Gluten Free Vegan Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe

Ever had Mexican hot chocolate? It is rich, creamy, intensely chocolaty with hints of cinnamon and vanilla and a slow, latent hit of heat from the chili that sneaks up on you with a delightful surprise. It is indescribably delicious and the inspiration for this Gluten Free Vegan Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes recipe.

As amazing as these cupcakes are, not everyone in my family was an easy sell for a taste test. My son was game because he loves anything with spice. My dad was skeptical at first but in the end, his sweet tooth was stronger than his fear. Both of them declared the cupcakes winners. My husband, on the other hand, could not for the life of him think of why I would make such a thing as a spicy cupcake and stubbornly refused to try them for quite some time.  Wimpy Gringo!

In the end, he reluctantly took a tiny bite. Then another. And another. Then he polished off another couple cupcakes. I love it when haters become lovers!

The sneaky heat in these cupcakes comes from Chipotle Vegenaise. Vegenaise has long been my secret weapon to making moist, gluten free, vegan cupcakes and, since I was out of chipotle pepper but had a jar of Chipotle Vegenaise on hand, I thought – “Why not?” Ah, why not indeed! I will be willing to bet that the Vegenaise people didn’t think cupcakes when they dreamed up this spread but, as I said, “Why not?”

I wanted these cupcakes to have a big kick of spice, so I used all Chipotle Vegenaise in my recipe. If you are less daring, cut the amount of Chipotle Vegenaise in half (or more) and make up the difference with regular Vegenaise. And if you can’t find Chipotle Vegenaise, just mix some chipotle chili powder into the regular Vegenaise to taste.

To top these cupcakes off, I made a vegan cinnamon butter cream frosting. If you are not vegan or dairy free, some very lightly sweetened whipped cream is lovely as well.

So how about you? Are you game to try a spicy cupcake?

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe

Gluten Free Vegan Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time25 mins

Cooling time5 mins

Total Time45 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 12 cupcakes

Calories: 412kcal

Author: Gluten Free & More

Ingredients

Chipotle Chocolate Cupcakes

• ▢ *½ cup superfine white rice flour
• ▢ *1/3 cup superfine brown rice flour
• ▢ *1/3 cup superfine sweet rice flour
• ▢ *1/3 cup tapioca starch *in place of the flours and starch you can use 1½ cups all-purpose gluten free flour
• ▢ 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ 1 cup granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 cup unflavored rice milk
• ▢ ½ cup Chipotle Vegenaise for less spicy cut half and half with regular Vegenaise
• ▢ 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Vegan Cinnamon Butter Cream Frosting

• ▢ 1 cup all vegetable shortening
• ▢ 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ▢ 1/8 teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt
• ▢ 3 cups powdered sugar
• ▢ 2 - 4 tablespoons rice milk

Instructions

Chipotle Chocolate Cupcakes

• ▢
  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12" tin standard muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.
• ▢
  In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the white rice flour, brown rice flour, sweet rice flour, tapioca starch, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
• ▢
  In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, rice milk, Chipotle Vegenaise and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir or whisk to combine. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each cup about ¾ full.
• ▢
  Bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until the tops are slightly springy and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling. Prepare frosting while cupcakes cool.

Vegan Cinnamon Butter Cream Frosting

• ▢
  Combine the vegetable shortening, vanilla, cinnamon, salt and powdered sugar in the bowl of a mixer. Start on low and then gradually increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy. Add the rice milk, one tablespoon at a time, and beat after each addition. Add just enough rice milk to make the frosting creamy and spreadable.
• ▢
  Frost the cooled cupcakes with the frosting.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Gluten Free Vegan Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe

Amount Per Serving

Calories 412 Calories from Fat 207

% Daily Value*

Fat 23g35%

Saturated Fat 5g25%

Sodium 275mg11%

Potassium 36mg1%

Carbohydrates 51g17%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 47g52%

Calcium 10mg1%

Iron 0.4mg2%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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