Mocha Cupcakes

These vegan mocha cupcakes with vegan mocha frosting are a delicious way to celebrate coffee and chocolate. I’ve brought these to numerous celebrations, and they’re always a huge hit.

They start with a vegan chocolate cupcake with a hint of coffee. Then, they’re filled with an optional light and fluffy coffee cream. Finally, they’re topped with a swirl of coffee and chocolate buttercream frosting. Add some vegan sprinkles and a coffee flavored cookie garnish, and you’ve got yourself a cute crowd pleaser.

This recipe makes 12 mocha cupcakes with mocha buttercream frosting.

Table of Contents

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

• Mocha Cupcake Recipe
• Coffee Cream Filling
• Mocha Frosting Recipe
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Ingredient Substitutions
• Contact Me with Questions
• Similar Recipes

Coffee coffee buzz buzz buzz was my favorite flavor of ice cream before I went vegan. These mocha cupcakes remind me of that ice cream. The first time I made these back in 2014, were for my friend Marcie to celebrate her wedding day. I took terrible pictures in 2014, so I did you the favor of making these again for my friend Jacky’s birthday party a few months ago. I took some new pictures (who are we kidding? David takes all my pictures) and updated this post to save your eyes the pain of looking at those old atrocities.

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Ingredients for Vegan Mocha Cupcakes Recipe

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

• ½ cup cold brew coffee
• ½ cup nondairy milk
• ½ tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¾ cup coconut sugar
• ⅓ cup safflower oil
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup cocoa powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt

How to Make Vegan Mocha Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Line a muffin pan with paper liners.

Combine vinegar and nondairy milk and let sit.

Sift the dry ingredients into another bowl: 1 ½ cups flour, ⅓ cup cocoa powder, ¾ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon baking powder, and ¼ teaspoon salt.

Stir the remaining wet ingredients into the nondairy milk mixture: ½ cup cold brew concentrate, ½ tablespoon vanilla, ¾ cup sugar, and ⅓ cup safflower oil.

Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, half at a time, but don’t start adding them until you can’t hear the sugar scraping the bottom of the bowl anymore.

Mix just until you can’t see any dry ingredients anymore - you don’t want to overmix.

Scrape the sides and bottom with a silicone spatula to make sure you got all the dry incorporated into the wet.

Fill the baking cups about ⅔ full.

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

Ingredients for Vegan Coffee Cream Filling

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

• 1 can coconut cream, chilled overnight
• ½ cup organic powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon xantham gum
• 1-2 teaspoons instant coffee

Vegan Coffee Cream Filling Directions

Whisk the filling ingredients until smooth in the using a stand mixer or a handheld electric mixer. You want it to form peaks that do not fall. The ingredients are: 1 can of chilled coconut cream, ½ cup organic powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon xantham gum, and 1-2 teaspoons of instant coffee.

Transfer the whipped filling into a piping bag fitted with a decorating tip. You can substitute another tip if you don’t have this one, but keep in mind that the bigger the tip, the bigger hole it will leave in your cupcakes.

Poke each cupcake about halfway through.

Squeeze in as much cream filling as you can without it starting to ooze out the top.

Ingredients for Vegan Mocha Frosting Recipe

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

• 1-2 teaspoons instant coffee
• 3 tablespoons nondairy milk
• ¼ cup vegan butter or margarine
• ¼ cup organic palm shortening
• ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups organic powdered sugar

How to Make Vegan Coffee Buttercream and Mocha Buttercream Frosting

Mix the amount of instant coffee you would use for a whole cup of coffee with 3 tablespoons of nondairy milk over low heat until it’s dissolved.

Transfer to a mason jar or coffee cup and set aside until you need it.

Mix the ¼ cup vegan butter, ¼ cup palm shortening, and ½ tablespoon vanilla extract using a stand mixer or a handheld electric mixer until it’s smooth, creamy, and fluffy.

Add the coffee milk to the whipped butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it’s completely incorporated.

Sift in 1 cup of the powdered sugar and mix well. Start on a low speed and increase the speed once the powdered sugar is incorporated enough that it won’t go everywhere and make it look like it snowed inside your kitchen.

Sift in ¾ cup of the powdered sugar and mix well, using the same method of slowly increasing the speed.

Divide the frosting in half.

Sift the last ¼ cup of powdered sugar into half of the frosting and mix well, using the same method. Set aside.

Sift the ½ cup cocoa powder into the other half of the frosting and mix well.

Fill one disposable piping bag with the mocha frosting and another disposable piping bag with the coffee frosting. You can also use baggies with a hole cut out of the corner or non-disposable piping bags if you don’t mind washing dishes.

Place the 2 piping bags inside of a large piping bag fitted with your tip of choice. I used my Wilton star tip 1M because it’s my favorite tip.

Pipe onto cooled cupcakes. This recipe makes enough to pipe onto 12 cupcakes or if you’re spreading it with a knife, you can frost 24 cupcakes.

Decorate with vegan sprinkles and vegan Pirouline (coffee flavored wafer straw cookies). I used the Edward & Sons ones because they’re organic and vegan.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I convert this recipe into a vegan coffee cupcakes recipe?

If you avoid chocolate, you can convert this recipe into a vegan coffee cupcake recipe. Just follow the recipe for the cake portion of my coffee birthday cake recipe but scoop the batter into cupcake liners and bake them for the same amount of time as the mocha cupcakes.

When you make the frosting, just skip the part where you divide the frosting in half and add cocoa powder to half.

Ingredient Substitutions

• Cold Brew Concentrate: I used Chameleon brand cold brew concentrate for these cupcakes, but stumptown cold brew concentrate is really good too. If you want to save money, you can also make your own cold brew concentrate.
• Nondairy Milk: Use any plant milk you prefer. I like soymilk, but any kind will do.
• Apple Cider Vinegar: You can use white distilled vinegar in place of the apple cider vinegar. You can even use lemon or lime juice. You just need something acidic to interact with the baking soda to give the cupcakes lift.
• Coconut Sugar: You can use any number of sugars in place of the coconut sugar, as long as they’re vegan: sucanat, raw sugar, organic sugar, vegan sugar, or demurara. If you’re not sure if your sugar is vegan, you can contact the company and ask, but basically, just avoid conventional white sugar or granulated sugar, and you should be ok.
• Safflower Oil: I recommend using safflower, sunflower, avocado, or coconut oil for baking cakes because those oils are made for high heat, which helps you avoid transfats. However, you can use any other oil such as vegetable oil, canola oil, grapeseed oil, etc. People even make cakes with olive oil, but I don’t recommend it.
• Flour: I always use unbleached organic all-purpose flour, because costco has it for super cheap. To make these cupcakes gluten-free, you can try replacing the all-purpose flour with a gluten-free flour blend. I haven’t tried this so if you do, let me know how it goes.
• Cocoa Powder: I use fair trade cocoa powder but you can use any kind.
• Baking Soda: If your baking soda is more than a couple years old, this recipe could fail. If you don’t have baking soda (or yours is old), you can replace the ¾ teaspoon baking soda in this recipe with 2 ½ teaspoons of additional baking powder (making a total of 3 teaspoons or a tablespoon).
• Baking Powder: I try to use non-aluminum baking powder whenever possible, but you can use whatever you have. If it’s old, it may not work as well. If you’re out of baking powder, you can omit it.
• Coconut Cream: If needed, you can chill a can of coconut milk and scrape just the solids from it to use in place of the coconut cream.
• Instant Coffee: If you have a jar of instant coffee, use 1-2 teaspoons, but if you have packets, use 1 packet of instant coffee.
• Powdered Sugar: See my post on brands of vegan powdered sugar for more info.
• Vegan Butter: My favorite is Earth Balance Organic Whipped Buttery Spread. If you avoid soy, get the soy-free Earth Balance. You can use other kinds, but they all act differently. For instance Miyoko’s Vegan Butter is not great for making frosting, so I would avoid it.
• Palm Shortening: I use spectrum sustainable organic palm shortening because it’s sustainable.

Comments or Questions?

If you make this vegan cupcake 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

For other vegan cupcakes, check out my cupcakes category.

If you like vegan coffee desserts, you might like the 6” coffee cake I made for my friend Skott’s birthday one year. I also have a coffee ice cream recipe that replicates the Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz ice cream from Ben & Jerrys.

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