I’m a sucker for a chocolate cake and so it seemed the perfect place for me to dive into Robin’s newest book. This one caught my eye for another reason as well — it is vegan. No, I’m not a vegan, but I’ve been looking for this very recipe since the day my brother and his girlfriend announced to the family that they were. I’d been experimenting with vegan cakes to serve them, but honestly I hadn’t gotten very far. I’m too wedded to butter, eggs and cream. Robin came to the rescue. I gave the recipe a test run for Katherine’s (the aforementioned girlfriend of my brother) Birthday. Truth be told I never actually gave them to Katherine, not for lack of desire, but because they are in Copenhagen at the Climate Change March, where they are preparing to display their artwork to affect change in the world. What a memorable birthday she will have and I will gladly make these cupcakes again once she returns. A perfect way to celebrate.
Robin manages to achieve a rich chocolate cake with a moist (but not dense) crumb without the benefit of eggs or dairy. Mystifying! The filling is remarkably reminiscent of mocha pastry cream and the ganache is chocolaty and glossy. It all defies classic baking and yet it works wonderfully.
How to Make Vegan Triple Chocolate Cupcakes
Here is the step by step process and you will find the full recipe card below.
Puree the tofu in a food processor,
until perfectly smooth. You will need to scrape the sides down with a rubber spatula.
Add the melted chocolate mixture to the tofu and
process until smooth and thick. It will look like chocolate pudding. Set aside while you bake the cake.
To bake the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 12 muffin tins with papers.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Melt the chocolate and oil in a medium sized bowl over a double boiler until perfectly smooth. Whisk the agave into the chocolate mixture. In a third bowl whisk together the soy milk, vanilla, vinegar and Kahlua, then stir it into the chocolate mixture. gently whisk the wet mixture into the dry. Divide the batter into the muffin cups and bake for about 18 minutes or until the tester comes out clean.
Cool them for 15 minutes before removing from pan.
Using a paring knife cut out a portion of the cupcake,
to make a space for the filling. Don’t cut too much away or the cupcake may not have enough structure and fall apart.
Use a pastry bag with a round tip to fill the cupcakes with the mocha filling.
Spread it smooth.
To make the ganache:
Melt the chocolate and soy milk over a double boiler until smooth. Gently stir in the Kahlua.
Spoon the ganache over the top of the cupcakes.
Spread it smooth.
Using a chef’s knife, scrape the smooth side of a bar of bittersweet chocolate to create the shavings.
sprinkle the shavings over the top of the cupcakes.
Happy Birthday Katherine!
For another recipe by Robin check out this amazing apple pumpkin cake I made from her first book The New Whole Grain Cookbook: Terrific Recipes Using Farro, Quinoa, Brown Rice, Barley, and Many Other Delicious and Nutritious Grains
Ingredients
Mocha Filling
- 5 ½ oz silken tofu, drained
- 3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- ¼ cup agave nectar
- 1 tsp instant coffee powder
Ganache
- 3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 3 tbsp soy or coconut milk
- 3 tbsp Kahlua
Cake
- 1 ¼ cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
- ¼ cup canola oil
- ½ cup agave nectar
- 1 cup soy or coconut milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp Kahlua
- Chocolate for shaving garnish
Instructions
Mocha Filling
- Melt the chocolate, agave and coffee powder over a double boiler until perfectly smooth. Set aside.
- Puree the tofu in a food processor, until perfectly smooth. You will need to scrape the sides down with a rubber spatula.
- Add the melted chocolate mixture to the tofu and process until smooth and thick. It will look like chocolate pudding. Set aside while you bake the cake.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 12 muffin tins with papers.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Melt the chocolate and oil in a medium sized bowl over a double boiler until perfectly smooth. Whisk the agave into the chocolate mixture. In a third bowl whisk together the soy milk, vanilla, vinegar and Kahlua, then stir it into the chocolate mixture. gently whisk the wet mixture into the dry. Divide the batter into the muffin cups and bake for about 18 minutes or until the tester comes out clean.
- Cool them for 15 minutes before removing from pan. Using a paring knife cut out a portion of the cupcake, to make a space for the filling. Don’t cut too much away or the cupcake may not have enough structure and fall apart.
- Use a pastry bag with a round tip to fill the cupcakes with the mocha filling. Spread it smooth.
Ganache
- Melt the chocolate and soy milk over a double boiler until smooth. Gently stir in the Kahlua.
- Spoon the ganache over the top of the cupcakes. Spread it smooth.
- Using a chef’s knife, scrape the smooth side of a bar of bittersweet chocolate to create the shavings. Sprinkle the shavings over the top of the cupcakes.
wait a minute. All-purpose flour??? in the recipe? where??? how much does it take? I am very confused.
I was very excited to try this recipe, but it failed on me twice. I double and triple checked all of the ingredients – the only thing I substituted was honey for agave nectar because I’m not strictly vegan, balsamic vinegar for rice vinegar, and extra vanilla extract instead of alcohol. but I followed all of the other instructions to a tee. The cupcakes collapsed basically into what looked like cupcake liners. On top of that, the mocha filling was completely runny. I drained the tofu and patted it dry with paper towel, and even tried adding more to thicken it up. It was still completely liquid – not thick and fluffy at all. Any idea as to why every single thing went wrong?
Hi Tabitha,
Cupcakes:
What kind of flour are you using and how are you measuring it? I used scoop and sweep for measuring the flour, which will result more per cup than spooning the flour into the measuring cup.
Do you have an oven thermometer? Your cupcakes may also be underbaked, which is often a result of oven temperatures being off.
Mocha Filling:
Was your tofu chilled or at room temperature. If the tofu is not chilled it may not set up the chocolate and become thick. You can try sticking the filling in the refrigerator and see if it thickens up.
Thank you, Zoë
Woops – I forgot to mention I ended up using almond flour. Do you think that could have been what went wrong? I use a scoop and sweep for flour too. And my tofu was chilled before I used it. I’d like to try these again, maybe with regular flour this time…
Hi Tabitha,
Yes, almond flour is the culprit. You can’t switch almond flour for regular all-purpose, since almond flour has no gluten and will have no strength or structure to hold up the cakes. Try it again with all-purpose and you’ll have success.
Thanks, Zoë
Thank you Zoë! I’ll try them again soon.
Really great photos! I will definitely be making this recipe. Thanks!
These cupcakes look too good for words! As a vegan college student with a couple of very hungry roommates, I am always looking for some great recipes to test out on them, and this one looks like it will surely be a hit!
Wow…those look absolutely gorgeous and yummy. Will have to try.
Yum, yum! I’ll have to try this sometime.
Love the triple chocolate cup cake vegan dessert!
Hi Zoe,
I was wondering whether these cupcakes would work as a sheet/layer cake with the mocha filling as frosting? Would the texture of the mocha tofu filling hold up? I’ll give it a go tomorrow, but thought I’d just put it out there! Thanks!
Hi Wales,
I’d love to know how your experiment went, sounds great!
Thanks, Zoë
These cupcakes look fantastic and it looks like Robin has found a great way around the dryness issue that plagues vegan baked-goods by using BOTH tofu and soy/coconut milk. I do hope you will be featuring more recipes from this book! I would love to win a copy–it would be a real treat for our Vegetarian household to have some new recipes, and also a cookbook that would be “cover-to-cover usable” for us!
i took the cupcake tops and made my own oreos with them. two tops and the cream in the middle, i also added some coconut. kids loved it.
Hi Mimi,
That sounds amazing! My kids are going to love this!
Thanks, Zoë
Oh my goodness. I cannot wait to make these!
Hi there.
I mostly cook vegan although I do eat fish sometimes, so I would love to win the veg cookbook!
Unrelated to your post, thank you for the healthy bread in 5 minutes book. I really appreciate it. Made my 2nd loaf today and it is wonderful.
OMG is all I can say!! 🙂
I can totally relate! As a pastry chef, I can’t really embrace exclusionary diets (and thank God I don’t have any medical restrictions that force me to) but my son is a vegetarian and I have several friends who eat “paleo” ~ no grains, sugars, dairy, or processed foods. It’s a constant challenge to adapt recipes to meet their needs, but we do love a challenge, don’t we?! Thanks for your story, and for your lovely pictures!
The cupcakes look delicious and vegan to boot. I have just recently discovered your site, but have been using your 5 minutes a day recipes for a few years.
I used to work with a large group of Indian programmers and baking for the friends on the strictest diet was a challenge. I wish this book had been out then.
I made do with Egg Replacer which was better than nothing.
Wow!
These look so delicious. My nephew is vegan so we are always looking for ways to keep him in the loop of treats, especially around the holidays.
Thanks for sharing this special recipe and the book it comes from! I will update you once I have gotten a chance to make them myself.
thanks for the awesome recipe!
Hi Katie,
That is the chef’s treat or what you hand to the kids when they want to taste the cupcakes before they are ready! You could also use them in a trifle. Never any waste!
Thanks, Zoë
looks awesome. so what do you do with the part you cut off? always looking to not waste any chocolate!!
Wow, these look amazing. I have been trying to convince my kids and husband that we don’t need to have meat/poultry at most meals, and this looks like the perfect book!
I need to loose 80 pounds……..what a fantastic way to do it……