The Best Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes

I’ve used this frosting recipe multiple times and it is hands down the best chocolate frosting I’ve ever had. I’ve used it on cupcakes and layer cakes — it spreads beautifully on a cake & I usually struggle with that! It tastes amazing and is not overly sweet but just rich and smooth. As the recipe is written, the frosting is enough to frost a 2-layer 9″ round cake BUT I recommend doubling just because it’s SO GOOD! I haven’t actually made these cupcakes yet but I’m sure they’re amazing :)

This is a birthday tradition at our house. And now that my third baby is 1, she gets to enjoy the face/cake smash with these deliciously moist cupcakes. I hate cupcakes but I LOVE these. Bless you Dana.

I first tried the recipe as written wasn’t a fan of the slight beet flavour I got (probably didn’t roast the beet enough). I tried again but this time changed it up a bit. I used the same base but used pumpkin puree instead and added a bit of cinnamon instead of chocolate. Turned out really tasty. My point is that this is a great gluten free base recipe that you can tweak to make different cupcakes. My family couldn’t even tell these were gluten free!

You’re right– I’ve craved these since the first time I made them. They’re so tasty but don’t leave you with a sugar crash or too-heavy feeling. When I made them I didn’t have the beets, so I added a bit more oil. I ground oats in a coffee grinder until they were fine for my oat flour. Due to my adjustments my cakes were a teensy bit drier than spot-on perfect, but they were still excellent and yes, craveable. The frosting is uber yum, and we added sprinkles which were fun.
Thanks for this!

These turned out great! I used Bob’s GF AP Flour and store-bought applesauce, and I do think I can taste the applesauce (no one else said anything though). The frosting definitely makes the cake! I just used chocolate chips and Earth Balance butter from the tub. My batch made 12, and a couple of them were actually a little overfilled.

I would’ve rated this as 10 stars if that were an option. SO GOOD! Finally a GF cake that seems impossibly GF. I don’t normally like frosting but I could make this chocolate ganache frosting and eat the whole thing with a spoon. It’s not cloyingly sweet like so many frostings that I cant stand. Thanks Dana! Once again you nailed this recipe. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing this!

This was my first ever gluten free and vegan recipe. These are really delicous and moist cupcakes!! I substituted applesauce for the beet puree, the GF flour blend for the oat flour, and used an alternate frosting, but maybe next time I’ll be brave enough to try the frosting. I just ran out of time. It took the milk a lot longer to curdle with the AC vinegar than I expected, since the milk wasn’t at room temperature (maybe add that to the notes?). After it finally did, adding the baking soda produced no fizz. So I got nervous. I added a few drops of lemon juice and then it fizzed. Maybe using a different brand of almond milk made a difference? I used Silk. Thanks so much for the recipe. I will definitely make these again, since my family has 1 vegan so far (me), a couple of gluten free people—and nearly all of us are chocolate-lovers!

Made with Bob’s Red Mill GF mix. Turned out awesome! I think next time I’ll add 2 oz melted bittersweet chocolate cuz I like my cake extra dark and chocolately.

Delicious! The only problem was that the toothpick never came out clean, so I kept putting them back in the oven for a LONG time. At least double the time. I wish I hadn’t because it’s okay to have a moist inside, and cooking them so long made the outsides hard and the tops a little fallen. Still edible. After cooling, the soft insides formed up a bit anyway. So next time should I take them out on time before the tops fall, even if the toothpick is not clean?

Omg!!!!! Went vegan 2yrs ago and non gluten 3yrs ago. Don’t get to have many cakes etc. These are the best cupcakes period ! I made them with applesauce and so moist and chocolaty! I put a packet of Starbucks instant coffee in the icing… these were bar none the best I have ever had..tasted by 4 others (3 conventional eaters) said the same *Best they ever taste. Thank you!?

I’m not the Vegan/Plant Base Diet Earter, but my Son & Wife are. So when we have Birthdays or Family gathers I’m continuely asked to make these cupcakes. I LOVE them myself, and everyone in the family is always suprised when I tell them they have Roasted Beets in them. Truely the BEST ever!

I’ve been searching for a vegan choc cupcake recipe and after multiple testings, this recipe was the best rated for texture, taste and consistency. The only thing I changed was using Dutch processed chocolate powder, 1/2 TSP of vanilla extract. I also made a vegan white chocolate buttercream. Thanks for an amazing recipe!!

Thank you! These cupcakes were a huge hit at my daughter’s birthday party. Several party-goers preferred to them to the traditional (wheat & egg) cupcakes. I substituted apple sauce for beet puree and used baking powder egg substitute rather than flax egg, but would never have been able to do it without your recipe.

Fantastic recipe!
I had to adapt the recipe to account for food intolerances so used ground hazelnuts instead of almonds, unsweetened hazelnut milk instead of Almond Breese and GF flour instead of the oat flour. I also used veg oil instead of coconut oil and apple puree instead of beet puree.
When I added the apple cider vinegar to my hazelnut milk it didn’t seem to react in any way so just before I stirred the milk into the “egg” mixture I added about the same amount of vinegar again. It still didn’t curdle or fizz but when I then added the apple puree it fluffed up beautifully.
All of the vegan/gf and non vegan/gf in my family LOVED the cakes, they were really light and fluffy.
For the frosting I used a soya based vegan cream cheese, melted dark chocolate and icing sugar to taste and just beat them together and it worked really well.
Really excited to try some of your other recipes now, thanks so much!

Dana my husband and I love this recipe so when he asked for a chocolate cake I just used this recipe and put it in a buttered / floured cake pan and cooked it on 3:50 oven for 30 minutes and it can out prefect after letting it cool for half an hour.

Thanks again,

Lynda

Wow! So very yummy! These were my slight modifications because I tried to use what I had on hand: I subbed organic palm sugar for the cane sugar and mixed 1/2 cup beets plus 1/2 cup pears. For the frosting I used whipped coconut cream with a little cocoa powder and a few drops of clear stevia. Compliments from vegan and non-vegan taste testers. Thank you.

I made this recipe with 2 real eggs. It is so amazingly moist. The beet gives the chocolate a great depth of flavor and a rich color. You have to try these!

Made as instructed and loved, loved, loved by my GF Vegan family and non-GF vegan family!! Whew! So nice to have a recipe that works well for everyone. Best compliment is from my husband who has asked for more and *does not ever like* the taste of GF. Thank you ❤️❤️

I have made these cupcakes 3 times now and I have to say THEY ARE AMAZING! I’m gluten free, dairy free and have tons of food issues. The only thing I changed is the frosting’s vegan butter (I can’t have canola which is in ALL the vegan butter around here!). I sub Spectrum palm shortening instead and it works like a charm. I also use my own flour blend which is similar to King Arthur’s gluten free flour mix, so I imagine the cupcakes would work well with the King Arthur’s blend too.
I also wanted to say a quick but heartfelt thank you for all your other wonderful recipes too! With so many food allergies and intolerances I have difficulty finding recipes I can make as written. Minimalist Baker is my go to site if I’m looking for something new. Thank you for all your hard work. I really appreciate it. ?

I brought these to a party and they turned out delicious- moist and very chocolatey. One guest ate three.

Can I possibly give this recipe 10 stars?!! No? Well it certainly deserves a 10 star rating! In short, these are AMAZING! I have very selective, very suspicious teenagers in my house, especially if they see me scouring the internet for recipes and then baking right afterwards (this site is always in my top 5 for recipes). If I am being honest, I am quite a lazy baker so I used organic canned beets which I rinsed and threw in my vitamix to make a sinfully smooth puree. I did not have oat flour on hand so I took just plain oats and threw them into my spice grinder to make my own oat flour, easy-peezy. And because I am a lazy baker I threw all this loveliness into a sprayed bundt pan instead of cupcakes. And….It. Was. FABULOUS! I did not even make the frosting b/c it was so lightly sweet and moist I didn’t feel like it even needed it, and now one at my house was the wiser! This is definitely a keeper! Thank you Minimalist Baker!!

Made these tonight and finished 2 cupcakes straight off! For vegan and GF, they were moist, light, chocolatey and just what I needed!
I used applesauce instead of beet puree (easier) and half/half of GF flour blend and almond flour to sub the oat flour. Added two more tablespoons of almond milk as it didn’t look wet enough, and got 12 large cupcakes from the mixture. Also made a lactose-free cream cheese frosting with just cream cheese and icing sugar, a nice balance for the sweetness of the cupcake. Super happy with how they turned out, and the rest have been frozen so I don’t eat them all at once!
Thanks for the recipe, Dana .. looking forward to trying many more!

Hi, I made these for my nephew’s wedding reception. There are many guests who are gluten-free and I wanted them vegan for myself. They were a huge hit. Though they clearly looked home-made everyone loved them over the regular pretty cupcakes. The homemade quality was on me, not the recipe.

I used my go-to frosting recipe from the ultimate vegan chocolate cake. I was so pleased that many people at the reception had options. One woman came up to me and said that she doesn’t eat gluten and her daughter, a baby, doesn’t eat dairy. She was excited to enjoy a dessert and not risk an adverse reaction. My niece who made the “regular” cupcakes said many people told her how delicious the vegan gf cupcakes were and she had to say, through gritted teeth, that she did not make them! Thanks for your good work.

Overall pretty good but the frosting was runny. I used Earth Balance and 2 c sugar. I had a little left over frosting and froze it and it never froze solid. The cakes had a slight bitter aftertaste.

excellent moist vegan gluten free cupcakes and I had used apple souse instead beets and for frosting I didn’t use milk. what I did, just melted chocolate and when got cooled mixed it with vegan butter. I had used Melt butter, it’s not salty

thank you Dana for another excellent recipe :)

I made these cupcakes and infused them with a healthy version I found of Bavarian cream for our anniversary. They were delicious. We are already going to make them again and we found a Wilton tip 230 to infuse the Bavarian in the cupcake beautifully.

Thanks so much Dana,

Lynda?

just pulled the cakes out of the oven!!
I wanted to share that I followed the recipe to a tee, and put it in a 9 inch cake tin. Turned out brilliantly. I made 2, but instead of doubling the batter I just made 2 separate batters in two separate bowls.
I LOVE the deep red batter mixture, was almost hoping it would stay that color, but it looks like a wonderful chocolatey cake (not so bad!).
These are for a birthday cake, so I think I’ll wait until the day of the party to make the frosting.
Thanks again DANA!!

I just made these yesterday, I subbed applesauce for the beets (because I had it on hand) and they were a HIT. Like SO moist and delicious and the icing was ridiculous. I love when people second look the “vegan” foods ?

Absolutely delish!! Just finished making these and I got 14!! You rock Dana!!

Ok. I just served these for New Years. Fist time baking gf and I was very skeptical because the batter seemed pretty grainy going into the oven. But OH MY GOD these came out amazing. I made flax and almond meal, and oat flour by grinding in a coffee grinder. I added 1/4 cup peanut butter to the frosting. They were so moist and perfectly smooth even though they seemed a little rough going into baking. Thank you Dana, hit of the party!!!

Hands down our favorite recipe, ever! We’ve been celebrating birthdays and holidays with these delightful cupcakes for a year now. Thanks so much!

Just a FYI for the Australians trying this recipe – The Baking Soda referred to in the ingredient list is known as Baking POWDER not Baking SODA (also known as Bicarbonate of Soda). Bicarb does not fizz in the milk mix. Good tip from Minimalist Baker to mention that it should fizz. And 1 1/2 tea of Bicarb is a lot !! So after my 3rd try changed it to the Baking Powder and it does Fizz ! But the cupcakes did not rise using just Baking Powder. I guess I did something else wrong :(:(

I made a practice batch of these a few days ago. My daughter’s birthday party is this weekend and I have a vegan+gf family coming and wanted to have cupcakes for them. I am not vegan but I am gluten and dairy free so it just about amounts to the same for baking. Here is my experience.

1) I used whole-ground flax seed. It didn’t seem to bond all that well, although it didn’t seem to make much difference in the final product. I may try a flaxseed that is not ‘whole’ ground.

2) This is the first time I’ve used Earth Balance and it seemed to work nicely. I don’t always love coconut oil for baking since it seems to work great for some things and not so much for others.

3) My mixture did not fiz when I added the baking soda to the milk and vinegar. Don’t know if that’s a problem or not.

4) I used applesauce because I didn’t want to go through the trouble with the beets.

5) I appreciated that grams were shown because I like using my scale for baking. However, the grams and the C measurements did not sync up for several of the ingredients, especially the cocoa powder. 60 grams of sifted cocoa powder was nearly 1 C, not 1/2. I went with the grams as much as I could to stay consistent.

6) I absolutely love your flour blend and I was surprised you recommended the Bob’s Red Mill but I went ahead and used that, it seemed to work great.

7) For the frosting: I used semi-sweet chocolate chips and am definitely going to try a bittersweet chocolate next time. The texture was great but the it was way too sweet and just tasted like chocolate chips.

8) Overall I thought the final product was quite good. The texture was moist and fluffy. Yes, I could tell they were not just regular cupcakes but they were enjoyable in and of themselves. I also found them more satisfying that regular. I could eat just one and be happy with that. I was very impressed they were g/d/e-free.

9) The cupcakes tasted even better on day 2. I kept the frosting separate and when it warmed up to room temperature the next day it tasted a lot better.

10) I took the cupcakes to a bible study to get opinions from non-food-allergy people and they all really liked them. Win!

Final verdict: will definitely be making these again with just a couple of tweaks; mainly using a darker chocolate for the frosting.

I would probably suggest double checking the grams vs. C measurements.

I made these cupcakes for my friend’s birthday and they were UNREAL! I made an accidental mistake though and did 3/4 c oat flour AND 3/4 c of 1:1, so after panicking, I mashed in half a banana and a bit more coconut milk (that was another substitution) and they were INSANE!!!! SO GOOD. For the frosting I used vegan becel and everyone at the party went wild for these cupcakes. Will be making again and again.

Amazing! I subbed more all purpose flour for the almond meal and they were still so moist, maybe a little more dense but still delicious. For the frosting I used coconut oil instead of vegan butter and it was perfect. Will be making these again!

Followed the recipe to the letter (weights, not volumes) using the maple syrup and coconut oil options and I have to say that these were not my favorite.

Putting it together wasn’t too awful. It was a little more work than a quick one-bowl non-vegan, non-gluten-free cake, but a whole lot less than a standard white or sponge cake.

The taste was more or less fine. These are indeed not too sweet, which is good for something that’s getting frosted. Honestly, they didn’t taste like too much of anything beyond cocoa.

The texture, however, was not terribly good. For me, vegan gluten-free cakes tend to fall into one of two categories: super dry or super wet. These were of the super wet variety. The texture got a lot better over the day that I let them sit out (which is pretty typical of vegan, gluten-free cakes), but the insides were still sticky, kind of like a dense, wet brioche. I tried cooking some longer (like WAY longer), but that just dried out the outsides: the insides stayed wet and weird.

Still, this recipe wasn’t any worse than the typical vegan, gluten-free cake. The cupcake thing is the problem: when a cake comes out weird, I can usually fix it by splitting the layers thin enough and adding some ganache or vegan mousse between the layers. Cupcakes are kind of unforgiving, though, because you can’t futz around with the cake/filling ratio too much: you can core and fill them (which I ended up doing), but you can’t take out too much or those suckers aren’t going to be leaving the wrappers no way no how.

Overall, I won’t make these again, but they weren’t the worst vegan, gluten-free cupcakes I’ve ever made: they’re just not what I’m looking for.

I made this as a sheet cake — I doubled the recipe and made an 11×7 cake and had extra batter for 6 cupcakes with plenty of frosting for both. The cake was seriously fudgy and delicious — whoa whoa whoa. I would recommend sifting the flours as well as the cocoa as my Bob’s Mills gf flour seemed to leave little bits that didn’t quite blend in. Also, I was a little short on beet puree and used some canned organic pumpkin I had on hand with no issues. I left the frosting in the fridge too long and it got too hard, and it never quite got the right consistency after that but it did taste wonderful! Thank you for a great recipe!

I made these a few years ago for my girlfriend’s birthday. We had just started dating, and she’s allergic to dairy, eggs, soy and wheat…but also has the biggest sweet tooth ever (she went to baking school before she realized why she was sick all the time and had to drop out!). ANYWAYS. Pretty sure these cupcakes sealed the deal on our relationship. ;)

I asked her what she wanted for her birthday this year, and she said, “those cupcakes you made for me with the beets”. So here I am, in the kitchen, reminiscing and licking every spoon. Thank you for making all our dietary restrictive dreams come true!

I made these yesterday for a party. These are hands down THE BEST CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES I have ever eaten. Despite the fact that they are gluten free AND vegan! Thank you!

I made these cupcakes…..very delicious and moist! I am going to try making with apple sauce or canned pumpkin as the beets were a little time consuming ? The frosting was very good but mine was more of a thick glaze and I did use two cups of icing sugar? Maybe less liquid next time? Anyway thanks for the great recipe!

I used mashed banana instead of beets and they turned out AMAZING! I took them out with just a bit of residue on the tooth pick to allow them to carry over cook in the hot tins, a method I would recommend to prevent the dreaded dry cupcake:) Topped them with peanut butter buttercream and my family gobbled them down!

Very delicious! I didn’t have cupcake forms ,so decided to use the same batter but make brownies instead. Worked out perfectly! I replaced the sugar with dates and added some cranberries and desicated coconut.
Super yum!

Wow!!! Am I dreaming or am I in chocolate heaven? I feel sorry for those who can eat gluten and would never run across this recipe. Thank you for developing this wonderful recipe. I think I love you. Ev

It’s a homerun! Recently found out my toddler is lactose-intolerant and I’ve tasted enough mediocre vegan cupcakes that I was eager to give this a go. You did it again Dana! Chocolatey, flavourful, extremely moist and not as sweet as conventional cupcakes. I just made these as per your instructions and my husband and I can’t get enough. So grateful that those with food allergies can enjoy good food!

Made these today and they are amazing!!

We made these tonight for a birthday dinner and they were awesome! So delicious and decadent. The only thing I would do differently is take them out earlier. I kept waiting for the toothpick to come out “clean” but it never happened, so I feel like they got a little bit dryer than they should have. But awesome recipe. We had them with the frosting plus a peanut butler drizzle from this recipe…and a selection of homemade dairy ice cream and coconut bliss salted caramel vegan ice cream. With PB drizzle on that too. UNREAL.