⅓ cup (75g) vegan butter, melted and slightly cooled (see Note 2)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 8 ounces (225g) 60 to 75% dark chocolate, chopped OR 1 ½ cups (255g) vegan-friendly chocolate chips (see Note 3)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons coarse or raw sugar, for sprinkling (optional but recommended, see Note 4)

Instructions

• Measure out the milk and sour cream and allow them to sit on your counter to come to room temperature (20 to 30 minutes).
• Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 425ºF/218ºC. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin on the bottoms and sides with coconut oil or cooking spray–be generous to avoid sticking.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the flaxseed meal and 4 tablespoons of warm water. Set aside for 10 to 15 minutes to gel up.
• Add one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to the milk and stir. This creates the "buttermilk". Stir and set aside for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Chop the chocolate (not too finely). Set aside ¼ cup (~30g) of the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips for the topping.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flax eggs, melted butter, and sugar until combined. Then whisk in the sour cream, buttermilk and vanilla extract. It’s okay if there are tiny chunks of sour cream unblended.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Gently fold together until JUST combined, do not overmix. The batter will be thick and not runny. Some clumps are okay. Gently fold in the chocolate with a silicone spatula.
• Fill the muffin tins nearly to the top with the batter. Sprinkle a bit of the coarse sugar on top of each muffin and press the reserved chocolate pieces or chips into the tops.
• Bake at 425ºF/218ºC for 6 minutes. Then, without opening the oven door, reduce the heat to 350ºF/175ºC and bake for another 16 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
• Transfer to a cooling rack and cool for 20 to 30 minutes. Use a small offset spatula or butter knife to loosen the muffins. Store cooled muffins in an airtight container on the counter for 2 to 3 days, or in the fridge for 5 to 6 days, or up to 3 months in the freezer.

Notes

1. Vegan sour cream is a magical ingredient here, adding moistness, richness, and great texture without making the muffins dense. When we tried this recipe with just oat milk, the muffins were good but somewhat dense.
2. If you don’t have access to vegan butter, you can sub with melted refined coconut oil or a neutral-flavored oil of choice.
3. If using regular-sized chocolate chips, use 1 ½ cups (255g). If using mini chocolate chips, use 1 ¼ cups (220g).
4. If using semisweet chocolate, use 1 tablespoon of coarse sugar to avoid a too-sweet muffin. If using dark chocolate, it’s best with 2 tablespoons of coarse sugar.

Nutrition

Calories: 322kcal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Sodium: 301mg | Potassium: 160mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 278IU | Vitamin C: 0.01mg | Calcium: 126mg | Iron: 2mg

Recipe: Nisha Vora / Rainbow Plant Life | Photography: Megan Morello

The post Bakery-Style Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins appeared first on Rainbow Plant Life.

With tender apple slices generously spiced and baked to saucy perfection and a golden crown of buttery-chewy-crisp streusel crumble, this one is in the running for greatest fall dessert of all time.

Bring it to Friendsgiving or a holiday potluck, or make it for Sunday family dinner—regardless, top it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and savor the melty, gooey, creamy-chewy, crispy-caramelly goodness.

PS: Though I use a cast-iron skillet, any 2-quart baking pan should work. More details in the Tips section.

A simple, stress-free showstopper

When it comes to desserts, my tastes are surprisingly simple. I prefer everyday baked goods like cookies and brownies over elaborate cakes and fancy pastries. BUT, I still want them to feel special, like something you could get at a high-end bakery.

And this vegan apple crisp is the perfect example. It’s easy enough for novice bakers to whip up but it yields gloriously gourmet results. 

I baked countless apple crisps until I found the Goldilocks version—one that gets the topping beautifully golden without overcooking the apples, one where the streusel is buttery but still crisp and clings to the apples (thanks, flaxseed meal), one that allowed the apples to shine but also loaded them with cozy, warm spices. 

Whether you’re new to baking or an expert, you’ll knock this one out of the park.

Ingredient notes

• Apples: To prevent apple crisp from tasting one-note/overly sweet, choose a combination of tart and sweet apples (I share my favorite apple variety combos in the Tips section!). 

• Oats: Whole old-fashioned rolled oats give the crumble topping a crispy crunch when baked. Steer clear of quick-cooking oats (don’t hold up well in the oven) and steel-cut oats (too tough for streusel…save those for this savory oatmeal).

• Maple syrup: This ingredient does what brown sugar does in many apple crisp recipes, and then some—it keeps the apple filling saucy and helps the streusel topping caramelize as it bakes!

• Warm spices: A bouquet of spices—cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, and nutmeg (freshly-grated for extra nuance!)—gives this dessert sophistication, adding dimension beneath the sweetness of the apples.

• Pecans: Longtime readers know I love to add nuts wherever I can (Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole and Vegan Banana Muffins ), so I experimented with toasting some pecans in vegan brown butter and tossing them into the crumble topping…and they worked gorgeously. Not only does the quick toast enhance the pecans’ nuttiness, but the proteins in the nuts help the butter brown! #teamwork

• Vegan butter: Browned butter (butter simmered until it takes on a rich, dark brown color and a toasted, nutty flavor) is integral to this dessert’s grown-up elegance. Vegan butter doesn’t brown quite the same as dairy-based butter because it doesn’t contain milk proteins—however, the protein in pecans adds nuttiness and encourages browning, helping it look and taste just like the real thing.

Substitutes and Tips

Refined sugar-free? Use coconut sugar instead of the cane sugar called for in the crisp topping. It will slightly soften the texture but still taste amazing.

Buy pre-chopped pecans to cut down on prep work (bonus: they’re typically cheaper than whole pecans).

No pecans? Walnuts work great. If allergic to nuts, skip to the FAQ section for alternatives.

Vegan Butter. Sadly, my two favorite vegan butters have been discontinued or are otherwise no longer available (Violife, Miyokos), but this works just great with other butter sticks/blocks such as Country Crock Plant Butter or Earth Balance buttery sticks (the color may not brown as much). 

Step-by-step instructions

Add the vegan butter to a stainless steel or light-colored saucepan or skillet. Heat over medium heat. Continue stirring until it’s melted, foamy, and bubbling.

Add the pecans and toast them with the butter for a few minutes, stirring frequently. Transfer mixture to a medium bowl to stop cooking.

Peel the apples and cut them into ¼ to ½” thick slices (.6 to 1.25 cm).

Add them to a large bowl with the lemon juice, then toss to coat.

Stir the maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, flour, and pinch of sea salt into the bowl with the apples.

Make the topping: stir the flour, oats, salt, cane sugar, maple syrup, flaxseed meal, and cinnamon into the browned butter-pecan mixture. Stir it with a fork until it’s somewhat sticky and sandy.

Transfer the apple filling to the greased skillet or baking dish. Scatter the streusel crumb evenly on top.

Bake until the juices are bubbling around the sides, the apples are fork tender, and the topping is golden brown.

Rest for 20 to 45 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Tips for making this recipe

Use the right pan.

While I love the crispy edges and caramelization you get with a cast iron pan, this is still great if you don’t have one. Instead, you can use a 2-quart or 2-liter baking pan, such as:

• an 8×8 inch square pan
• an 11×7 inch baking pan
• a 9×9 inch square baking pan

Check the crisp after 35 minutes—if the topping isn’t golden brown or the apples aren’t cooked, continue baking for another 5 to 10 minutes. If the top is browning but the apples aren’t yet tender, cover the pan with foil and continue baking.

If your pan is glass or ceramic rather than metal, it will heat more slowly and might need an extra 5 to 10 minutes.

Use a combo of sweet and tart crisp apples.

DON’T use soft apples with mealy flesh like Gala, McIntosh, or Red Delicious apples, which will get soggy in the oven.

DO use a mixture of tart and sweet apples with crisp textures. Here are some great pairing options:

• Honeycrisp + Granny Smith
• Pink Lady + Golden Delicious
• Braeburn + Jonagold

For more, check out this Food Network article on the best apples for baking.

PS: Don’t skip tossing the apples with lemon juice! It prevents the apples from browning and adds a subtle tartness which critically balances the dessert’s sweetness.

To peel or not to peel?

TLDR: It’s a matter of personal preference. 

I peel the apples because I prefer the texture of peeled apples in the finished product and, to me, it’s worth the additional 5ish minutes spent peeling them.

But if you don’t mind the chewy, slightly toothsome texture of baked unpeeled apples, skip the peeling. 

How to slice the apples

After lots of recipe testing, we found that slicing the apples to ¼” to ½” in thickness (.6 to 1.25cm) produced the best texture when baked. Anything thinner ended up overcooked and soggy; anything thicker felt cumbersome to eat.

Don’t skimp on the salt!

The perfect scoop of apple crisp is sweet and salty—you need the salt to balance the sweet! 

The good news is, you can taste both the apple filling and the crisp topping before baking them and adjust both as necessary (more maple syrup or sugar if not sweet enough, more salt if too sweet).

Keep an eye on the crisp topping.

If the apples are still not tender after 35 minutes of baking (i.e., you encounter resistance when poking them with a fork or knife) but the topping is getting brown, loosely cover the pan with foil and continue baking.

Let it rest.

If you’re like me, waiting to dig in is the hardest part of the recipe—but letting the crisp cool and firm up is critical! It needs at least 20 minutes to rest, although I found 45 minutes to be the magic number for firm apples and mess-free scoops.

Frequently Asked Questions

More fantastic fall sweet treats

• Apple Cinnamon Bundt Cake
• The Best Vegan Pumpkin Bread
• Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

If you love this Vegan Apple Crisp, please give it a rating and review below! And of course, tag me with your remakes on Instagram!

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Vegan Apple Crisp

Tender, saucy apples caramelize away beneath a buttery layer of golden oat-pecan streusel, and by the time this vegan apple crisp comes out of the oven, you’re surrounded by the irresistible aroma of fall. Elegant enough for the holidays but simple to make!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Diet Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings 10

Calories 336kcal

Author Nisha Vora

Ingredients

Apple filling

• 3 pounds (1.3 kg) of apples (about 8 medium apples or 6 jumbo apples) (see Note 1)
• 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
• ¼ cup (80g) pure maple syrup
• 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract (not imitation extract)
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (or ¼ teaspoon pre-ground nutmeg)
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (see Note 2 for GF)
• 1 pinch sea salt

Crisp topping

• 1 stick or 8 tablespoons (112g) vegan butter, sliced into thick pats (see Note 3)
• ½ cup (60g) chopped pecans (or walnuts) (see Note 4)
• ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons (110g) all-purpose flour (see Note 5)
• 1 cup (100g) old-fashioned rolled oats
• A heaping ¾ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (80g) organic cane sugar
• ¼ cup (80g) pure maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

For Serving

• vanilla ice cream or whipped topping

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 375ºF/190ºC. Arrange a rack in the top third of the oven (the crisp will brown better here). Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 12-inch cast iron skillet or 2-quart (2 L) baking dish with oil, cooking spray, or vegan butter.
• Toast the butter and pecans. Set a medium bowl aside, big enough to fit the crisp topping. Add the sliced butter to a stainless steel, enameled cast iron, or other light-colored saucepan or skillet (don’t use a dark pan or nonstick). Turn a burner to medium heat and heat the butter. Stir occasionally with a silicone spatula.

  a. Once melted, foamy, and at a bubble (it should take ~ 3 minutes), cook for another 1 minute, stirring frequently (standing back as needed, as it might sputter).

  b. Now add the chopped pecans and stir frequently for another 2 minutes.

  c. Take the pan off the heat and pour into the medium bowl to stop cooking. Set aside to cool a bit while you prep everything else.
• Peel the apples, then slice into wedges or slices ¼” to ½” thick (.6 to 1.25 cm), cutting around the core (see Note 6).

  Add apples to a large bowl and cover with the lemon juice. Toss with a spatula or your hands to ensure well-coated (so they don’t brown).
• Prepare the apple filling. Mix the apple mixture with the remaining filling ingredients: maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom if using, flour, and pinch of salt. Mix until well combined.

  Transfer to the greased skillet or pan, using a silicone spatula to get any residual liquid out of the bowl. Spread the apples out as evenly as possible.
• Make the crisp topping. Once the butter-pecan mixture has cooled off a bit, add the remaining topping ingredients: flour, oats, salt, cane sugar, maple syrup, flaxseed meal, and cinnamon. Mix together with a fork or your hands until it’s a somewhat sticky, slightly sandy mix.
• Use your hands to scatter the crumb topping evenly on top of the apple mixture (I like to vary the size of the clumps). Transfer the pan to the oven and bake uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the juices on the sides are bubbling, the crisp is golden on top, and the apples are tender when pierced with a fork or knife.
• Let rest for at least 20 minutes, ideally 45 minutes, so the apples can set up more.

Notes

1. I recommend using a mix of tart and sweet apples with a crisp texture. I used half Honeycrisp apples and half Granny Smith. Check out the Tips section for more apple variety suggestions.
2. Gluten-free version: use (1) replace the flour in the apple filling with 1 ½ TBSP arrowroot powder or cornstarch; (2) use gluten-free all-purpose flour in the topping (use a blend that contains xanthan gum); (3) use certified gluten-free rolled oats.
3. If using unsalted vegan butter, I recommend adding an extra ¼ teaspoon sea salt to the crisp topping. Taste it, add more as needed.
4. Nut allergy? Omit the pecans from the topping and add (1) an extra ¼ cup (25g) of oats plus (2) ¼ cup (20g) of unsweetened shredded coconut. Or skip the coconut and add an extra ¼ to ½ cup (25 to 50g) of oats.
5. This is the same as 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons flour. If not using a measuring scale, remember to spoon and level your flour to properly measure it.
6. If you don’t mind the chewy, slightly toothsome texture of unpeeled baked apples, you can skip the peeling. Once peeled and sliced, you should end up with ~ 9 cups or 1kg of sliced apples.

Nutrition

Calories: 336kcal | Carbohydrates: 55g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Sodium: 255mg | Potassium: 272mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 506IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 44mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Vegan Apple Crisp appeared first on Rainbow Plant Life.

A true bakery-style muffin, these vegan banana bread muffins are wildly delicious and incredibly fluffy! You don’t need any fancy ingredients to make them, either. Just simple, everyday baking staples and the ripe spotty bananas on your kitchen counter.

Each muffin is topped with a nutty walnut crumble, yielding a melt-in-your-mouth muffin interior with a sweet crunch on top (ridiculously good!). 

Grab a muffin when you’re heading out the door, bring them to Sunday brunch, or enjoy either as a snack or dessert!

Table of Contents:
1. Why this recipe works
2. Ingredient notes
3. Step-by-step instructions
4. Tips for making this recipe
5. Frequently Asked Questions
6. Recipe card

Why this recipe works

A soft and fluffy dream

These bakery-style muffins have a dreamy texture thanks to the combination of ripe bananas and whipped aquafaba. When these two get together, they create banana muffins that are perfectly moist, fluffy, and bouncy. No dense muffins here!

Meanwhile, the sweet walnut crumble on top of the muffins almost caramelizes in the oven, resulting in a soft crunch with each bite. It’s the best contrast to the soft, pillowy interior.

A mashup of two favorite recipes 

If my Banana Bread and Blueberry Muffin recipes had a baby, it would be this vegan banana muffin recipe. I am not exaggerating when I say these are some of the best muffins you’ll ever try!

Even my partner, Max, said that these were the best muffins he’s ever had, and this is coming from a guy who typically hates fruit in desserts.

The muffins look like they were baked fresh from the bakery, with large, rounded tops and maximum fluffiness. Meanwhile, the warm and sweet flavors and tender crumb will remind you of a loaf of vegan banana bread. Put the two together and you have a real winner!

Simple ingredients; gourmet flavor

These muffins are made with simple and familiar ingredients that should be easy to find at almost any grocery store. Ripe bananas are key but it’s the warm spices that jazz up the sweet banana flavor to make everything better.

Looking for more delicious sweet treats in bite-sized form? Try my Ultimate Vegan Cupcakes or Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins!

Ingredient notes

Aquafaba

This is simply the liquid from a can of chickpeas. It’s my favorite egg substitute and when lightly whipped, it makes these muffins, as well as other baked goods like Vegan Lemon Cake, supremely light, tender, and fluffy.

Bananas

This is a perfect recipe to turn to when you those bananas you forgot to eat turn spotty and brown. The riper your bananas are, the more flavorful and sweeter the muffins will be. The ripe bananas also add moisture and act as a natural sweetener.

Are your bananas still green but you can’t wait to try these muffins? Skip to the Tips section to learn how to ripen bananas quickly.

Or, if you don’t have ripe bananas, try my Bakery-Style Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins instead!

Vegan buttermilk

You can make a buttermilk alternative by simply using a mix of oat milk and lemon juice. It’s a game-changer in this recipe, as the acidity shortens the gluten strands in the flour, giving you extra tender and light muffins.

Substitute: While we’ve had the best results with oat milk (the natural sugars help baked goods brown better), most plant milk will work fine here. We also have had the best results using lemon juice but apple cider vinegar can be subbed.

Brown sugar 

Brown sugar has a richer flavor and more moisture than white sugar. Try to buy organic brown sugar to ensure it’s certified vegan (if you live in the U.S.). 

Substitute: Coconut sugar can be used instead with lovely results.

Flour 

All-purpose flour is all you need to give the muffins structure and a tender crumb.

Substitute: We tested these muffins with spelt flour for a more nutritious option, with pretty good results. They weren’t as fluffy as the version made with all-purpose flour but still had nice flavor.

You can also try using half or all whole wheat pastry flour (not 100% whole wheat flour). Our own tests with gluten-free flour did not work great here, but at least one reader had success using the below substitute:

1 1/3 cup Bob Mill’s gluten-free all purpose flour and 1 1/3 cup + 1/4 cup Bob mill’s oat flour using 3 large ripe bananas, instead of 4 medium bananas.

Warm spices

Cinnamon and nutmeg add a touch of warmth to each bite. They also complement the sweet flavor of the bananas.

Walnuts

Walnuts are combined with brown sugar to create a crumble that’s sprinkled over the top of the muffins. This way, the interior has a warm, nutty flavor and a soft crunch while the top is coated in crunchy caramelized nuts.

Substitute: Pecans work just as well, but slivered almonds or finely chopped hazelnuts would also be nice.

Nut free: Try using shredded or flaked coconut instead or omit the crumble topping entirely.

Step-by-step instructions

Mix the walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt in a small bowl to make the walnut crumble. Set aside.

In a small bowl, beat the aquafaba until it’s foamy.

In a separate large mixing bowl, add the sugar and oil and beat them together until well combined. Then mix the beaten aquafaba into the sugar-oil mixture until well incorporated.

Beat in the vegan buttermilk and vanilla until smooth. Add the mashed bananas and mix again until well incorporated.

Now that the wet mixture is ready, you can add the dry stuff! Add the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the bowl with the wet mix.
Gently stir everything together with a silicone spatula until they’re just barely combined. A few traces of dry flour left behind is ok.

Transfer the batter to a greased muffin tin. Sprinkle the walnut crumble over the top of each one, then bake.

Bake the muffins at 425ºF until they have risen nicely. Afterward, lower the heat to 350ºF and continue baking until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean (or with a few crumbs attached).

Let the muffins cool for a few minutes, then enjoy!

Tips for making this recipe

Don’t overmix

The more you mix and work the muffin batter, the more gluten will form. This, in turn, gives you dense muffins. Do yourself a favor and only mix the batter until the ingredients just barely come together to achieve the perfect fluffy and tender crumb.

Use overripe bananas

Just like banana bread, banana muffins are a great way to use up the spotty and brown bananas on your kitchen counter. Ripe bananas are easier to mash and incorporate into the batter, plus they add a sweeter and more distinct banana-y flavor.

If your bananas are still green or not quite ripe, you can ripen them quickly by placing them on a foil-lined baking sheet and warming them in a 300ºF oven for 15 to 25 minutes. However, the bananas will be more watery, so it’s important to add the bananas to a strainer and let them drain off the excess water. 

Fill the tins to the top

Most muffin recipes will have you fill the muffin tins to only ⅔ or ¾ full. Not this one, though. If you want big, bountiful muffin tops, you gotta fill the tins right to the top.

Grease your muffin tins

In my muffin tests, I’ve found that muffins baked with muffin liners are a bit soggy with ridged edges, so I almost always prefer to use a naked muffin tin. But it’s important to generously grease the muffin tins with nonstick spray or cooking oil. 

If you skip the muffin liners like I do, make sure to cover every inch of the muffin cavities, and leave any residual oil or spray on the top of the pan—that prevents the caramelized crumble topping from sticking to the tops of the pan. 

Use the two-temperature system

The muffins start in a hot oven (425ºF) for a few minutes before the temperature is lowered (350ºF) for the remainder of the bake time. This method helps the muffins rise more right off the bat and gives you tall and bountiful muffins every time. 

You can learn more about the two-temperature system and how it can give you better-quality muffins and quick breads in this guide by The Kitchn.

Don’t open the oven door 

Do not, under any circumstances, open the oven door when the muffins are baking (especially in the beginning and including when you change the temperature!). Even just a few seconds will reduce the temperature and rob you of peak fluffiness. 

Let the muffins cool (but not for too long) 

Allow the muffins to cool for 20 minutes before removing them from the muffin tin. If they’re a bit stuck, use a small offset spatula or butter knife to loosen them. Just don’t let the muffins sit in the tin for too long or else they can get soggy bottoms.

Frequently Asked Questions

That’s all you need to know about making these moist and fluffy Vegan Banana Muffins! If you love this recipe, please rate and review it below!

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Seriously Good Vegan Banana Muffins

These bakery-style Vegan Banana Muffins are fluffy, moist, and packed with sweet banana flavors. They’re easy to make with simple ingredients and topped with a nutty walnut crumble for a delightfully soft crunch.

Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Diet Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Bake Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 55 minutes minutes

Servings 12 jumbo muffins

Calories 330kcal

Author Nisha Vora

Ingredients

• ½ cup + 1 tablespoon (135 mL) oat milk
• 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice (or apple cider vinegar)
• 4 medium-sized very ripe bananas [mashed bananas should weigh ~ 425g, 1 scant pound]
• ½ cup (112g) sunflower oil or any neutral-flavored oil
• ¾ cup (120g) organic brown sugar (or 135g coconut sugar)
• ½ cup (120 mL) aquafaba
• 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour
• Heaping 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Walnut Crumble

• ⅓ cup (38g) walnuts, finely chopped
• ⅓ cup (50g) organic brown sugar (or coconut sugar)
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of sea salt

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 425°F/220ºC. Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven.

  Option 1: line muffin tins with muffin liners.

  Option 2 (my preference): Generously grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin on the bottoms and sides with oil or nonstick cooking spray—be generous to avoid sticking. Rub your oiled hands on top of the tin as well to ensure the muffin tops don’t stick to the pan.
• Stir the lemon juice into the oat milk and set aside for 5 to 10 min. This is the vegan "buttermilk."
• Add the bananas to a medium bowl and mash with a fork until smooth and no lumps remain. Transfer to a cup or plate so you can wipe out the bowl and use it in step 6.
• Make the Walnut Crumble: In a small bowl, mix the finely chopped walnuts, brown sugar cinnamon, and pinch of salt until well combined.
• In a large mixing bowl, add the brown sugar and oil. Mix using the electric mixer or a whisk until well combined. Set aside for a minute.
• Shake the can of chickpeas to evenly distribute the starches. Measure ½ cup (120 mL) of the aquafaba into the bowl used for the bananas. Using a handheld electric mixer, whip the aquafaba on medium speed for 1 minute until uniformly foamy.
• Add the whipped aquafaba into the sugar-oil mixture, and mix until well incorporated. Add in the vegan "buttermilk" and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add the mashed bananas and mix until well incorporated.
• Add the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the wet ingredients. Switch to using a silicone spatula (or a wooden spoon). Gently stir until the ingredients are just barely combined. It’s okay if you can see a few traces of flour.
• Evenly divide the batter between the muffin tins, filling to the top. Sprinkle the Walnut Crumble evenly over each muffin.
• Add the muffin pan to the oven and bake at 425ºF/220ºC for 6 minutes, or until muffins have risen nicely.

  Then, without opening the oven door, reduce the heat to 350ºF/175ºC. Bake for another 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
• Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and cool for 20 minutes. Use a small offset spatula or butter knife to slide underneath the muffin tops. Once the tops have been released, you can lift the muffins up and out of the pan with your hands. Store cooled muffins in an airtight container on the counter for 2 to 3 days, or in the fridge for 5 to 6 days, or up to 3 months in the freezer.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 330kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Sodium: 193mg | Potassium: 210mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 45IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 43mg | Iron: 2mg

Recipe: Nisha Vora / Rainbow Plant Life | Photography: Megan Morello

The post Seriously Good Vegan Banana Muffins appeared first on Rainbow Plant Life.

A mixture of aquafaba and vegan sour cream lends the most tender, moist crumb and a melt-in-your-mouth texture that is so good you might actually cry. It’s topped with a tart, not-too-sweet lemon cream cheese icing that is outrageously delicious.  

It’s possibly the best cake I’ve ever made, and it is THE perfect cake to welcome spring, to celebrate birthdays, Mother’s Day, or anytime you’re in the mood for a special dessert. 

Table of Contents:
1. Why this recipe works
2. Ingredients
3. Step-by-step instructions
4. Tips for making this recipe
5. Frequently asked questions
6. Video: How to make this cake
7. Recipe card

Why this recipe works 

Made for lemon lovers.

The most disappointing thing about many lemon desserts is the mild lemon flavor, and many lemon cakes ditch lemon juice altogether and use lemon extract, but I wanted to bring the zingy flavor of real lemons to the table for this recipe. 

The problem is that adding a lot of lemon juice can screw up the texture of cakes, especially vegan cakes. In our first few tests, we added ¾ cup lemon juice. The flavor was amazing, but the texture was gummy and dense. 

This is because too much acid interrupts the development of gluten and can cause the cake to rise and then fall. Yet when we used less lemon juice, we could barely taste the lemon flavor. 

Solution: Use other parts of the lemon! Lots of lemon zest gets rubbed into the sugar to release its essential oils. Minced pieces of whole lemon and just enough lemon juice are also added for that zippy tartness. 

We use everything but the bitter white pith from the lemons. In reducing our food waste, we also cracked the code for the most amazing lemon flavor without compromising on texture. 

The frosting brings even more lemon flavor to the mix. It’s tangy from cream cheese, tart and zingy from lemon zest and juice, not too sweet, and wildly good! 

Melt-in-your mouth texture

Thanks to lightly whipped aquafaba and vegan sour cream, the cake boasts a light and fluffy texture that literally melts in your mouth. It’s so soft and moist that it makes you close your eyes. Yes, it’s that kind of cake.

Gourmet but approachable. 

This cake is easy to make and features basic ingredients like lemons, flour, sugar, and vanilla, but it’s so gourmet your guests will think it came from a fancy bakery. Plus, it freezes fantastically so no leftovers will go to waste! 

Ingredient notes 

Lemons (the whole thing!)

I always recommend using freshly squeezed lemon juice in cooking and baking because the flavor from the plastic bottles doesn’t compare, but it’s even more crucial when lemon is a key ingredient, as in lemon cake. 

Plus, you will need the zest and pieces of peeled lemon from fresh lemons. The zest adds its characteristic zippy floral notes, while the tiny pieces of lemon fruit add little bites of juicy and tart lemon flavor.  

Vegan Sour Cream

This is one of the secrets to this vegan lemon cake’s fabulous texture. 

We found that replacing ½ cup of plant milk with sour cream did wonders. It added rich flavor and moisture, plus a more tender crumb that practically melts in your mouth. 

Tips for buying: We tested this recipe with two brands of vegan sour cream, Tofutti and Kite Hill with excellent results! Based on our experience with other recipes, we think Follow Your Heart sour cream would work great too.

Substitute: We recommend sour cream for the best flavor and texture. If you don’t have access to it, you can probably use a good-quality vegan yogurt. Our favorites are Culina and Cocojune.  

Aquafaba

Just the liquid from a can of chickpeas. As you might have learned from my fluffy vegan banana bread and chewy, fudgy brownies, it’s a great egg substitute in baking. Aquafaba is one of the primary methods for getting this vegan lemon cake so tender and light without having to rely on cake flour. 

All-purpose flour

Speaking of flour, just everyday all-purpose flour works. 

Vegan Butter 

Adds that rich buttery flavor and a hint of saltiness to balance the sweetness. 

Substitute: If you don’t have access to vegan butter, you can just use more neutral-flavored oil. It won’t have the same flavor but the texture should not change too much. 

Oat milk 

Our preferred milk for most baked goods. In our experience, its neutral flavor and creamy texture work amazingly well, and the natural sugars in oats help brown baked goods more. 

Step-by-step instructions

In a medium or large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

Zest the 3 lemons using a microplane.

Now use a knife to remove the lemon peels and white pith (image 2).

Remove the lemon segments out of the white membranes (see the white bowl in image 3). Mince the lemon pieces (see the bottom right corner of image 3) and pick out the seeds.

Transfer the lemon pieces and accumulated juices to a strainer set over a bowl. Measure out 3 tablespoons lemon juice and keep that with the lemon pieces.

Add the sugar and lemon zest to a large bowl. Use your hands to massage the zest into the sugar until well incorporated and soft. Set aside.

In a small bowl, add the aquafaba. Whip on medium speed until foamy throughout.

Add the softened vegan butter and oil to the lemon zest-sugar bowl. Beat until starting to get fluffy and glossy, about 1 minute.

To the butter mixture, add the whipped aquafaba, vegan sour cream, milk, and vanilla. Mix on low until just combined. Finally add the lemon pieces and juice.

Mix again until the mixture is well blended. Add in half of the dry ingredients. Mix on low until just combined.

Use a silicone spatula to fold in the rest of the dry ingredients, taking care to not over mix. The batter should be fluffy and thick but airy.

Divide the cake batter between two (8-inch) round cake pans that have been lined and greased.

Bake in the oven at 350ºF/175ºC for 30 minutes. Allow cakes to fully cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate to make it easier to frost.

Once fully cooled, frost the cakes with the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting.

Tips for making this recipe 

Measure precisely! 

You probably know this by now, but I’m a huge advocate for using a kitchen scale, especially for all baking purposes! It yields the most exact results and makes less of a mess as a bonus! 

If you don’t have a scale yet, be sure to use the spoon-and-level method when measuring flour. This prevents over-measuring flour, which can skew the final results in baking. 

Spoon your flour from the bag/jar into a measuring cup until full. Do not pack it down as you spoon it in. Then use a butter knife to level it off. 

Room temperature ingredients

Allow the milk, sour cream and butter to come to room temperature. When combining these ingredients together, room temp ingredients bond together very easily since they’re warmer, creating an evenly textured batter.

Doing this results in a beautiful fluffy and airy cake. Don’t skip this step or you’ll end up with a lumpy batter that doesn’t bake as nicely. 

Prep everything before mixing.

Before combining the dry and wet ingredients, ensure everything else is ready (oven is preheated, cake pans are prepared). This is because the baking soda will start to leaven as soon as it’s mixed with the wet ingredients, so you want to capitalize on this leavening action.

Use a gentle touch when mixing.

First, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in two stages.

During the first mix, the dry ingredients get coated with some fat but not too much liquid, helping to weaken the gluten bonds (which leads to tenderness). During the second mix, the rest of the liquid is added, which helps to produce a light cake with an even rise. 

In contrast, if you were to add the dry ingredients all at once, you’d have to mix the batter more vigorously to incorporate. Vigorously beating a cake batter can lead to a dense texture and less fluffiness. 

Second, mix until the batter is just combined and then stop! The batter will be thick and fluffy. Don’t try to get it too smooth.

I use an electric mixer which helps me from over-mixing, whereas a whisk requires more effort and is easier to overmix on accident. 

For even cakes, use a scale.

If you have a scale, it’s easy to weigh the total amount of batter, then divide it between your two cake pans for the most even baking and presentation.

For the best frosting experience, chill first.

Room temperature cakes are annoyingly difficult to frost, so I recommend chilling the baked cakes and the lemon frosting simultaneously (at least 1 to 2 hours, or longer).

This makes it much easier to ice the cake and prevents your cake from becoming crumbly. It also firms up the cream cheese frosting, allowing an easier spread. 

You can also make the frosting a few days ahead of time and store, covered, in the fridge. 

Useful tools.

When making a layer cake, a few tools will come in handy (affiliate links).

• Digital scale (for measuring ingredients + dividing cake batter evenly)
• Electric handheld mixer (or stand mixer)
• Two (8-inch / 20 cm) round cake pans
• Parchment paper for lining the cake pans
• Nonstick cooking spray or oil to grease the pans
• Small offset spatula for frosting the cake
• Cake stand, cake turntable, or Lazy Susan (to make it easy to frost the cake)

Frequently asked questions

More Special Occasion Vegan Desserts

• Chocolate Mousse 
• Brown Butter Peach Cobbler 
• Apple Cinnamon Bundt Cake 
• Vanilla Layer Cake 

Video: How to Make Lemon Cake

The BEST Lemon Cake (egg-free and vegan)

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Incredible Vegan Lemon Cake

You'll go crazy for this vegan lemon cake! It’s made with the entire lemon and has that perfect sweet-yet-tart zingy flavor. With a melt-in-your mouth texture and tender crumb, it’s a guaranteed crowd pleaser for every special occasion.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Baking

Diet Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 55 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 25 minutes minutes

Servings 16

Calories 368kcal

Author Nisha Vora

Equipment

• 2 8-inch (20x20cm) round cake pans
• Digital scale
• Electric handheld mixer (or stand mixer)

Ingredients

• 1 stick (8 tablespoons / 112g) vegan butter, softened at room temperature
• ½ cup (112g) vegan sour cream, at room temperature (see Note 1)
• ¾ cup (180 mL) oat milk, at room temperature
• 3 ½ cups (440g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled (or measured with a scale)
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 3 large lemons, zested (3 tablespoons lemon zest)
• 1 ⅓ cups (280g) organic cane sugar
• ½ cup (120 mL) aquafaba (the liquid from a can of chickpeas)
• ½ cup (112g) neutral-flavored oil, such as sunflower oil
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• Fresh berries of choice, or candied lemons for decorating (optional)

Vegan Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 stick (8 tablespoons / 112g) vegan butter, softened at room temperature
• 8 ounces (227g) vegan cream cheese, softened at room temperature
• 2 1/4 cups (270g) organic powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 tablespoons lemon zest

Instructions

• Take the butter, sour cream, and milk out of the fridge. Slice the butter into small cubes to soften quickly (see Note 2). Measure out the milk and sour cream instead of leaving them in their containers so they come to room temp more quickly.
• Arrange a rack in the middle of your oven and preheat to 350°F/175°C. Make two parchment paper rounds for two 8-inch (20 x 5 cm) round pans.

  Grease the bottoms of the pan with nonstick spray, then line with the parchment papers. Now spray the parchment paper round and coat the pan’s sides with nonstick spray.
• In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk very well to evenly combine the leaveners.
• Over a large bowl, zest the 3 large lemons.
• Now stand the 3 lemons upright on a cutting board. Cut the ends off of the lemons and use a sharp knife to peel away the peel and white pith right underneath, and discard. Use your hands to peel the lemons into segments, like you would oranges. Peel away the fibrous membrane on the outside of each lemon segment. You should now be able to easily pull the lemon flesh out. Mince the lemon into tiny pieces, picking out any seeds.
• Put a strainer or sieve over a small bowl and pour the lemon pieces with accumulated juices over the strainer (do not press the lemons down to release more juice). Measure out about 70g lemon pieces (5 TBSP) and 45 mL (3 TBSP) lemon juice from the bowl. Save leftover juice for a lemon water or spritzer–don't add extra juice to the cake.
• Add the sugar to the lemon zest and rub together with your hands to release the zest’s essential oils. Now add in the softened butter and oil. Beat on low with the mixer, and once the butter is in small pieces, increase to medium . Beat until starting to get fluffy and shiny, about 1 minute total. Rinse and dry the beaters for the next step.
• Shake the can of chickpeas to disperse the starches. Pour ½ cup (120 mL) aquafaba into a small bowl. With an electric mixer (or stand mixer), beat on medium speed until the entire mixture is foamy, including at the bottom of the bowl, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.
• To the lemon zest-sugar-butter mixture, add the whipped aquafaba, room temp milk and sour cream, and vanilla. Mix on low until just combined, 15 to 20 seconds.

  Finally, add the lemon pieces (if any juice has accumulated, drain it off) and the 3 tablespoons lemon juice and mix again until well combined.
• Note: before combining the dry and wet ingredients, make sure everything else is ready (oven is preheated, cake pans are prepared). This is because the baking soda will start to leaven as soon as it's mixed with the wet ingredients.

  Add half of the flour mix into the liquid mix, beating on low until just combined. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix just until you have a mostly smooth batter, then stop. If it gets too tough with a mixer, switch to a silicone spatula.

  Now use a silicone spatula to fold the bottom and sides of the bowl with the spatula to ensure it’s well combined. If the liquid has settled on the top, fold the batter a couple times to incorporate. The batter should be thick and fluffy but airy.
• Use a digital scale (or measuring cups) to evenly divide the batter between each cake pan (~ 750g / 26 oz per cake pan). Smooth out the surface with the spatula or an offset spatula.
• Bake for 33 to 35 minutes, or until the centers are set and the cakes have puffed up a bit and just started to pull away from the pans. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs but not liquid batter.
• Cool the pans on a wire rack (don't rest on the counter) for 30 minutes. Now add a sheet of parchment paper to the rack. Carefully invert the cakes onto the rack. Cool completely before assembling, ideally in the fridge for a bit to set.
• Make the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting (or make it 1-3 days ahead of time and refrigerate).

  Sift the powdered sugar in a fine mesh sieve.

  Add the softened butter to a medium or large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed until smooth. Add the cream cheese and beat just until well-incorporated.

  Add half of the sugar and beat on low to combine. Add the remaining sugar and mix again until well-combined and fluffy, scraping down the sides with a spatula.

  Add the vanilla, salt, and lemon zest, and mix until smooth.

  If the frosting is a bit loose, refrigerate the frosting before icing the cake.
• Assemble. Place one cake (bottom side facing up) on a cake platter or large plate. Add a generous layer of Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting on top (ideally refrigerated for easier spreading), spreading to the edges using an offset or icing spatula.

  Top with the second cake (top side facing up). Add another layer of frosting on top and spread out. If you have leftover frosting, you can frost the sides of the cake, using the spatula or bench scraper to smooth it out. If you want less frosting, leave as is. Decorate with berries or candied lemons, if desired.

Video

Notes

General Notes

• Time doesn’t include cake cooling/chilling time.
• I recommend refrigerating the frosting. It will thicken, making it easier to frost the cake.

1. Vegan sour cream is one of the secrets to the fabulous texture. We tested with Tofutti and Kite Hill sour cream with great results! Based on our experience with other recipes, we think Follow Your Heart sour cream would be good too. If you don’t have access to vegan sour cream, you can probably use a good-quality vegan yogurt.

2. If you have a sunny or warm spot in your kitchen, leaving your butter there will help it come to room temp quicker. 

Nutrition

Calories: 368kcal | Carbohydrates: 61g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.02g | Sodium: 293mg | Potassium: 68mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 36g | Vitamin A: 29IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 66mg | Iron: 2mg

Recipe: Nisha Vora / Rainbow Plant Life | Photography: Megan Morello

The post Incredible Vegan Lemon Cake appeared first on Rainbow Plant Life.

The only way to make this low-stress dessert even better is with a dollop of raspberry compote on top. This citrusy and tart companion is the perfect complement to the rich sweetness of chocolate and dates in the mousse.

If you’ve tried my luxe Vegan Hot Chocolate, then you’re sure to fall for this sultry chocolate mousse. It’s perfect for holidays, special celebrations, or whenever the chocolate cravings hit.

Table of Contents:
1. Why this recipe works
2. Ingredient notes
3. Step-by-step instructions
4. Tips for making this recipe
5. Frequently Asked Questions
6. Recipe card

Why this recipe works

It melts in your mouth.
There are three key ingredients that give this vegan mousse a rich, melt-in-your-mouth feel: (1) silken tofu; (2) melted dark chocolate; (3) Medjool dates

Here’s how they work: (1) The tofu is soft, yet dense, which helps the mousse taste light and sturdy without needing gelatin or agar agar; (2) melted dark chocolate tastes incredible and adds rich body; and (3) blended Medjool dates lends a velvety luxuriousness. 

PS: I know tofu in desserts may sound odd, but you absolutely don’t taste it (the flavor is so neutral). Instead, just think of this recipe as a vegan dessert with a few tricks up its sleeve.

Perfect for chocolate lovers.
You’ll taste nothing but the best chocolate flavors here thanks to a mix of Dutch process cocoa powder + melted dark chocolate.

I specifically recommend using Dutch process cocoa powder because the acidic flavor from the cocoa beans is washed away. Unlike natural cocoa powder, you have an ingredient with a pure chocolate flavor with a rich brown color. You can read more about the wonder that is Dutch process cocoa powder over at Sally’s Baking Addiction.

Simple as can be!
I just love how simple this dessert is. A couple natural sweeteners and everyday ingredients is all you need to make this over-the-top vegan mousse recipe. Plus, a blender does most of the work!

Unlike many vegan chocolate mousse recipes made with avocado, my version will stay fresh in your fridge for almost a week. It’s a quick treat you can tuck away in the fridge and forget about while you focus on dinner and appetizers for your guests. 

Ingredient notes

Dark chocolate. The better the quality of dark chocolate, the more luxurious your mousse will taste.

Tip: I like to use a 70% to 75% dark chocolate bar. Anything lower (e.g., 65% cacao) will make this mousse too sweet IMO. If all you have is <70% chocolate, start with less maple syrup (more deets in the Tips section).

Dutch process cocoa powder. Another secret behind the rich, chocolatey flavor. Dutch process cocoa has been alkalized, leaving no trace of acidity like the kind found in natural cocoa powder. The end result is cocoa powder that tastes smooth, mild, and pure in chocolate flavor. 

Shopping Tip: Read with this article from Serious Eats. They tested the best Dutch process cocoa brands to help you find one with the right flavor, color, and richness.

Substitute: You can use raw cacao powder or natural cocoa powder (e.g., Hershey’s cocoa powder). It’ll be delicious but the flavor won’t be as chocolatey.

Medjool dates. Softened dates are blended in with the chocolate mousse filling to give it a rich body and a naturally sweet taste. They’re the exact reason why my Salted Chocolate Cream Tart achieves its fudge-like texture. 

Silken tofu. Blended silken tofu becomes surprisingly creamy! No one will even know you made a dessert with tofu. 

Shopping Tip: Silken tofu is sold in two sections of the grocery store: (1) in packaged blocks in the refrigerated section with the other blocks of tofu and (2) in shelf-stable aseptic packages (affiliate links). If using the latter, choose boxes that say silken “soft” for the best results.  

Espresso powder. A little espresso powder goes a long way in chocolate desserts! It’s how I get my Best Vegan Brownies to taste mega chocolatey and it makes every sip of Vegan Hot Chocolate extra heavenly.

Substitute: You can skip the espresso powder if you don’t have any, or use instant coffee powder instead. Feel free to use decaf if you aren’t into caffeine, or skip entirely. 

Raspberries. Both fresh and frozen raspberries can be used to make homemade raspberry compote. Technically, it’s optional, but it takes the mousse over the top! 

Tip: If you end up with leftover compote, store it in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks in the fridge. It’s a lovely topping on more than chocolate mousse, such as chocolate cake, vegan pancakes, or paired with vegan yogurt for breakfast.

Substitute: Raspberries and chocolate are the perfect pairing, but you can make the compote with strawberries or blackberries instead.

Step-by-step instructions

Melt the dark chocolate using a double boiler on the stove or in the microwave. Whisk in the espresso powder once smooth, then set it aside to cool.

Meanwhile, soak the dates in boiling water to help them soften. 

Add the rest of the mousse ingredients to a blender or food processor. Blend until the dates are pulverized and the cocoa is incorporated.

Next, pour in the melted, cooled chocolate. Blend again until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides as you go. 

Once the mousse is creamy and totally smooth, divide it between your small ramekins. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Work on the raspberry compote while you wait or make ahead of time. Combine the raspberries and the rest of the ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Keep stirring while it bubbles. 

Reduce to a simmer and cook until the consistency is thick and jammy. 

Set the compote aside to cool at room temp or in the fridge. Top chilled mousse with raspberry compote and enjoy.

Tips for making this recipe

The right chocolate makes all the difference. I recommend using a dark chocolate bar that’s 70% or higher in cacao content. Any lower and the mousse may taste too sweet. 

Do you only have 65% or lower dark chocolate at home? Start with 1 to 2 tablespoons of maple syrup. After you add in the melted chocolate, taste and add more sweetener as needed.

If you prefer less sweet desserts, use chocolate in the 80% to 85% range. 

Use silken tofu. You can buy silken tofu in a package in the refrigerated tofu section or in shelf-stable boxes (the most common brand is Mori-Nu). 

Do not use refrigerated blocks of tofu labeled “soft tofu” like this. They have less moisture than silken tofu, and in our tests, it ended up thickening the mousse into a hard consistency. 

Blend, blend, blend! Blend the mousse mixture really well, especially if using a food processor instead of a high-powered blender. And scrape down the sides as you go. 

The texture should be silky smooth by time you’re done, without any clumps or tiny bits of unblended dates or cocoa. When blended properly, you’ll achieve that light and super creamy texture rather than dense or thick.

Sifting the cocoa powder into the food processor will help you avoid lumps if using a food processor. 

The raspberry compote takes this over the top. It’s optional, but I highly recommend serving the mousse with it. A dollop on top really takes this mousse to the next level, adding a complex acidic and tart flavor profile that so beautifully accents the rich chocolate mousse. Guaranteed it will make your taste buds sing. 

Plus, the compote requires just 4 ingredients, is easy to make, and stays fresh in the fridge for 2 weeks. Try the leftovers on waffles, pancakes, oatmeal, yogurt, ice cream, and more!

Frequently Asked Questions

If you love this Vegan Chocolate Mousse as much as we do, please rate and review the recipe with your feedback below! It’s always very much appreciated

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Vegan Chocolate Mousse

It’s divine, simple, and velvety smooth… It's Vegan Chocolate Mousse! This luxurious and rich dessert comes together in no time using some seriously chocolatey ingredients and is served with homemade raspberry compote on top.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French-Inspired

Diet Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Calories 212kcal

Author Nisha Vora

Ingredients

Chocolate Mousse

• 5 ounces (140g) good-quality dairy-free dark chocolate (70 to 80%), chopped*
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder (omit if caffeine-free)
• 12 ounces (340g, about 1 ½ cups) silken soft tofu**
• 2 soft Medjool dates
• ¼ cup (80g) pure maple syrup
• ¼ cup (24g) Dutch process cocoa powder***
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
• ½ to ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt

Raspberry Compote (optional but recommended)

• 2 cups raspberries, fresh (248g) or frozen (210g)
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• ½ tablespoon orange zest
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Fine sea salt

Instructions

• Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. To assemble a double boiler, grab a heatproof bowl that can be nestled into a saucepan—it should hover above the bottom of the pan. Fill the pan up with a few inches of water. Keep the water at a rapid simmer. Place the chocolate in the bowl and whisk frequently until melted, making sure no water comes near the chocolate. Whisk in the espresso powder once smooth, then set it aside to cool.

  To melt in the microwave: Chop chocolate into small pieces and heat in the microwave on high power in 30-second intervals, stirring after each round.
• Meanwhile, cover the dates with freshly boiled water. Soak for 15 minutes, then drain and remove the pits.
• If using refrigerated tofu, scoop it out of its package and measure out 12 ounces. Do not pat dry or try to remove excess water.
• In a food processor or high-powered blender, add the tofu with about 3 tablespoons of water that has accumulated; if not enough water has accumulated, add 3 tablespoons of filtered water.

  Add the dates, maple syrup, cocoa, vanilla, cinnamon (if using), and ½ teaspoon sea salt. Blend really well until the dates are fully pulverized and the cocoa has been mixed in, scraping down the sides as you go.
• Now add the melted, cooled chocolate and blend until completely smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides as you go. Taste, adding more salt to taste (I like adding an extra ¼ tsp salt for that sweet-and-salty flavor). Divide amongst 6 to 8 ramekins or small dessert glasses and chill for at least 1 hour to thicken (don’t store all of it in one big container, as it seems to thicken it more).
• Meanwhile, make the raspberry compote: In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the raspberries, maple syrup, orange zest and juice, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. When the mixture starts to bubble quickly, stir almost continuously for 2 to 3 minutes until the berries break down and start to thicken. Simmer for 10 minutes, until thickened and jammy. Let come to room temp or chill in the fridge.
• To serve, rest the mousse at room temp for a few minutes. To serve, add a few spoons of compote on top of each mousse.

Notes

General Notes

• The portions may seem small, but this mousse is very rich. The nutrition facts include the raspberry compote.

Ingredient Notes 

* I don’t recommend using lower than 70% cacao dark chocolate; otherwise, the mousse can be too sweet. If you don’t have anything lower than 70%, start slowly with the maple syrup, just 1 to 2 tablespoons; add the melted chocolate, blend, then taste, and add more sweetener as needed.

** Silken tofu comes in two forms: (1) in the refrigerated section next to the other blocks of tofu; (2) in shelf-stable section aseptic packages (the most common brand is Mori-Nu).

Do not use refrigerated blocks of tofu labeled “soft tofu” like this. They have less moisture than silken tofu, and in our tests, it ended up thickening the mousse into a hard consistency.

*** You can use natural cocoa powder or raw cacao powder, though the mousse might have a slightly less chocolatey flavor.

Nutrition

Calories: 212kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Sodium: 150mg | Potassium: 389mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 20IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 2mg

Recipe: Nisha Vora / Rainbow Plant Life | Photography: Megan Morello

The post Vegan Chocolate Mousse appeared first on Rainbow Plant Life.

Simmer cocoa powder, dark chocolate, dairy free milk, and a few other simple ingredients on the stove until luxuriously creamy, then top each serving with vegan whipped cream or marshmallows. That’s it!

Much like my Vegan Spiced Eggnog, a steaming mug of vegan hot chocolate is a perfect cozy drink for the holiday season and throughout winter. Each sip is rich, thick, and not overly sweet. The customizable flavor is perfect for adults, but can easily be made sweeter for kids.

Table of Contents:
1. Why this recipe works
2. Ingredient notes
3. Step-by-step instructions
4. Tips for making this recipe
5. How to customize
6. Frequently Asked Questions
7. Recipe card

Why this recipe works

A chocolate lover’s dream.
Most hot chocolate recipes mix melted chocolate OR cocoa powder with dairy free milk and sugar. In this recipe, we’re using both for the ultimate vegan hot chocolate. 

And not just any cocoa powder: Dutch process cocoa powder. It’s been alkalized, which, according to Sally’s Baking Addiction, means the acidic flavor has been washed away. You end up with a no acidity but purer chocolate flavor (and darker color) compared to natural cocoa powder (e.g., Hershey’s).

Once the cocoa is mixed with melted dark chocolate, the mixture becomes deeply rich and velvety. All of your chocoholic friends will be asking for another cup.

No watery hot chocolates here. 
We’ve all had the hot chocolate mix stirred in hot water, right? It’s pretty sad stuff, so let’s just say no to that.

In this version, oat milk and lite canned coconut milk are mix to form the perfect creamy and rich but not heavy consistency.

No water in this hot chocolate, please and thank you. The texture is supremely luxurious and undetectably vegan. 

Makes enough for a crowd.
This is a large-batch vegan hot chocolate recipe, perfect for serving to crowds or for enjoying leftovers later on. Any extras will store well in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to one week. 

When it’s time to party, pour the hot chocolate into a crockpot and set to the warm setting. The slow cooker keeps the drink warm and creamy throughout the night. Put out a ladle, your most festive mugs, and sweet toppings on the side for your party guests to serve themselves.

Ingredient notes

Dark chocolate. Good-quality dark chocolate takes this hot chocolate over the top, making each sip a party for the taste buds.

Tip: I like to use a 70% to 75% dark chocolate bar, chopped up. If your chocolate bar (or chips) has a cacao percentage lower than 65%, start with less sweetener, then adjust as needed.

Substitute: You can also use bittersweet baking chocolate.

Dutch process cocoa powder. This is another secret to an amped-up chocolate flavor. It’s better than natural cocoa powder because of its deeply rich and chocolatey flavor. 

Before you go shopping, read this article from Serious Eats. They tested the best Dutch process cocoa brands to help you find one with the right flavor, color, and richness.

Substitute: You can use raw cacao powder or natural cocoa powder (e.g., Hershey’s) if you don’t have Dutch process cocoa. The hot chocolate will be great but less rich in chocolatey flavor.

Tip: In Europe, most cocoa powders are Dutch process but may not be labeled as such.

Lite coconut milk + oat milk. My tests using full-fat coconut milk resulted in a very heavy hot chocolate and my tests with just a standard plant-based milk came out too thin. 

But I found the perfect balance when I used some “lite” or reduced-fat coconut milk in addition to oat milk. The combo gives the hot chocolate the perfect luxurious consistency and a creamy body, much like if you were to use real half and half.

Substitute: if you can’t have coconut products, omit the coconut milk and use all oat milk instead.

Espresso powder. Just a little enhances the flavors of the chocolate without making the drink taste like a mocha. Read more about how espresso works its magic in baking in this article by King Arthur Baking. It’s how I get my Best Vegan Brownies to taste mega chocolatey, too! 

Substitute: A double shot of brewed espresso will work just as well. Or, if you only have instant coffee powder at home, use that instead. It isn’t as concentrated as espresso powder, but will still get the job done.

And if you’re sensitive to caffeine, either skip the espresso/coffee or use decaf powder.

Maple syrup or sugar. Both maple sugar and cane sugar can be used to sweeten. Use maple syrup if you want a slightly robust caramel flavor. 

The sweetness is easy to adjust in this recipe. Taste as you go, adding more sugar/syrup to fit your sweet tooth. You can always stir more in at the end, too (chances are the kids will ask for more sugar).

Vanilla extract. For flavor, obvi!  

Substitute: If it’s the holidays and you love the mint-chocolate flavor, use peppermint extract instead.

Step-by-step instructions

Chop up your chocolate. 

Add the oat milk, lite coconut milk, chopped chocolate, cocoa powder, espresso powder, sweetener of choice, vanilla, and salt to a saucepan on the stove. 

Heat over medium heat to bring the mixture up to a rapid simmer. 

Whisk occasionally to help incorporate the cocoa powder into the milk. Keep simmering for 8 to 10 minutes, or until slightly thickened.

Cool for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Add more sweetener to taste. Pour into mugs and top as desired. 

Tips for making this recipe

This is an adult hot chocolate. By this, I mean it isn’t as sweet as most store-bought hot chocolate mixes. I erred on the lower end of sweetness in case you use chocolate with a lower cacao content, as it will make the hot chocolate sweeter. 

Hot chocolate not sweet enough for you?

Option 1: Stir in more sugar or maple syrup at the end (if the hot chocolate is still warm, the sugar will dissolve just fine).

Option 2: Top your hot chocolate with a vegan whipped topping (my preference) or marshmallows, and those will add extra sweetness.

Whisk well to remove clumps. As the hot chocolate comes to a simmer, you may notice some clumps from the cocoa. You’ll want to whisk well and frequently to dissolve the clumps (once the milk is hot, it should be easier).

You can also make ensure a clump-free mixture by sifting your cocoa powder first.

As the mixture simmers, the fat from the milks may start to form a skin on the surface. Don’t worry, you can just whisk that away and it won’t compromise the texture.

Let it rest to thicken. If it doesn’t seem as thick as you’d like, don’t fret. This hot chocolate thickens quite a bit as it rests and cools. Once it rests for ~10 minutes, the texture will not only be thicker but will also help you avoid mouth burns (and it continues to thicken).

When reheating, the hot chocolate will likely have thickened so just add a splash of plant milk.

Make a hot chocolate bar! Have some fun for the holidays by warming this vegan hot chocolate in a crockpot and keeping a ladle and mugs on the side. Fill small bowls with all kinds of fun toppings (see ideas below) and let your party guests serve themselves.

How can I customize this hot chocolate?

• Peppermint hot chocolate: Substitute peppermint extract for vanilla and garnish the mug with a candy cane, OR top with whipped cream and shave some mint chocolate on top. A delightful holiday party trick. 
• Mexican hot chocolate: You can add 2 cinnamon sticks and ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper for a spicy kick.
• Spiked hot chocolate: Stir 2 to 3 ounces of bourbon, dark rum, peppermint schnapps, or vegan Irish cream liqueur in at the end, then divide into cups.
• Gingerbread hot chocolate: Try my refined sugar-free Gingerbread Hot Chocolate instead. Don’t forget a piece of Gingerbread Cake on the side for dunking!
• Toppings galore! Top each mug with vegan whipped cream or a nondairy whipped topping, or vegan marshmallows (like Dandies) if you like. Then finish with a sprinkle of shaved dark chocolate or dairy-free chocolate chips.
• Less rich hot chocolate: (1) Use less dark chocolate (4 ounces instead of 6 ounces), and (2) replace the lite coconut milk with more oat milk.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you love this Vegan Hot Chocolate as much as we do, please rate and review the recipe with your feedback below! It’s always very much appreciated

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Vegan Hot Chocolate 

This Vegan Hot Chocolate is luxury in a glass! A decadent blend of cocoa powder, dark chocolate, and two kinds of dairy-free milk result in a dreamy, warming winter drink. It’s a luxe, grown-up version of the classic.

Course Dessert, Drinks

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 3 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 18 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Calories 261kcal

Author Nisha Vora

Ingredients

• 6 ounces (170g) 70% dark chocolate, chopped (see Note 1)
• 4 cups (960 mL) oat milk (or soy milk)
• 1 (13.5-ounce/400 mL) can of “lite” coconut milk (see Note 2)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (80g) or organic cane sugar (50g), plus more to taste (see Note 3)
• 2 teaspoons espresso powder or instant coffee powder (optional)
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (see Note 4)
• 1/2 cup (48g) Dutch process cocoa powder (see Note 5)

Optional Toppings

• vegan whipped cream or whipped topping,
• vegan marshmallows
• dark chocolate, shaved with a peeler (or chocolate chips) (see Note 6)

Instructions

• Add the oat milk and lite coconut milk to a 4-quart / 4L (or larger) saucepan or Dutch oven (to prevent overflow, see Note 7).

  Add the chopped chocolate, maple syrup or sugar, espresso (if using), salt, and vanilla.

  Use a fine mesh sieve or sifter to sift the cocoa powder directly into the pan (or sift in advance, then add). Sifting removes the clumps, making it easier to whisk.
• Bring to a simmer over medium heat, whisking frequently to incorporate the cocoa powder into the milk.

  NOTE: When it first comes to a simmer, it will expand in volume and rise upwards, so pay attention and lower the heat as needed to prevent it from bubbling up!

  Adjust the heat to maintain a simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, whisking occasionally until the hot chocolate has slightly thickened (it will thicken quite a bit more as it rests).

  TIP: Be sure to not cook at too high heat, as you don't want to burn the chocolate. If a skin forms on the surface of the milk, whisk to reincorporate and lower the heat a bit.
• Cool for 5 to 10 minutes (it'll burn your mouth otherwise!). Whisk again and give it a taste. If desired, sweeten to taste with sugar or maple syrup.

  Add whipped cream, marshmallows, and shaved chocolate if desired. Enjoy!
• Reheating instructions: Reheat in a saucepan on the stove over medium or medium-low, until warmed through.

Notes

General Note: The serving size will look quite small, but this hot chocolate is quite rich. Feel free to serve a bigger portion though! For a lighter hot chocolate, see Notes 1 and 2. 

1. For less richness, you can use slightly less dark chocolate, about 4 ounces/115g. If you prefer sweet hot chocolate, you can go down to 60% dark chocolate. 
2. For a lighter hot chocolate, replace the lite coconut milk with more oat milk, but use a barista full-fat variety. If you can’t find canned lite coconut milk, make your own by watering down a can of full-fat coconut milk: use 1/3 of the coconut milk can and replace the rest of the can with water (i.e., use 4 1/2 oz or 135g full-fat coconut milk and 1 heaping cup / 265 mL water).
3.  This hot chocolate is not too sweet, more of an adult hot chocolate. If you prefer a sweet hot chocolate, stir in more sweetener at the end to taste.
4. If it’s the holidays and you love chocolate mint, use peppermint extract instead.
5. You can sub with raw cacao powder or natural cocoa powder, but Dutch process has more rich chocolatey flavor!
6. If you happen to have mint-flavored dark chocolate, it adds a lovely chocolate-mint flavor! 
7. It’s important to use a large enough saucepan, as once the hot chocolate comes to a simmer, it will expand in volume quite a bit. If you use a smaller saucepan, it will overflow!

Nutrition

Calories: 261kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 173mg | Potassium: 183mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 246IU | Calcium: 192mg | Iron: 2mg

Recipe: Nisha Vora / Rainbow Plant Life | Photography: Megan Morello

The post The Best Vegan Hot Chocolate appeared first on Rainbow Plant Life.

While I love pretty much any dessert, there’s just something so special about a beautifully decorated cake. It’s like an elegant present, waiting to be unwrapped (and devoured).

But plant-based cakes can be a challenge. Without eggs, butter, or milk, they can often turn out dry as cardboard, too dense, or just lacking in flavor.

Which is why I’ve not only rounded up some excellent, well-reviewed vegan cakes, but also answered some frequently asked questions to ensure you absolutely slay your next cake baking adventure.

Choose from a range of special occasion layer cakes and casual sheet cakes, including several gluten-free options.

Happy baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

Vegan Vanilla Layer Cake with Raspberry Jam

My Vanilla Layer Cake with Raspberry Jam is so tender and buttery that no one will believe it's vegan! Layers of fluffy vegan vanilla cake amidst a tangy buttercream frosting and easy raspberry jam. The perfect show stopping cake for special occasions!

View Recipe

Vegan Apple Cinnamon Bundt Cake

My Vegan Apple Cinnamon Bundt Cake is soft and moist yet light and airy – the best of both worlds! With warm cinnamon apple flavors, it’s a perfect easy yet impressive cake for the fall baking season!

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The Best Vegan Chocolate Fudge Cake

Topped with dairy free chocolate ganache, every bite of this vegan chocolate fudge cake by Verna of The Cheeky Chickpea is completely irresistible. It’s moist, rich, decadent, and just plain amazing!

View Recipe

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

My vegan Lemon Olive Oil Cake is sweet-yet-tart, rich, zingy, and supremely lemony and is so tender and moist that it practically melts in your mouth. It’s easy to make and requires just 10 ingredients! Serve as a sweet snack or breakfast, or dress it up with the strawberry compote. 

View Recipe

Incredible Vegan Gluten-Free Carrot Cake

This vegan gluten-free carrot cake recipe by Sophia of Veggies Don't Bite is knock your socks off amazing! It uses simple whole food ingredients to make a rich moist cake you won’t believe has no butter, oil eggs, dairy or gluten!

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Vegan Cinnamon Roll Cake

Imagine a giant cinnamon roll except you don’t have to wait for the dough to rise and it’s easier to make! That’s exactly what my Vegan Cinnamon Roll Cake is! Buttery and rich yet light and fluffy thanks to a few secret ingredients and tricks!

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Gluten-Free Vegan Funfetti Cake with Vanilla Frosting

You'll LOVE this perfectly fluffy, delicious vegan and gluten-free funfetti birthday cake recipe by Lexi and Beth of Crowded Kitchen! It's easy to make and looks stunning with 3 layers and a coat of rich vanilla vegan buttercream frosting.

View Recipe

Baked Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake

My Baked Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake is a crowd-pleasing chocolate cheesecake that no one will ever guess is vegan! Rich and dense and creamy, just like traditional cheesecake, this chocolate cheesecake is dairy-free, vegan, and gluten-free.

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Healthy Eggless Coffee Cake

This Eggless Coffee Cake by Meesha of My Plantiful Cooking is moist, fluffy, and incredibly decadent. Topped with a crisp cinnamon streusel, it's sure to be a crowd pleaser!

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No-Bake Vegan Nutella Cake (Gluten, Soy and Oil-Free!)

My indulgent No-Bake Vegan Nutella Cake that tastes like Nutella but is not only dairy-free and vegan, but also gluten-free, paleo-friendly, oil-free, soy-free, and refined sugar-free! Plus, the food processor does 95% of the work and there’s only a handful of ingredients required!

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Vegan Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake (Oil-free!)

The Best Vegan Gluten-Free Vanilla Birthday Cake by Brandi of The Vegan 8! This cake is easy to make, only 8 ingredients, soft, fluffy, really moist, healthy and oil-free. It is also grain-free!

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Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Layer Cake

My Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Layer Cake is light, moist and tender, and a complete show stopper. A fluffy vegan layer cake with layers of tangy blackberry ginger jam and a decadent vegan cream cheese frosting. Perfect for holidays and special occasions!

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Vegan Raspberry Bakewell Cake

A wonderfully fluffy vegan almond sponge cake with fresh raspberries, jam and flaked almonds for a classic Bakewell flavor by Aimee of Wallflower Kitchen.

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No-Bake Vegan Cheesecake

This no-baked Vegan Cheesecake from Christina of Addicted to Dates has a buttery no-bake base and creamy vanilla cheesecake filling. It's the perfect summer dessert for when you don't want to turn on the oven! GF option.

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Berry Cornmeal Cake

This gluten-free Berry Cornmeal Cake from Rachel of Bakerita is soft, fluffy, gluten-free, and vegan! Use your favorite berries for this simple summer cake recipe. Ready in 30 minutes!

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But here’s the thing: it’s actually not hard to make vegan muffins worthy of a bakery.

In this recipe, baking soda, baking powder, and vegan “buttermilk” provide a fluffy texture, creamy oat milk adds moisture and perfect browning, and a caramelized walnut-brown sugar crumble topping seals the deal.

Say goodbye to dense, gummy muffins, and say hello to the best vegan blueberry muffins of your life!

Ingredient notes

• Fresh blueberries: These are unbeatable with fresh, in-season blueberries. Be sure to rinse and dry them well before adding them to the batter to avoid excess moisture. If you’re using frozen berries, read the FAQ tip.

• Vegan butter: The best muffins (and cakes) in my experience use a combination of oil and butter. Oil keeps them moist, while vegan butter brings rich flavor!

• All-purpose flour: This provides the structure that egg-free muffins need. If you have a gluten allergy, check out the FAQ section for a gluten-free substitute (we tested it and it works great!).

• Brown sugar + cane sugar: Rather than rely solely on white sugar, this recipe incorporates brown sugar, which adds depth of flavor and contributes moisture. 

• Lemons: A blueberry muffin = delicious. A blueberry muffin with zippy, fragrant lemon zest? Wow-worthy. You’ll add lemon zest to both the batter and the topping—and you’ll be astonished by how this simple addition elevates and brightens the flavor profile!

• Walnuts: You’ll chop these and combine with brown sugar and lemon zest to make the nutty crumble topping that gloriously caramelizes on the muffin tops, just like in my vegan banana muffin recipe. If you’re allergic to tree nuts, either omit the topping or try rolled oats instead.

Made these before and ready for something new? Try my Bakery-
Style Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins

Watch the YouTube Video

How to make AMAZING Blueberry Muffins at Home

With over 250K views on Youtube, these blueberry muffins are a huge hit with my community. I hope you love them just as much!

Step-by-step instructions

Make the crumble topping. In a bowl, combine the finely chopped walnuts, brown sugar, lemon zest, and salt. Stir together until well combined.

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and cane sugar.

Whisk together the wet ingredients in a large bowl: oat milk mixed with lemon juice, zest of one lemon, flax eggs, melted vegan butter, oil, vanilla and almond extracts.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Use a silicone spatula to gently combine the ingredients until just combined. Don’t overmix!

The muffin batter should be quite thick, almost scoopable (see photo 7). Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the batter into each greased muffin tin—you’ll only be adding roughly half of the batter to the muffin tin at this time (photo 8).

Now, add the blueberries to the remaining muffin batter in the bowl, and fold gently with a silicone spatula.

Fill each muffin tin with the leftover blueberry muffin batter to the top. Sprinkle the crumbling topping onto each muffin.

Bake the muffins at 425ºF/218ºC for 6 minutes. Without opening the oven door, reduce the temperature to 350ºF/175ºC and keep baking for an additional 16 to 18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted inside the muffins comes out clean or with a few crumbs.

Tips for outstanding muffins

Weigh your ingredients (or “spoon and level” your flour)

For the most precise results, I recommend using a digital scale to weigh out the ingredients (this is my go-to scale that I use for all baking and honestly, most cooking). 

If you don’t have a scale, don’t dunk your measuring cup in the bag/jar of flour–this will compact the flour and cause you to overmeasure flour, leading to potentially dry/crumbly muffins.

Instead, use the “spoon and level” method. Fluff the flour in the bag/jar with a fork or whisk (since flour tends to settle and compact in a bag/jar). Using a spoon, spoon the flour out of the bag/container and into a measuring cup. Once the flour mounds over the rim of the measuring cup, level it off evenly with a butter knife.

Don’t overmix the batter

The key to achieving a tender texture in vegan baked goods is not overmixing the batter. 15 to 20ish strokes with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon should be enough to incorporate the dry and wet ingredients. No need for an electric mixer.

Muffin batter should be thick and scoopable

Muffin batter is thicker than cake batter, but not quite as thick as cookie dough. Check out the photo of step 7 in the step-by-step instructions to see how thick it should be. If, for some reason, your batter seems thin, add a bit more flour and stir gently to combine.

After the muffins go in the oven…

1. Do NOT open the oven door! Doing this even for a few seconds can reduce the oven temperature significantly. This is especially a no-no during the first half of baking, when the muffins do most of their rising. Resist the temptation to open the door and peek! 

2. Pay attention to the temperature change! One of the reasons these muffins have bountiful tops is they’re baked at two different temperatures: you start the muffins in a hot oven at 425ºF, then reduce the temperature to 350ºF (without opening the oven door). This process jumpstarts the leavening agents, yielding higher-rising muffins with crunchy tops and soft, tender middles.

3. Don’t cool for too long. Remove the baked muffins from the muffin tin after 20 minutes (or 30 minutes, at the most). If you leave them in the pan too long after baking, they can develop sad soggy bottoms.

If you want something to sip on as you eat your muffin, I recommend my High-Protein Mocha Latte, Golden Milk Turmeric Latte, or Sweet & Spicy Almond Butter Date Latte.

Or make these muffins part of a simple-yet-impressive vegan brunch, alongside my Tofu Scramble and a big ol’ salad.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you love these Vegan Blueberry Muffins as much as we do, please rate and review the recipe below And I love seeing your remakes, so tag me on Instagram!

Print

Vegan Blueberry Muffins

These bakery-style vegan blueberry muffins are fluffy, tender, and full of fresh blueberry flavor. And a crunchy and caramelized bountiful muffin top separates them from your standard blueberry muffin. Easy to make gluten-free.

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American

Diet Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 23 minutes minutes

Total Time 48 minutes minutes

Servings 12 muffins

Calories 293kcal

Author Nisha Vora

Ingredients

• 8 ounces (227g) fresh blueberries (about 1 ½ cups) (see Note 1)
• 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed meal
• 1 1/4 cups (300 mL) oat milk
• 1 medium lemon, zested + 1 tablespoon juice
• 2 3/4 cups (345g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled (see Note 2) (See Note 3 for GF option)
• 2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (optional, adds more depth of flavor)
• ½ cup (100g) organic cane sugar
• ¼ cup (38g) loosely packed organic brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons neutral-flavored oil (sunflower oil, avocado oil, canola oil, etc.)
• 3 tablespoons (42g) vegan butter, melted (recommended, but can use more oil)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract (or just sub in an extra ½ tsp of vanilla)

Walnut Crumble

• ⅓ cup (37g) walnuts, finely chopped
• ⅓ packed cup (50g) organic brown sugar
• 1 medium lemon, zested
• Pinch of sea salt

Instructions

• Wash and dry your blueberries in a towel. You want them to be dry before using.
• Preheat the oven to 425ºF/218ºC. Generously grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin on the bottoms and sides with coconut oil or cooking spray–be generous to avoid sticking (see Note 4).
• In a small bowl, whisk together the flaxseed meal and 5 tablespoons of warm water. Set aside for 10 to 15 minutes to gel up.
• Zest the lemon and set the zest aside for step 6. Juice the lemon and add one tablespoon of juice to the oat milk ("buttermilk"). Stir and set aside for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Make the Walnut Crumble: In a small bowl, mix the finely chopped walnuts, brown sugar, zest of 1 lemon, and pinch of salt until well combined.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cane sugar, and the 1/4 cup brown sugar.

  In a large bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: buttermilk, lemon zest, prepared flax eggs, oil, melted butter, vanilla, and almond extract.

  Add the dry ingredients to the wet, using a silicone spatula or wooden spoon and stir until just combined, but do not over mix. (See Note 5)

  Do not mix in the blueberries at this point.
• Drop a heaping tablespoonful of the batter into the bottom of each muffin cup, making sure to cover the bottom of the tin. You'll only add roughly half of the batter to the muffin tins at this time.
• Now, add the blueberries to the remaining batter in the bowl and use a silicone spatula to gently fold them in. Divide the blueberry muffin batter evenly into the muffin cups, filling to the top. Sprinkle the Walnut Crumble evenly over each muffin.
• Bake at 425ºF/218ºC for 6 minutes, or until muffins have risen nicely. Then, without opening the oven door, reduce the heat to 350ºF/175ºC.

  Bake for another 16 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
• Transfer to a cooling rack and cool for 20 minutes. Use a small offset spatula or butter knife to loosen the muffins. (See Note 6)

  Store cooled muffins in an airtight container on the counter for 2 to 3 days, or in the fridge for 5 to 6 days, or up to 3 months in the freezer.

Video

Notes

1. If using frozen blueberries, rinse them a few times and drain most of the liquid to avoid watering down the batter too much. Pat dry with some towels.
2. I highly recommend using a digital scale for weighing ingredients when baking. If not, be sure to use the spoon-and-level method to avoid over-measuring flour.
3. To make these muffins gluten-free: 
   1. Swap the AP flour with a mix of 1 1/2 cups (200g) of a 1:1 all-purpose gluten-free flour + 1 1/4 cups (136g) of oat flour. 
   2. Use just 1 cup (240 mL) of oat milk.
4. Generously greasing the muffin tins, instead of using muffin liners, yields a better texture and higher-rising muffins. But if using liners, you can skip the greasing step.
5. The muffin batter should be thick and scoopable.
6. If you have trouble loosening the muffins from the tins, soak a dish towel with very hot water. Wring it out (you may want to wear oven mitts). Place the towel underneath the muffin tin. Rest for 10 minutes. The steam should help loosen the muffins. 

Nutrition

Calories: 293kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 242mg | Potassium: 123mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 67IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 107mg | Iron: 2mg

The post Best Vegan Blueberry Muffins appeared first on Rainbow Plant Life.