Heart-Shaped Cupcakes (Vegan Valentine’s Cupcakes)

Dairy-free, gluten-free and vegan, these heart-shaped cupcakes are perfect to whip up for Valentine’s Day! A vegan chocolate cupcake that’s soft, indulgent, and topped with pink icing makes the perfect dessert. Spread the love this February with these chocolate Valentine’s day cupcakes!

These heart-shaped cupcakes are my girls’ new favorite! they’re super soft, moist (though I dislike that word) and contain actual sugar- which is a rarity to me! While I don’t love how much sugar they have in them, I’m starting to relax more on special occasions.

These Valentine’s Day cupcakes not only have sugar in the cupcakes but the frosting is most similar to that of a “normal” cupcake as well. While the chocolate cupcakes are gluten-free & vegan, even non-health food addicts LOVE them (<– hehe)

 

Don’t want to read? JUMP to the recipe! 

 

Choosing Gluten-Free Flour For The Heart Shaped Cupcakes

The flour you choose for these vegan Valentine’s Day cupcakes matters. Though I’ve long been aware that you cannot blindly substitute regular flour for gluten-free all-purpose, this is even more important when the recipe is vegan.

This is because depending on what the flour is made of it will absorb liquid (or bind) more or less.

Initially, this recipe was not gluten-free. However, after six batches of cupcakes, I nailed down a good ratio. We literally ate cupcakes all week.

Thus, these vegan chocolate cupcakes are made with Bobs Red Mill Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour. Though I’m sure other flours will work, this is the one that I used personally. It thickens the recipe a lot so you’ll notice that you don’t actually need very much!

 

Texture Of The Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

If you’re new to gluten-free baking you may be experiencing a lot of recipes that are denser than what you’re used to. Obviously, by now my household is used to this. However, every once in a while I strive to make a recipe more similar to “the norm” and something that not only will myself and the girls eat but that my hubby (who really eats a SAD) will enjoy too.

These Valentine’s Day cupcakes will shock you in their texture.

They’re extremely light, almost fluffy. And, thanks to enjoy life chocolate chips they’re also really moist. If you’re on the fence, these cupcakes are most similar to the norm.

 

Tips On The Vegan Icing 

Icing will be the death of me, it’s something I simply don’t excel at. However, the pink icing for these cupcakes is pretty damn awesome.

Since I’m against most vegan butter alternatives (they’re mostly made up of carcinogenic oils), Nuts For Cheese has one that I don’t entirely hate. Made with a base of cashews and coconut oil it’s vegan butter that tastes similar to regular (which means it’s yummy on paleo pancakes!).

Thus, this pink frosting is:

• vegan
• colored without the use of dyes
• very sweet

The icing use cane sugar and butter to get it’s texture and beet powder to color it. Fact: no, the beet powder will not affect the taste of the vegan frosting.

Tip: because the icing uses cane sugar, you’ll want to grind the sugar down before mixing it into the butter. Can sugar naturally comes in larger granules and I’ve found that it doesn’t quite dissolve during the aeration process of the icing (notice in the picture below). So, use a coffee grinder to grind it down.

Likewise, without grinding it you’ll notice (in the picture below) that the icing looks textured/chunky. It tastes find but grinding down the sugar will make the cupcakes more aesthetically pleasing.

The icing is extremely sweet, and it can be piped (as you see in the video). However, it is a bit thicker than traditional icing. This means, if you’re piping it you’ll want a very large hole on your instrument as you’ll notice it gum up. In the video you’ll see that I don’t even use a piping tip, I simply use the bag.

Note: Want to change the color of the icing? I use acai powder for purple, spirulina for a blue-ish hue, and chlorella for green 😉

 

Another Icing Option

Another option to ice these vegan chocolate cupcakes is to use coconut whip cream. Coconut whip is lighter, normally less sugar-filled, and absolutely delicious. It’s actually what I used for my girl’s sugar-free 1st birthday smash cake.

That said if you’ve ever used coconut whip before you’ll know it melts pretty quickly out of the fridge- something to keep in mind.

 

How To Store The Valentine’s Day Cupcakes

These heart-shaped cupcakes are best stored are room temperature and thus best eaten within a day or two. Though they can be stored in the fridge, the cupcakes will lose their softness and instead firm up.

Placing them back at room temperature will make them soften up again after an hour or two but not to the extent that they were.

 

Ingredients In The Heart-Shaped Chocolate Cupcakes

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/3 cup coconut oil, measured solid
• 3 tbs coconut milk (the cream from the can)
• 1/2 cup gluten-free baking flour
• 1/3 cup cacao powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup coconut sugar
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 4 tbs enjoy life chocolate chips (more if you want some for topping)

Pink Frosting

• 2/3 cup Nuts For Cheese Butter softened
• 1.5 cups Cane sugar, ground
• 1 tsp Beet powder
• 4 tbs + 2 tsp Almond milk
• 2 tbs Coconut milk (the cream from the can)

 

Kitchen Tools 

• Mixing bowls
• Electric Mixer
• Heart-Shaped Silicone Molds

How To Make Valentine’s Day Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl except the chocolate chips.

Melt the coconut oil and whisk wet together in another. Make sure the almond milk is room temperature so the coconut oil doesn’t solidify. Mix the wet into the dry ingredients until fully combined.

Mix in the chocolate chips and scoop the batter into your silicone mold.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool in the mold fully so that they can firm up.

While they’re cooling, make the frosting.

Use electric beaters to whip the butter, sugar, beet powder, and coconut cream together. Slowly add in the almond milk and beat for another 3-5 minutes. Scoop the icing into a piping bag.

Remove the vegan chocolate cupcakes from the molds and place them on a cooling rack. Pipe the icing onto the cupcakes and top with chocolate chips if desired.

 

Don’t Forget To Pin These Soft, Chocolate, Heart-Shaped Cupcakes!

Grab your printable!

Indulgent, soft, and perfect for Valentine’s Day. These heart-shaped cupcakes make the perfect treat for absolutely everyone! Even those following a typical diet will fall in love with these vegan cupcakes!