Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes (vegan)

These vegan chocolate caramel cupcakes are the perfect combo of caramel and chocolate. The recipe includes instructions for the chocolate cupcakes, the vegan caramel sauce, the caramel buttercream frosting, how to pipe the frosting, and how to make the frosting look like mermaid scales. These use all organic ingredients and are naturally colored using food-based dyes.

This recipe makes 24 chocolate caramel cupcakes.

Table of Contents

(click the links below to skip to the section you’re looking for)

• Cupcake Recipe
• Caramel Recipe
• Buttercream Frosting
• Normal Decoration
• Mermaid Decoration
• Ingredient Substitutions
• Contact Me with Questions
• Similar Recipes

I originally created this recipe back in 2014 for Izzy and Ashleigh’s birthday, but I think we can all admit that my iphone 4 photo abilities weren’t the best. So, I made this recipe again in 2020 for Kimmy’s birthday, and these new pictures are taken with a professional camera.

Kimmy is basically a mermaid, so I made some mermaid themed ones for her. I didn’t change the frosting recipe or the cupcake recipe, but I did update my caramel recipe to a more reliable method. I also adjusted the quantity so you won’t have leftover caramel to try to find a use for (I know, I know, life is so hard).

Ingredients for Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• 2 cups (450g) soymilk
• 1 tablespoon (16g) apple cider vinegar
• 2 ½ cups (325g)unbleached white flour
• ⅔ cup (56g) cocoa powder
• ½ tablespoon (8g) baking soda
• 1 teaspoon (4g) baking powder (try to use non-aluminum)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ⅔ cup (144g) sunflower oil
• 1 ¾ cups (380g) organic or raw sugar
• 1 tablespoon (12g) vanilla extract

How to Make this Vegan Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

prep time: 30 min | bake time: 18 min

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Line 2 cupcake pans with paper liners.

Combine a tablespoon of vinegar and 2 cups soymilk, and set aside.

Sift the dry ingredients into another bowl: 2 ½ cups flour, ⅔ cup cocoa powder, ½ tablespoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and ½ teaspoon salt.

Add ⅔ cup sunflower oil, 1 ¾ cups vegan sugar, and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract to the soymilk mixture and stir well.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix only until smooth.

Fill the cupcake papers about ⅔ full.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, until when you insert a toothpick into the center of one, it comes out clean.

Ingredients for Vegan Salted Caramel

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• 1 cup (220g) organic or raw sugar
• ⅓ cup (75g) vegan butter or margarine
• ½ cup canned coconut milk (⅓ of the can)
• 1 teaspoon salt

How to Make this Vegan Caramel Recipe with Coconut Milk

prep time: 10 min | cook time: 15 min

Prepare yourself for a serious upper-body workout. As a person who never exercises, my arms feel like they’re going to fall off after I make caramel. Also, if you’re not down with kitchen exercise, I recommend purchasing already-made vegan caramel sauce because cleaning the dishes after making your own caramel is also a workout. Hey Boo makes a good vegan caramel sauce.

Stir the cup of sugar over medium heat in a small/medium sized pot, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula or a whisk. If you see your sugar start to make little sugar crystal rocks, don’t worry. They’ll eventually melt if you’re patient (or even if you’re not patient). Just put on a good playlist to help pass the time. I recommend this one.

Stir or whisk in ⅓ cup of vegan butter or margarine, as soon as the sugar is melted. It’s going to complain a little (in the way of bubbling and sizzling), but if you have kids or a partner, you should be good at ignoring this. Keep whisking as quickly as you can until it’s all combined.

Pour the ½ cup of coconut milk slowly into the pot while you’re whisking or stirring. Again, it’s going to make a big fuss, but ignore it until it chills the f out. Take it off the heat after a minute or so.

Stir in your teaspoon of salt if you’re making salted caramel (or omit it if you’re not).

Cool for 10 to 15 minutes and then pour into a glass jar to cool to room temperature. Caramel thickens as it cools. You can store this caramel sauce on the counter for a few days, but if you intend to keep it longer, it will have to into the fridge (stays in the fridge for up to a month). If you do that, it will solidify and need to be reheated before using it. To reheat, just place your glass jar into a saucepan of water on low-medium heat until it becomes a drizzly consistency again.

Ingredients for Vegan Vanilla Caramel Frosting

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• ¾ cup (170g) organic whipped earth balance (or other vegan butter)
• ¾ cup (140g) organic palm shortening
• 1 tablespoon (12g) vanilla extract
• 4 cups (480g) organic powdered sugar
• ½ cup caramel sauce

How to Make this Vegan Caramel Buttercream Frosting Recipe

prep time: 15 min

Whisk the ¾ cup vegan butter or margarine, ¾ cup Spectrum sustainable organic palm shortening , and vanilla using a stand mixer or a handheld electric mixer with the whisk attachment.

Add the ½ cup of caramel and keep mixing until combined.

Sift in 4 cups (480g) of powdered sugar, a cup at a time.

How to Frost Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes

prep time: 10 min

Pipe onto cooled cupcakes. I used a piping bag fitted with a Wilton star tip 1M for these.

Sprinkle pink sea salt over frosted cupcakes.

Drizzle with leftover caramel sauce.

How to Decorate Naturally-Colored Vegan Mermaid Cupcakes

decor time: 30 min

If you have a mermaid in your life, you can decorate your chocolate salted caramel cupcakes to look like mermaid scales using the following technique.

Pipe dollops using a piping bag fitted with a in a horizontal row across the top of a cupcake.

Smear the dollops into scales using the back of a spoon.

Pipe the next row of scales and repeat until the cupcake top is covered in scales.

Paint the scales with Color Kitchen natural food coloring mixed with powdered sugar. Alternate colors as much as possible.

Spray the tops with edible glitter spray to make them shimmer.

I tried using liquid food coloring and mixing it with a variety of mediums (almond extract, corn syrup, royal icing, and water), and it always turned out bad, so I recommend wither painting the scales with powdered coloring like I’ve done, or just coloring your frosting before you start. This is what mine looked like when I tried using non-powdered food coloring.

Ingredient Details and Substitutions

• Nondairy Milk: For the vegan milk in this recipe, you can use water mixed with non dairy creamer, coffee, or just plain water. You can also mix and match different plant milks. I’ve used macadamia milk, almond milk, soy milk, and even chocolate oat milk.
• Apple Cider Vinegar: You can substitute the apple cider vinegar with white distilled vinegar. You just need some sort of acid to interact with the alkaline baking soda to make the cake rise. You can even substitute lemon juice or lime juice!
• Flour: If you avoid gluten, or if you have friends or family who are gluten free, replace the all-purpose flour with a gluten-free flour blend.
• Cocoa Powder: I use cocoa powder because it’s fair trade, but you can use whatever kind you have. Just don’t swap it with dutch cocoa or else you’ll have to adjust the other ingredients.
• Baking Soda: Out of baking soda? Replace the half a tablespoon (8g) baking soda with an extra 1 and a half tablespoons of baking powder.
• Sunflower Oil: I usually use safflower or sunflower oil for baking cakes. You can use other plant-based oils instead. Avocado oil, coconut oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, grapeseed oil, and even olive oil work. For a lower fat version, I have replaced the ⅔ cup (144g) safflower oil in this recipe with ⅓ cup (72g) of oil and ⅓ cup (72g) of applesauce.
• Vegan Sugar: Use granulated vegan, raw, or organic sugar. Just be careful of conventional granulated sugar, because it’s sometimes not vegan.
• Vanilla Extract: You can replace vanilla extract with vanilla powder or vanilla paste. If you do use vanilla powder, add it when you’re sifting and mixing the dry ingredients, instead of with the wet ingredients.
• Vegan Butter: I buy the organic whipped Earth Balance because it works well in every recipe. If you avoid soy, buy the soy-free earth balance. If you’re out of vegan butter, replace the ¾ cup (170g) vegan butter with an extra ¾ cup (140g) organic palm shortening.
• Vegan Shortening: Is Spectrum sustainable organic palm shortening not in your pantry? Replace it with another ¾ cup (170g) vegan butter or margarine, making a total of 1 and a half cups.
• Vegan Powdered Sugar: Here’s a list of vegan powdered sugar brands.
• Vegan Food Coloring: See my list of vegan food coloring if you’re making the mermaid cupcakes.

Comments or Questions?

If you make this recipe, I would love it if you’d snap a pic, post to instagram, and tag me @vegandollhouse. It seriously makes my day/week/month!

Please message me (instagram or email) if you have any questions or feedback about the recipe.

Similar Recipes

If you like naturally colored cupcakes, check out my low sugar chocolate cupcakes. If you like vegan cupcakes, you might like my vegan eggnog cupcakes or my vegan mocha cupcakes.

If you like cute cupcakes, check out my pig cupcakes or my koala cupcakes.

If you like chocolate and caramel, you might also like my snickers cupcakes or my chocolate ombré cake.

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I mostly cook with organic ingredients, but only specify organic when it’s necessary to ensure the item is vegan.

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