Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes

Yay! Cupcakes! :D Not my recipe, but I did tweak it slightly. I gave these out to a ton of people. All who told me how bad ass they are. Of course! Chocolate and coffee all rolled up into a cute little cupcake. What isn't awesome about that?!

Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes (from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)

1 Cup rice milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 Cup sugar
1/3 Cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon chocolate extract
2 Tablespoons instant coffee
1 Cup all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
1/3 Cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350F. Put the muffin cups in your muffin pan and set aside.

Whisk together the rice milk and apple cider vinegar in a large bowl and set aside for at least 5 minutes. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla, chocolate extract and instant coffee and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add in two batches to the wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain.

Pour the batter into the liners, filling them three-quarters of the way full. Bake 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.


Mocha Ganache Topping

1/2 cup strong coffee 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (or one bag of chocolate chips) 2 Tablespoons maple syrup

Bring the coffee to a gentle boil in a small saucepan. Immediately remove from heat and add the chocolate and maple syrup. Use a rubber heatproof spatula to mix the chocolate until it's fully melted and smooth. Set aside at room temperature to cool. (Or if you're impatient like me, you can put it in the refrigerator for a few minutes, but not too long, you don't want it to harden, just thicken and cool.)

Spoon the ganache on top of the cupcakes and prepare to rock the socks off of everyone who is eating them.