Know what room temperature vegan butter really is!

This is especially important for the vegan buttercream, as warm butter with peanut butter will result in a sugary pool rather than pipe-able frosting. Room temperature vegan butter is not actually room temperature, but 65F. There will be a slight cool feeling to the butter, and you can easily indent it. It's important that there is still coolness in the vegan butter, as vegan butter is not as stable at room temperature as regular butter when it comes to making frosting.

Make your own creamy peanut butter!

I love homemade peanut butter . It has such a fresh taste to it that will make these homemade vegan chocolate peanut butter cupcakes unreal!

Allow the cupcakes to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

This trick makes sure that the cupcake liner peels right off easily!

Make these peanut butter cupcakes entirely gluten free.

For gluten-free, use Bob's Red Mill's Gluten Free 1:1 Baking Flour in the blue bag. This works like a charm!

For making these cupcakes ahead of time:

I recommend making the cupcakes a day ahead, and filling and piping them the day of. Once the cupcakes are baked, you can allow them to cool then cover them to be stored at room temperature. Try to avoid storing them in the fridge overnight, as they might dry out. The next day, make the filling and frosting, and assemble the cupcakes . You can then store them in the fridge for a few hours , as now the tops of the cupcakes are covered, and a few hours won't dry out the cupcakes.

Use all-natural cocoa powder over cacao powder.

I recommend this also even over Dutch-processed cocoa (very good for brownies!). This is because all-natural cocoa powder has the highest acidity content out of the three options, which will help these cupcakes rise .

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes (Gluten Free)

Name: Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes (Gluten Free)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 160 mL unsweetened dairy-free milk with 2 tsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, room temperature*; 156 grams flour, sifted *see note for gluten free option; 50 grams all natural cocoa powder; 1 1/2 tsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp baking soda; 55 grams vegan butter, room temperature; 150 grams coconut sugar or granulated sugar; 83 grams unsweetened applesauce, room temperature; 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter; 4 tbsp vegan butter, room temperature; 1/2 cup powdered sugar or coconut sugar, sifted; 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter; 3/4 cup vegan butter, room temperature; 3-4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Description

Super rich and decadent, moist chocolate cupcakes with a creamy peanut butter filling that’s like a peanut butter cup and all topped with a fluffy dairy free peanut butter buttercream! If you love chocolate and peanut butter, you will LOVE these naturally vegan, dairy free, and easily gluten free cupcakes!

Ingredients

Units Scale

Chocolate cupcake base:

160 ml unsweetened dairy-free milk with 2 tsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, room temperature*
156 grams flour, sifted *see note for gluten free option
50 grams all natural cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
55 grams vegan butter, room temperature
150 grams coconut sugar or granulated sugar
83 grams unsweetened applesauce, room temperature

Peanut butter filling:

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
4 tbsp vegan butter, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar or coconut sugar, sifted

Vegan peanut butter buttercream:

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup vegan butter, room temperature
3–4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Instructions

Please read through all instructions. Measure out all ingredients before beginning.
Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F and line a cupcake tin with liners. Make sure the dairy-free milk and lemon juice/ACV are mixed together and set aside to curdle. This will be your vegan buttermilk.
Prepare the dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
Make the chocolate cupcakes batter: In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the vegan butter and coconut sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Then add in the applesauce and mix again. Carefully add in about half of the dry mixture to the wet ingredients and half of the vegan buttermilk. Mix again lightly until almost all of the dry ingredients are incorporated, then add in the remaining dry mixture and vegan buttermilk, being careful not to over mix the batter.
Bake the cupcakes: Pour the batter into the cupcake liners, filling the liners about 2/3 of the way full. You should get 11-12 cupcakes. Place the cupcakes into the over and bake for 25-27 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean.
Cool: Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes in the cupcake tin. After 10 minutes, transfer the cupcakes to the cooling rack until they are fully cooled. Once the cupcakes are fully cooled, use a cupcake corer or with a spoon, remove the center/core of each cupcake. You can save the extra pieces for cake truffles!
Fill the cupcakes: Once the cupcakes are cored, you can make the peanut butter filling. In a medium bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the vegan butter and creamy peanut butter. Add in the powdered sugar, and cream together again until smooth. The consistency should be not quite as smooth and fluffy as buttercream, but thicker than peanut butter- enough to pipe into the middle of each cupcake! Fill a piping bag with any piping nozzle attached, and pipe the filling into the middle of each cupcake until it reaches the top. Now set aside as you make the peanut butter buttercream.
Make the peanut butter buttercream: use a hand mixer in a large bowl to cream the vegan butter until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Then add in the peanut butter, and mix again until the peanut butter is incorporated. Then sift in the the powdered sugar (or coconut sugar) in 1 cup increments, continuing to cream the frosting. Add in 2-3 tbsp of dairy free milk to help combine the sugar into the butter. The buttercream should be fluffy and thick. The important thing here is to make sure it’s still cold so that it pipes well.
Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes: Fill a piping bag with a tip and pipe the vegan buttercream frosting onto the cupcakes. Top with homemade vegan peanut butter cups or store bought vegan peanut butter cups. Serve and enjoy!
Storage: store any leftover cupcakes in an airtight container and in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Notes

Gluten free: use Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking Flour for completely gluten free peanut butter chocolate cupcakes.

Refined sugar free: you can use coconut sugar for the entirety of this recipe, including the frosting. Be sure to process the coconut sugar through the food processor when using in the buttercream section. This will simulate powdered sugar.

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