In an effort to make a chocolate cupcake without eggs or butter, I stumbled onto this absolutely delicious and moist recipe from Simply Recipes. I was a bit hesitant at first, considering the ingredient list but am very thrilled with how this turned out (husband-approved too)! The recipe was tweaked ever so slightly…hope you enjoy!

You’ll need:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Used Hershey’s)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup brewed coffee
• 1 Tbs. rice vinegar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 6 Tbs. olive oil (Not E.V.O.O)
• *I added three mini Ghirardelli chocolate chips to each cupcake prior to baking. It added a little surprise 🙂

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare muffin tin with cupcake liners.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda and salt until there are no visible clumps
3. In a separate, medium-sized bowl, mix the brewed coffee, rice vinegar, vanilla extract and olive oil.
4. Then, pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until it comes together. It will be thin and a bit lumpy.
5. Ladle the batter into the cupcake liners, filling about two-thirds of the way full.
6. Place in the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then continue to cool on a rack.

These cakes are moist and chocolaty enough to be eaten plain or you can follow the steps below for frosting! (Note, this frosting does have butter.)

Frosting – You’ll need:

• 4 Tbs. butter
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Hershey’s again)
• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 3 Tbs. milk
• 1 Tbs. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and then remove from heat.
2. Stir in the cocoa until smooth.
3. Sprinkle in some of the powdered sugar and stir. Then pour in some of the milk and stir.
4. Keep alternating the sugar with the milk until smooth.
5. Then add in the vanilla extract.
6. You may need to add additional milk if too thick or sugar if too runny.
7. Once ready, you can pipe the icing using a plastic freezer bag or with a baker’s bag.