It was time to break out Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World again for a second shot at making some vegan cupcakes. Today, let there be chocolate.

Since I’m a vegan baking novice I decided to go for Your Basic Chocolate Cupcakes adorned with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. Well actually, I wanted to go for the S’mores Cupcakes but there was no soy yogurt to be found in the fridge. Probably best to keep things simple at this point anyway. Note to self - buy a yogurt maker.

Now I had been less than pleased with my first foray into vegan cupcake land - the basic Golden Vanilla Cupcakes. They came out a tad too moist for my liking. Let’s face it, they were wet. I did discover, after the fact, that my oven rack was one position lower than the absolute middle which may have been the culprit. I embarked on the chocolate cupcakes with renewed enthusiasm.

Yay! The cupcakes rose a little higher than their vanilla counterparts, despite the three minute shorter baking time. I also ran the oven slightly hotter, about a needle’s width, than the 350 degrees called for - and I left them in for the full 20 minutes allowed. While the cupcakes were cooling I went about making the frosting.

I used Earth Balance brand vegan margarine and shortening. I had never used the shortening before so I was more than a bit curious to see what it would be like to work with. I didn’t have an overabundance of experience making buttercream frosting before I decided to go vegan but I have a fair amount of experience eating it under my belt. I was more than pleased with how easy it was to make this frosting and how nice it looked on the cupcakes. Most importantly, it tasted good. I really wanted to experiment with piping the frosting on but decided to keep it simple for this first foray and opted to spread it on the tops instead.

Verdict? Success! The cupcakes were moist, but not too moist. They were tasty. They look delightful - even gift worthy. Newfound confidence in tow, I can now tackle the aforementioned S’mores Cupcakes, the Tiramisù Cupcakes, Mucho Margarita Cupcakes, Dulce Sin Leche Cupcakes, Chocolate Stout Cupcakes, Brooklyn vs. Boston Cream Pie Cakes, Hazelnut Cupcakes filled with Mocha Hazelnut Mousse Filling, Cappucino Cupcakes filled with Espresso Crème - ah hell, I’m going to make the whole book.