Charlotte Emily
- Nov 30, 2020

Chocolate Polar Bear Cupcakes

Updated: Aug 23, 2021

CHOCOLATE POLAR BEAR CUPCAKES

As much as I love sweet desserts, I am not always in the right ‘mood’ for a tart or biscuit. However, something I can always eat, is a chocolate cupcake! I’ve been making chocolate cupcakes since the very start of my vegan journey and they have become a firm favourite in my family! They are made very regularly, you could say an unhealthily amount – oops!

My family and I prefer these cupcakes to be muffin size (who wouldn’t?!) which is why there is a lot of mixture and icing. But you can of course half the recipe for regular cupcakes or just a fewer amount! In this recipe I use oat milk, though soy or almond is best for curdling. However, I’ve found that oat milk makes the mix a little thicker; you get a nice airy cake, but when you start to eat it, it becomes fudgy. This is my families favourite, but you can easily switch out the milk if that’s not for you!

Preparation : 10 minutes

Baking Time : 20 – 25 minutes

Decorating Time : 30 – 40 minutes

Makes : 20 – 22 cupcakes

Ingredients

– For the Cakes –

• 330g Dairy-Free Milk (I used Oat)

• 1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

• 275g Caster Sugar

• 55g Coconut Sugar

• 100g Dairy-Free Butter

• 275g Plain Flour

• 60g Cacao Powder

• 1 tsp Bicarbonate Soda

• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

– For the Buttercream Icing –

• 120g Dairy-Free Butter

• 600g Icing Sugar

• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract

• 2 tbsp Dairy-Free Milk (I used Oat)

• Small amount of Black Food Colouring

– For the Decoration –

• Desiccated Coconut

Method

– For the Cakes –

Preheat the oven to 160C fan and line a cupcake/muffin tray with cases (I prefer my cupcakes to be muffin size so I use muffin cases).
In a bowl or jug, whisk together the milk and apple cider vinegar and leave it untouched whilst you make the rest of the cake batter (the aim is for it to curdle, as unpleasant as that sounds!).
Cream the butter and sugars together, then add the dry ingredients and mix.
Slowly add in the milk mixture, making sure to mix it until its all combined into the cake batter. Be careful not to over-beat the batter, as too much air in the mix can cause the cakes to sink in the centre when they come out of the oven (something that I’ve done too many times!)
Spoon the mixture into the cases, filling them between 1/2 and 3/4 full and place in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes.
Once baked, take the cupcakes out of the tray and leave to cool completely on a wire rack, before starting to decorate them.

– For the Icing –

Cream the butter and icing sugar together until light and fluffy (I use a standing mixer on a high speed with a whisk attachment).
Once creamed, add the vanilla extract and if needed, some milk (add half a table spoon at a time) and continue to whisk. By this point, the buttercream should be more white in colour, rather than yellow.
For the icing for the eyes and nose, either separate some buttercream and add some black food colouring, or use some icing sugar and water with some food colouring.

– For the Decoration –