I read about this recipe for a Dairy Free Cake on Rita’s, The Culinary Taste blog. It is a great alternative for those who are lactose intolerant or who are vegans. I could not resist the urge and turned the cake into cupcakes and they were lovely. I did not have any icing sugar (confectioners’ sugar) on hand to sprinkle over the top so I dipped them in brown sugar instead and the crunch added a nice texture contrast to the lovely soft and moist crumb of the cupcake.
Dairy Free Cake / Cupcakes
Ingredients
1½ cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
5 tbsp oil
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup water
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Sift all the dry ingredients into a bowl.
- Add the remaining ingredients and mix.
- Divide the mixture into 12 muffin tins lined with paper cases.
- Bake for 15 – 18 minutes.
- Once cooled, dip into sugar or sprinkle with icing sugar (confectioners’ sugar).
The Complete Book 
Nice one, I read the recipe on Rita’s blog and made a note to try it. And then completely forgot about it … getting old is not for sissies ;p
Another reason I take notes of notes. 🙂
I love the idea of using sugar crystals for icing – I keep the multi coloured ones on hand for guests so will save this idea for next time we entertain 🙂
The coloured sugar crystals will look so pretty. 🙂
This topping sounds like a great alternative…a moist,chocolate cupcake with a golden sugar crunch! Love it! x
The crunch was lovely. I had 2 leftover and in the morning the sugar had melted and make the tops nice and sticky. 🙂
Interesting, I never had tried dairy free cakes before. How does it taste like? Whats the difference?
They taste just the same as a normal chocolate cake/cupcake with the only difference being that they do not contain any eggs or any dairy like milk, yoghurt or buttermilk. 🙂
They’re also much lighter than common chocolate cakes. Absolutely wonderful!!!
P.S. Mandy, I’ve made cupcakes using this recipe, too!! They’re for Lapo’s first birthday (that is, today). They’re marvellous!!!
P.P.S. Thanks for the mention! 😉
Hi Rita, Happy 1st Birthday to Lapo. I am so pleased you also had great success with cupcakes with this recipe. I bet you have decorated them beautifully. 🙂
Hi Mandy! I actually would enjoy this crunchy brown sugar topping. 😛 Not a big fan of icing… I know… I’m totally against everyone…
Hi Nami, I know of a few people who don’t like icing, so you are not alone. 😉
I really like the idea of your steamed cupcakes. 🙂
Water makes an awesome chocolate cake. I havent tried it yet with vanilla or other cakes. Had to do a dairy free wedding cake a couple years ago. Your cupcakes look so pretty with the sugar crystals. A great idea. Thanks for sharing xx
It’s amazing that water doesn’t make the flavour insipid. I was quite tempted to replace the oil with apple sauce but alas I didn’t have any. 🙂
Ooh these look delicious. I will try to remember these next time we are baking. I like the sugar topping.
They are super easy and are great for when the cupboards are bare too as I always have the ingredients on hand. 🙂
Hello Mandy,
Your cupcakes sounds awesome..I really love that you didn’t use frosting, it is really to heavy and sweet. I just love yours, I am so sure they taste fantastic!
Sounds great to me especially since I’m not a huge fan of frosting to begin with.
I am going to replace the oil with apple sauce next time to make them even healthier. 🙂
Very nice recipe – I love your brown sugar topping, so quick and easy 🙂
Looks pretty too. 🙂
I actually haven’t decorated them. I kept them plain and simple because we’re celebrating Lapo’s b-day on Sunday and we’re planning some pretty decorated cakes for that day… Surprise surprise… I will surely post the pics on facebook and maybe on the blog! 🙂
That’s great. I am looking forward to seeing the pics. xo
The chocolate muffins look fantastic!
Thanks Angie. 🙂
I actually know quite a few people who would LOVE this recipe (their children have dairy allergies). These turned out really lovely!
Thanks Brandie. So nice that little ones with dairy allergies can still have cake. I will be on the look out for other good recipes. 🙂
Mandy, this looks beautiful & delish…love the sugar on the top 🙂 xx
Thanks Kim. It is a winner of a recipe and I will definitely be making them again. 🙂
What a lovely alternative! I’d almost feel healthy about eating one!! Definitely on the to do list, and the brown sugar crystals looked so pretty!
The sugar crystals were a huge hit. 🙂 Substituting the oil with apple sauce will make it even healthier and in my opinion means I qualify for an extra one. 😉
I like the sugar as sprinkles. While my kiddos would totally disagree, I kinda like cupcakes w/o all the frosting piled on top.
I love a simple topping to cupcakes although I can be swayed into the frosting corner too. 🙂