These Vegan Chai-Spiced Cupcakes are dense, soft and delicious! Paired with a sweet and creamy icing they’re hard to resist and cute enough to grab anyone’s attention. Perfect for the festive season or any time of the year!
When making these cupcakes, I wanted to create something that has a lot of substance and real flavour rather than just being very sweet. They are dark and dense and flavoured with cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. I found that pairing this type of cake with a small dollop of sweetness on top made for a much more balanced dessert that doesn’t leave me feeling a little drunk on sugar.
These little chai cupcakes call for 13 ingredients, take about 40 minutes in total to make and make an adorable centerpiece!
Prep Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 25 mins Yield: 12 Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon flax meal
- 2.5 tablespoons water
- 1/2 cup vegan butter
- 1/2 cup raw sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup plant-based milk
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamon
ICING
- 1/3 cup vegan butter
- 2 cups icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon plant-based milk
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Method
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (355°F) and line a cupcake tray with liners.
- Prepare your flax eggs by whisking the flax meal with the water and let it sit until it becomes gelatinous (5 minutes).
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flax eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, and vegan butter. Add and whisk in the plant-based milk.
- Sift all dry ingredients into another bowl and stir to combine, then add it to the wet ingredients. Fold it in until everything has come together smoothly.
- Now spoon the batter into the lined cupcake tray until they’re roughly 3/4 full.
- Bake them for 25 minutes. They are done when an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Set them to cool before icing.
- To prepare the icing; simply combine all ingredients until smooth, transfer to a piping bag and gently ice your cupcakes. Dust with cinnamon and icing sugar and add a cinnamon stick for cuteness. Enjoy!