chocolate cupcakes filled with strawberry pudding

Ah, Valentine’s Day. The time of love and chocolate, and sometimes strawberries. To honor this holiday, I like to combine chocolate and strawberries (with love) in a decadent dessert.

There are several vegan chocolate cupcake recipes in my repertoire, so I pulled one up and searched for a strawberry aspect. Simply Delish Instant Strawberry Pudding is quick and vegan, so I knew it would make the perfect match for my chocolate cupcakes.

To give the cupcakes extra love, they were decorated with hearts. I used decorative sugar crystals by Color Garden, rainbow softies sprinkles by Supernatural, and some red sparkly stuff without a label that I found with my decorating supplies. Yeah, it got crazy in the kitchen.

Until next time, happy baking!

Print Recipe

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes filled with Strawberry Pudding

Ah, Valentine’s Day. The time of love and chocolate, and sometimes strawberries. To honor this holiday, I like to combine chocolate and strawberries (with love) in a decadent dessert.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Vegan

Keyword: Baking, Chocolate, Cupcake, High Altitude, Valentines Day

Servings: 6

Author: The Decadent Vegan Baker

Equipment

• 1 Stand Mixer
• 1 Pastry Bag
• 1 Muffin Tin

Ingredients

for the cupcakes

• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1.5 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 3/8 cup natural cocoa powder not Dutch process
• 1/4 cup boiling water
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 3 tablespoons aquafaba
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup + 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 3/4 cup vegan granulated sugar

for the filling

• 1 box instant strawberry pudding (I used Simply Delish)
• 1.25 cups plant-based creamer

for the frosting

• 6 tablespoons cold vegan butter
• 2 tablespoons vegan shortening
• 3 cups vegan powdered sugar sifted
• 3 teaspoons non-dairy milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F with a rack in the middle of the oven. Line a standard muffin tin with paper cups and set aside. Place soy milk in a jar and add the apple cider vinegar. Place the lid on the jar and shake gently to combine. Let sit for 15 minutes to curdle.
• Put cocoa powder in a large heatproof bowl. Add boiling water and whisk until a smooth paste forms. Whisk in curdled milk, oil, aquafaba, and 3/4 tsp vanilla until combined. In a medium bowl, sift flour with baking soda, baking powder, salt, and granulated sugar. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and stir to combine.
• Spoon the batter into the muffin cups until they are half full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out with just a few crumbs. Let cupcakes cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Meanwhile, make the filling. Empty the packet of pudding into a mixing bowl with the creamer. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat on slow for 3-5 minutes until light and creamy. Spoon the filling into a pastry bag with the tip cut off. (No pastry tip needed). Set aside.
• Next, make the frosting. Place the vegan butter and shortening in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until smooth. Add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, alternating with the non-dairy milk and 1/2 tsp vanilla, until it is smooth and creamy. Set aside.
• When the cupcakes have cooled, use a small knife or a cupcake corer to make a small well in the center of each cupcake. (Remove the cupcake bits to snack on). Using the pastry bag with the pudding filling, pipe the filling into the well to be level with the top of each cupcake.
• Spoon a dollop of frosting on top of each cupcake, thus covering the filling. Smooth the frosting with a regular or offset spatula. Decorate as desired with whatever you have on hand.
• Store frosted cupcakes in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Notes

You will have leftover pudding and frosting. This is not a bad thing. They are great sandwiched between two cookies.