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Vegan chocolate galaxy cupcakes have vanilla and chocolate buttercream frosting swirled on top. These cupcakes are a fun way to celebrate a variety of holidays. May the 4th, space day, and space exploration day probably come to mind. But, there’s also winter solstice, fourth of july, new years eve, and galaxy-themed tea parties and birthday parties.

They’re super easy to make. You can start and finish this vegan galaxy cupcakes recipe all in one day. They’ll impress even the non-vegans in your life.

This recipe makes 24 chocolate galaxy cupcakes.

Table of Contents

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

• Vegan Cupcake Recipe
• Vegan Frosting Recipe
• Tips and FAQ
• Ingredient Substitutions
• Nutrition Information
• Contact Me with Questions
• Similar Recipes

Kimmy told me I could choose what kind of cupcakes she gets for her birthday this year. I got this chocolate DIY galaxy cupcake idea when I recently lucked into 20 Dreamy Bars.

Skott told me that Dreamy bars are a vegan version of milky way candy bars. It’s a good think I have a Skott because I’ve blocked all memories from my mind that occurred before my veganism (except for mounds and almond joy because I’m obsessed with every chocolate and coconut matrimony). Oh and except for twinkies.

Being the surprise ruiner that she is, Kimmy later told me she wanted galaxy themed cupcakes. So, either great minds think alike, or mediocre minds think alike. Regardless, she’s getting the cupcakes she wanted even though I’m taking credit for the idea (since I had it first…me me me, hahaha).

I froze them overnight since these galaxy birthday cupcakes needed to go on a road trip to Ojai the next day. We planned a girls weekend getaway to celebrate Kimmy and Lizzie’s birthdays. They defrost perfectly and taste amazing, so you can make these in advance if needed.

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Vegan Milky Way Galaxy Cupcakes Ingredients

• 2 cups (485g) nondairy milk
• 1 tablespoon (15g) apple cider vinegar
• 2 ½ cups (300g) organic unbleached white flour
• ⅔ cup (57g) cocoa powder
• ½ tablespoon (7g) baking soda
• 1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
• ⅔ cup (144g) sunflower oil
• 1 ½ cups (300g) organic sugar*
• 2 teaspoons (10g) vanilla extract
• vegan milky way copycat candy bars (optional)

How to Make Galaxy Cupcakes

Line 2 cupcake pans with cupcake liners.

Unwrap 3 candy bars. Each of the dreamy bars comes with 2 smaller bars inside. Cut each smaller bar in half, and then cut each half diagonally in half, so you end up with 24 triangle-shaped pieces.

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Combine 2 cups (485g) nondairy milk and 1 tablespoon (15g) apple cider vinegar. Set this mixture aside for now.

Sift the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. They include 2 ½ cups (300g) flour, ⅔ cup (57g) cocoa powder, ½ tablespoon (7g) baking soda, and 1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder.

Add the rest of the wet ingredients to the nondairy milk mixture and stir well. These include ⅔ cup (144g) sunflower oil, 1 ½ cups (300g) sugar, and 2 teaspoons (10g) vanilla extract. Either use your stand mixer fitted with the beater attachment or just mix it by hand.

Add the dry ingredients slowly to the wet ingredients, mixing continuously. Stop mixing when you can no longer see any dry ingredients.

Fill each cupcake liner in the cupcake tin halfway.

Stick a triangle piece of dreamy bar into each cupcake.

Bake cupcakes for 18 minutes. When you insert a toothpick into the center of one, and it comes out clean, remove the pans from the oven. Set the pans on cooling racks to cool for 10-15 minutes. Then remove the cupcakes from the pans, and set them directly on the cooling racks to finish cooling completely.

Ingredients for Vegan Galaxy Buttercream Frosting

• ¾ cup (132g) vegan butter or margarine*
• ¾ cup (154g) spectrum sustainable organic palm shortening *
• 1 tablespoon (13g) vanilla extract
• 4 ½ cups (540g) organic powdered sugar*
• 4 tablespoons (56g) black cocoa powder
• Vegan food coloring (blue, purple and black)

How to Make Vegan Galaxy Swirl Buttercream Frosting

Leave the ingredients sitting out before you start making the frosting. This is just a suggestion for best results.

Whisk ¾ cup (132g) vegan butter and ¾ cup (154g) shortening for 1 minute using a stand mixer or a handheld electric mixer.

Sift in 4 ½ cups (540g) powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing for at least a minute between each addition.

Add 1 tablespoon (13g) vanilla extract, and mix for 2 more minutes.

Divide the vanilla buttercream frosting into 4 bowls.

Add food coloring to each bowl of frosting, and mix well. I used the stand mixer with the whisk attachment. You can use any colors you like, but I used black, purple, and blue to make silver, blue, purple, and black frosting.

When you make the black color, add 4 tablespoons of sifted black cocoa powder. This will help you get the black color without using an entire bottle of food coloring. I made twice as much black as I did any other color.

Fill disposable piping bags or reusable piping bags with the 4 colors of frosting. Or you can just use baggies with a hole cut out of the corner.

Place the 4 or 5 single-colored piping bags inside of a large piping bag fitted with your tip of choice. I used my favorite Wilton 1M star tip. I mean what else would you use for a galaxy themed cupcake?

Pipe swirls of vegan galaxy frosting onto each chocolate cupcake. The first cupcake won’t look great because it takes a second for the colors to start swirling together. If you’re worried about having an ugly one, maybe start piping on a plate until it starts looking good before doing the cupcakes.

Top with vegan sprinkles. I used a combination of mermaid’s tail sprinkles and magical stardust sprinkles from Baking Time Club. You can also spray them with edible glitter spray if you have some.

Chill cupcakes, and remove from fridge 30 minutes before serving.

Questions and Answers and Tips

Can I make these galaxy cupcakes gluten free?

To make gluten-free vegan galaxy cupcakes, use a gluten-free flour blend in place of the all-purpose flour. If you’re using candy bars, make sure those are gluten-free too.

How do you know when the cupcakes are baked?

It’s always challenging to give a baking time, because every oven is different. I poke a toothpick into the center of 1 or 2 cupcakes. If the toothpick comes out clean, then they’re ready to take out of the oven. If the toothpick has any batter or crumbs stuck to it, then I bake them for 3 more minutes. Continue this check every 3 minutes until the the toothpick comes out clean.

How do you make this recipe into a cake?

This recipe should make either a sheet cake using a lasagna pan or a 2-layer round cake using 2 round cake pans. Just remember that cakes take longer to bake than cupcakes. So, start your timer at 30 minutes, and then do the toothpick test every 5 minutes thereafter.

Substitutions

• Nondairy Milk: If you don’t have 2 cups (480ml) of nondairy milk, you can substitute any amount with water, coffee, nondairy creamer, or coconut water. You can also mix and match different nondairy milks. I do this a lot when my macadamia milk only has a little bit left at the bottom and I use it up, and then I open a new container of almond milk or soy milk. You can even use chocolate oat milk! I’ve done that before.
• Apple Cider Vinegar: You can substitute the apple cider vinegar with white distilled vinegar. You just need some sort of acid to interact with the alkaline baking soda to make the cake rise. You can even substitute lemon juice or lime juice!
• Sunflower Oil: I recommend using safflower, sunflower, avocado oil, or coconut oil for baking cakes. 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.
• Vegan Butter: I buy the organic whipped earth balance because it works well in every recipe. If you avoid soy, buy the soy-free earth balance.
• Vegan Shortening: Is spectrum sustainable organic palm shortening not in your pantry? Replace it with another ¾ cup vegan butter or margarine, making a total of 1 ½ cups. If you do, your frosting will be less stable at room temperature. So, only make this substitution if you have the ability to keep the cupcakes in the fridge instead of on the counter.
• Vegan Powdered Sugar: The 24-oz bag of 365 organic powdered sugar from Whole Foods is more than enough. If you don’t live near a Whole Foods or if you’re boycotting them, here’s a list of vegan powdered sugar brands.
• Vegan Food Coloring: I used blue and purple from the wilton multi color pack of gel food colors and americolor black gel color for my galaxy frosting. You can use any colors you like. When I made my galaxy cake, I think I even added pink. You can see my list of vegan food coloring for other options.

Nutrition Facts

• Servings: 24
• Calories per serving: 364
• Calcium per serving: 41mg
• Cholesterol per serving: 0mg
• Dietary Fiber per serving: 2g
• Iron per serving: <1mg
• Potassium per serving: 66mg
• Protein per serving: 3g
• Total Carbohydrate per serving: 47g
• Total Fat per serving: 19g
• Total Sugars per serving: 35g
• Sodium per serving: 157mg

Comments or Questions?

If you make this vegan galaxy 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

If you like these galaxy cupcakes, you might also like my galaxy sushi bowls where I used only natural superfoods to make the colors. I also have some galaxy donuts that are like a cross between chocolate cake, carrot cake, and zucchini cake.

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* I use mostly organic ingredients when I cook. I realize that not everyone has the disposable income to buy only organic ingredients. So, I only specify organic on the ingredients that matter: when buying the organic (or non-GMO) version is the only way to ensure that an item is vegan.

This post links to items I used when I made this recipe. If you click on the purple Buy Now button on a product page, you will go to a website (like Amazon) where you can buy the same product I used. Sometimes, the store you purchase from (Amazon, Etsy, etc.) will pay me for referring you. This costs you nothing extra, and I would never recommend a product that I don’t use. These affiliate programs help me buy the ingredients to create these recipes for you. Read more about this in my privacy policy.

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