Fudgy Vegan Brownie Cupcakes

How do you like your chocolate brownies? We like them fudgy, chocolatey, and moist. You need only one bowl and 9 wholesome ingredients to make these festive vegan brownie cupcakes for Christmas. Are you ready?

If you are also a chocolate lover, you might be interested in our vegan chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Or how about some vegan sweet potato brownies or this decadent sweet potato chocolate pudding?

What to expect from this recipe

Everyone hates dry, suffocating cupcakes, but these vegan brownie cupcakes are ain’t one of them. They are really moist, rich, and decadent. We don’t use any coconut oil, which most recipes do, but instead, we add juicy apple sauce and creamy peanut butter. They make the gooey, a cross between cakey and fudgy brownies.

You can certainly bake brownies in an 8×8 baking pan, but if you use a muffin tin you can significantly cut back on the baking time. Do you know what it means? That if you are carving something chocolatey, you can have these delicious cupcakes within 30 minutes.

You can add your favorite topping, but the easiest is a quick coconut whipped cream which is only 2 ingredients: full-fat canned coconut milk (the cream part) and powdered sweetener. Send us a pic if you make them.

Ingredients

You need 9 plant-based, whole foods ingredients to make this recipe. You can mix everything in one bowl and the batter is ready to be baked. So what do you need to make these SUPER FUDGY vegan brownies?

• Oat flour -> You can make your own using your food processor and rolled oats.
• Cocoa powder or cacao powder since they are interchangeable.
• Coconut sugar -> You can use other dry sweeteners, but we prefer to use coconut sugar.
• Peanut butter -> There is no peanut flavor, but you need some healthy fats to make the brownies fudgy. We used our homemade peanut butter.
• Dairy-free milk -> We used our homemade unsweetened cashew milk, but you can use whatever you have at hand.
• Apple sauce -> The brownies will not taste like apples, but it helps to end up with a rich and moist texture.
• Ground flax or chia -> It is an easy vegan egg substitute to bind the batter together.
• Baking soda and Apple cider vinegar -> You need them together as they make foam to leaven the batter. Alternatively, you can use freshly squeezed lemon juice, but you need some acid to get the baking soda really working.
• Pinch of salt

🛒 You can find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Variations

This simple one-bowl vegan brownie cupcake recipe is a perfect base recipe for adding your own twist. You can choose your favorite add-ins or mix and match them from the below list. Don’t stir more than ⅓ cup of add-ins into your brownie batter for 6 cupcakes.

• Chocolate chips or chocolate chunks (dark or white) – We love the combination of white chocolate chips and dried cranberries.
• Carob chips for an even healthier WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) option.
• Raisins or dried cranberries – How about some candied orange peel?
• Chopped nuts (cashews, almonds, walnuts, pecans)
• Seeds (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds)
• Shredded coconut (or even better toasted coconuts) – They go perfectly with any chocolate recipe including our coconut cookies recipe.

Instructions

1. Take a large bowl and first add all dry ingredients (oat flour, cocoa powder, coconut sugar, baking soda, salt, and ground flax) and whisk them well.
2. Add all wet ingredients (milk, apple cider vinegar, apple sauce, and peanut butter) and mix them well.
3. Line a cupcake/muffin tin with cupcake liners (photo #5).
4. Use an ice cream scoop to distribute the mixture evenly in all cups by filling them up until the top.
5. Bake them in a preheated oven of 350 Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius) for 20-25 minutes. Check the center with a toothpick. It should come out fudgy but not wet.
6. Cool them on a wire rack before adding any decoration or topping. 

How to decorate them?

It depends on what is the occasion. Is it Christmas or Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day or a birthday party?

The vegan brownie cupcakes you can see in the pictures are decorated for Christmas to be part of our vegan Christmas dinner.

It is topped with coconut whipped cream, sprayed with edible gold mist, and sprinkled with snowflake sprinkles and pearl sprinkles. Tadaaaa! Festive vegan brownie bites here you go. 

Other toppings can be

• chocolate coconut whipped cream – we used it as a frosting on our vegan chocolate cake.
• vegan chocolate pudding – we used our sweet potato chocolate pudding as a frosting on our vegan sweet potato brownies.
• vegan buttercream frosting
• vegan cream cheese frosting

Let us know in the comments, what is your favorite topping for brownies!

FAQs

How to store them?

You can store these brownie cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days without a problem. However, if you choose to use coconut whipped cream, you should know that coconut cream hardens in the fridge. It will lose its fluffy soft texture after a couple of hours.

Is it freezer friendly?

You can definitely freeze unfrosted brownie muffins, but I don’t recommend freezing them together with any topping. Thaw them at room temperature completely before serving.

Allergen info

This vegan brownie cupcakes recipe is dairy-free and egg-free.

• Vegan – All ingredients are supposed to be vegan.
• Nut-free – You can use dairy-free butter (aka margarine) instead of peanut butter to make it nut-free. You should also use other nut-free sweeteners to avoid coconuts as well.
• WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) – Yes, it is. No oil or refined sugar is used in this recipe. As far as I know, oat flour and coconut sugar are compliant ingredients as well.
• Gluten-free – You should pay attention to buying certified oat flour, but all ingredients should be gluten-free.
• Soy-free – Apart from not using soy milk, all ingredients are supposed to be soy-free.

More vegan dessert recipes

You can browse through our vegan dessert recipes or check out

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UPDATED: This recipe was originally posted in Dec 2019. More tips, detail, and info were added and it was republished in Sep 2022.