Double Chocolate Vegan Cupcakes (plus a non-vegan frosting)

This recipe is a shout out to my little sister, who can’t have any dairy.  This frosting, however, is not vegan.  I had big plans for making a non-dairy frosting using coconut cream, but it didn’t work out.  I’ll keep trying and promise to share one as soon as I’ve got it worked out.  In the meantime, you can make a double recipe of the ganache and use it as a glaze on top of the cupcakes.  I’ve tried it with this cake recipe before and it’s delicious!  This cake recipe is my go-to for chocolate cupcakes—you don’t miss the butter and eggs, plus it’s super easy and fast to make with ingredients that are always on hand in the kitchen.  The recipe comes from the Moosewood Cookbook and can be found here. Last weekend I tried a different chocolate cupcake recipe from The Science of Good Cooking (Cook's Illustrated Cookbooks), and while I didn’t find the cake itself to be any more fabulous than my vegan recipe (despite the addition of butter, eggs, and melted chocolate), the recipe did introduce me to the brilliant concept of baking the cupcakes with a gooey chocolate ganache in the center. I stole their ganache, made it vegan, and put it in the middle of my dairy-free cupcakes.   (Check the ingredients to make sure the chocolate bars you buy are vegan.)  Amazing!  Chocolate filled chocolate cupcakes! You are going to love these! 

Ingredients for the ganache filling (enough to fill 12 cupcakes):

2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate  

1/4 cup coconut milk 

1/4 teaspoon stevia powder (or 1 tablespoon powdered sugar)

Ingredients for the cupcakes (makes 12):

 1 1/2 cups flour

 1/3 cup cocoa powder

 1 teaspoon baking soda

 1/2 teaspoon salt

 1 cup sugar

 1/2 cup vegetable oil

 1 cup cold water or coffee

 2 teaspoons vanilla

 2 tablespoons vinegar (the recipe calls for cider vinegar, but I’ve used distilled white and white wine vinegar and they work fine)

Ingredients for the frosting (recipe adapted from The Science of Good Cooking (Cook's Illustrated Cookbooks):

           1/3 cup granulated sugar
           2 large egg whites
           pinch of salt
           1 stick (8 ounces) butter at room temperature
           6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
           1/2 teaspoon vanilla

First, make the ganache filling:

In a heatproof bowl, combine the chocolate, stevia or sugar, and coconut milk.  Melt using a double boiler or by microwaving in 20 second intervals, stirring frequently, until smooth.  Cool the ganache in the refrigerator until you’re ready to add it to the cupcakes.  While you’re melting chocolate, you could get a head start on the frosting by melting 6 ounces of bittersweet chocolate in another bowl and setting it aside to cool.

Next, make the cupcakes: 

Preheat the oven to 375.  Line a cupcake pan with paper or foil liners.  Sift together the dry ingredients.

In a 2-cup liquid measure, mix the oil, water or coffee, and vanilla.  Add the liquid ingredients to the dry mixture and stir until smooth.  Add the vinegar and stir quickly (you will see light-colored streaks as the vinegar reacts with the baking soda).

Once the vinegar is mixed in, divide the batter among the 12 cupcake papers.  Add a rounded teaspoon of ganache to the center of each cupcake.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until set (a toothpick might not come out clean because of the molten ganache center).  Let the cupcakes cool for a few minutes in the pan, then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

The ganache will sink a bit during baking to form a fabulous molten chocolate center for these cupcakes.  They barely seem to need frosting!  But, this frosting is delicious.  So you should probably go ahead and…

Make the frosting:

In a heatproof bowl or the top of a double boiler, combine the egg whites, sugar, and salt.  Heat over a pan of simmering water, whisking constantly, until the mixture reaches 150 degrees.  It should be foamy and slightly thickened.  Remove from heat and beat on high speed until cooled and thickened.  Cut the butter into eight or so pieces, and add one piece at a time, beating thoroughly before adding the next piece.  Add the chocolate and vanilla and beat until smooth.