Easy Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Pecan Pie Frosting

Need an easy dessert idea for a potluck or holiday party? These Easy Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Pecan Pie Frosting are sure to be a crowd-pleaser.

Get ready to bake for your vegan family and friends this holiday season without needing any special ingredients. Today we’ll show you how to make the most decadent and easy vegan chocolate cupcakes from scratch with typical foods you’d find in almost any kitchen. Then finish them off with a delicious homemade vegan frosting topped with candied pecans.

If you or your loved ones follow a vegan diet, you know it can be difficult to find delicious vegan recipes that are also easy to make. Vegan baking often calls for nut milk, coconut cream or other vegan ingredients that you may not readily keep on hand. The best part about this recipe for easy vegan chocolate cupcakes from Meaghan at Cook. Craft. Love. is you don’t need any of those special ingredients!

If you love pecans, try our homemade pecan shortbread cookie recipe next!

Meaghan first became interested in vegan baking after one of her best friends became vegan a few years ago. She loves to create new recipes her friend can enjoy like the cupcakes she made for her friend’s birthday or these simple one bowl vegan brownies. Yet since Meaghan herself isn’t vegan she enjoys the challenge of finding ways to make amazing and easy desserts that don’t require running to the store to find specialty items.  

When Meaghan sent me her recipe for this month, she said “These are so good! I made these Easy Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes for my potluck friendsgiving in my apartment building last night and they were a HUGE hit! Plus, they’re totally vegan! I love that they’re vegan cupcakes without any weird ingredients like soy or almond milk or flax something or other.” 

Making Easy Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Pecan Pie Frosting

Get ready to wow your vegan friends and family at your next potluck or party with these Easy Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes! We’ll break this down for you step-by-step into three very easy parts:

• Part 1: How to Make Easy Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
• Part 2: How to Make Candied Pecans
• Part 3: How to Make Vegan Frosting

There’s a recipe card at the end of this post for your convenience as well. It neatly combines all three parts into one simple card in case you want to print out the instructions to save for later. 

What you need: 

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Kitchen Tools Needed: 

• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Whisk
• 3 Mixing bowls
• Cupcake liners
• 12 cup muffin tin
• Large ice cream scoop
• Toothpicks
• Wire cooling rack
• Microwave safe bowl
• Rubber spatula or mixing spoons
• Wax paper
• Stand mixer or hand mixer
• Decorating bag and piping tip or icing spatula
• Cupcake carrier, if you’re taking these delicious goodies to a potluck or party 

Part 1: How to Make Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

These homemade vegan chocolate cupcakes are decadent and delicious. Top them with the pecan pie frosting recipe we’ve provided or your favorite vegan icing.

Ingredients Needed: 

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 Tbsp white vinegar
• 6 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 cup water, room temperature

Instructions:

1. Prepare the dry ingredients

First, start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Now whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl. Set the bowl of dry cupcake ingredients aside.

2. Add the wet ingredients

In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, vinegar, vegetable oil, and water.

3. Combine the wet and dry ingredients

Next, make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Now whisk the ingredients together just until they’re combined. 

4. Fill and bake the vegan chocolate cupcakes

Fill a lined muffin tin 3/4 full of vegan chocolate cupcake batter using a large ice cream scoop. Once the muffin tin is filled, bake the vegan chocolate cupcakes at 350 degrees for 22-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Finally make sure you cool the vegan chocolate cupcakes completely before frosting.

Part 2: How to Make Candied Pecans

Use these simple steps to create candied pecans to use in the pecan pie frosting and to garnish the vegan chocolate cupcakes.

Ingredients Needed: 

• 1 cup pecans, chopped into small pieces (leave some extra ones whole for garnish, if desired)
• 2 Tbs vegan butter
• 1 1/2 Tbs brown sugar
• 1/2 Tbs white sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions:

1. Melt butter then add sugars and cinnamon

In a microwave safe bowl melt the vegan butter. Then stir in the brown sugar, white sugar, and cinnamon. Mix the butter, sugars and cinnamon until they’re combined.

2. Coat the pecans

Pour the chopped pecans into the vegan butter mixture and stir to coat. If you left some pecans whole for garnish, go ahead and mix those into the butter too.

3. Let the candied pecans set 

Turn the coated pecans onto a sheet of wax paper, separating them slightly. Leave the candied pecans to set while the vegan chocolate cupcakes are cooling.

Part 3: How to Make Vegan Frosting

Making vegan pecan pie frosting requires just five basic ingredients. If you’re allergic to tree nuts, you can totally omit them from this vegan frosting recipe and it will still be delicious on the vegan chocolate cupcakes. It just won’t be “pecan pie frosting.” 

Ingredients Needed: 

• 1 cup salted vegan butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• The chopped, candied pecans you made in part 2

Instructions:

1. Combine vegan butter, brown sugar and vanilla

Using a stand mixer or hand mixer beat the salted vegan butter in a mixing bowl until it’s pale and fluffy. Meaghan says this should take about 5 minutes. Now add in the brown sugar and vanilla and beat until it’s well combined.

2. Mix in the powdered sugar

Add the powdered sugar, 1/2 a cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue to do so until your vegan frosting reaches a thick pipeable consistency.

3. Add candied nuts to make pecan pie frosting

Now take the chopped pecans that you candied and set aside earlier. Mix the nuts into the frosting just enough to combine them. 

4. Frost the vegan chocolate cupcakes

Now the moment you’ve been waiting for! Using a decorating bag and piping tip or an icing spatula, frost each of the vegan chocolate cupcakes with the pecan pie frosting. Garnish the cupcakes with two whole candied pecans, if desired. Serve with a tall glass of milk and enjoy! 

If you enjoyed this recipe for Easy Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Pecan Pie Frosting, please share this with your friends or pin it for later: 

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What’s Next? 

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Carrie Ypma