If there is a dessert that encapsulates everything people mean when they say that vegan baking has arrived — that it is no longer a compromise, no longer a slightly inferior imitation of the real thing, no longer the version you make when you have dietary restrictions rather than the version you make because it is the best one in the room — it is these Vegan Salted Caramel Cupcakes. The cupcake itself is a dark, deeply chocolatey, moist and tender crumb that does not ask you to notice that there are no eggs or dairy; it simply tastes of chocolate, rich and complex, with a slight depth from the brown sugar and a faint tang from the apple cider vinegar that activates the baking soda and produces a lift so consistent and even that the cupcake comes out of the oven with a perfectly domed top every single time. The filling is a salted caramel sauce — made entirely from coconut cream and coconut sugar, reduced until thick and glossy and then stirred with a generous pinch of flaky sea salt — that is poured into a cored hollow in the center of each cupcake, creating a molten pocket of warm, salt-sweet, butterscotch-dark caramel that collapses when you bite through it and floods the base of the cupcake and your entire mouth simultaneously. The frosting is a salted caramel Swiss meringue-style buttercream made from aquafaba — stiff, glossy peaks of whipped chickpea liquid stabilized with cream of tartar, beaten with vegan butter and coconut sugar caramel into a frosting that is silky and light and tastes more intensely of salted caramel than almost anything you will encounter in a commercial bakery. The combination of the three — chocolate cupcake, caramel core, caramel buttercream — is the kind of dessert that stops conversation at a table, that people photograph before eating, and that they ask for the recipe for before they finish.
The secret is the coconut sugar wet caramel technique. Most vegan caramel recipes use coconut cream as the base — which is correct and produces a beautifully creamy, rich caramel — but the sugar component is where the technique diverges from standard practice. Coconut sugar, unlike granulated white sugar, contains a high proportion of inulin (a complex carbohydrate that does not caramelize in the same way as sucrose) and produces a caramel that is naturally deep brown, complex, and faintly molasses-like even before any actual caramelization occurs. The wet caramel method — dissolving the coconut sugar in a small amount of water before adding the coconut cream — is essential here because coconut sugar has a significantly lower melting point than white sugar and burns easily if heated dry; the water provides a thermal buffer that allows the sugar to dissolve evenly before the cream is added. The resulting caramel is reduced to approximately half its original volume to develop concentration and body, then removed from the heat and finished with flaky sea salt, vanilla extract, and a tablespoon of vegan butter for gloss and richness. It sets to a pourable, molten consistency when warm and to a thick, spoonable, fudge-adjacent consistency when cold — and when used in all three components of this recipe (filling, frosting flavoring, and drizzle garnish), it creates a unified, deeply coherent salted caramel flavor profile across the entire cupcake.
What makes this recipe so extraordinary is the aquafaba Swiss meringue buttercream — a technique that produces a frosting with a lightness and silkiness that neither simple vegan buttercream (which is dense and very sweet) nor coconut cream frosting (which is soft and prone to melting) can achieve. The aquafaba is whipped with cream of tartar to stiff, glossy peaks — this takes 8–10 minutes with a stand mixer or hand mixer and produces a meringue that is visually indistinguishable from egg white Swiss meringue — and then vegan butter is added a tablespoon at a time while the mixer runs, producing a frosting that emulsifies into a smooth, silky, stable buttercream with a fraction of the sweetness of a standard American buttercream. The caramel sauce is then beaten in last, flavoring the buttercream with concentrated salted caramel flavor and deepening its color to a warm, toffee-caramel tone that looks as beautiful piped onto a cupcake as it tastes.
This recipe is 100% vegan, dairy-free, and egg-free, and produces 12 cupcakes that are so impressive — visually and in flavor — that they are equally at home at a birthday celebration, a dinner party dessert table, or a Saturday afternoon baking project that produces something worthy of a professional patisserie window.
Recipe Information
| Prep Time | Cook Time | Total Time | Servings | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 mins | 25 mins | 55 mins (+ cooling) | 12 cupcakes | ~385 kcal |
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cupcakes
- 1½ cups (190g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (50g) Dutch-process cocoa powder (Dutch-process has a smoother, less acidic flavor than natural cocoa and produces a darker, more evenly colored crumb; natural cocoa can be substituted but reduce baking soda to ½ tsp)
- 1 cup (200g) light brown sugar (packed — the molasses in brown sugar adds depth and moisture that white sugar does not provide)
- 1½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp fine salt
- 1 cup (240ml) oat milk or soy milk, at room temperature
- ½ cup (120ml) neutral oil (sunflower or canola — not olive oil, which has a flavor that competes with the chocolate)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar (reacts with baking soda to create lift; also tenderizes the crumb)
- ½ cup (120ml) hot water or hot black coffee (hot liquid blooms the cocoa powder, intensifying its chocolate flavor; coffee deepens the chocolate character without adding coffee flavor)
For the Coconut Sugar Salted Caramel
- ½ cup (100g) coconut sugar
- 3 tbsp water
- 1 cup (240ml) full-fat coconut cream (from the thick part of a well-shaken can, or from a can of full-fat coconut milk left unshaken — scoop the thick cream from the top)
- 1 tbsp vegan butter (for gloss and richness)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ tsp flaky sea salt (or ½ tsp fine salt — the flaky texture of the salt is part of the experience; Maldon or fleur de sel are ideal)
For the Aquafaba Salted Caramel Buttercream
- 120ml (½ cup) aquafaba (liquid from a can of chickpeas — drain the chickpeas, reserve the liquid; do not use aquafaba from salted chickpeas)
- ¼ tsp cream of tartar (essential — stabilizes the aquafaba foam and prevents it from collapsing during whipping and butter addition)
- 1 cup (225g) vegan butter, softened to room temperature and cut into tablespoon-sized pieces (cold butter will not emulsify; butter that is too warm will cause the buttercream to break)
- 3–4 tbsp of the salted caramel sauce (from the batch above — added after the buttercream is made, to flavor and color)
- Pinch of fine salt
For Finishing
- Remaining salted caramel sauce (for drizzling over the frosted cupcakes)
- Flaky sea salt (for finishing)
- Optional: vegan chocolate shards, crushed caramelized pecans, or edible gold leaf
Instructions
- Make the caramel first. The caramel needs time to cool before using in the buttercream. Combine the coconut sugar and water in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves — approximately 2 minutes. Once dissolved, stop stirring. Increase the heat to medium-high and allow the mixture to bubble and reduce for 3 minutes until slightly thickened and deeply fragrant. Carefully pour in the coconut cream (it will bubble vigorously — stand back and pour slowly). Stir to combine and reduce the heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 8–10 minutes until the caramel has reduced by approximately one third and coats the back of a spoon thickly. Remove from heat. Stir in the vegan butter, vanilla, and sea salt. The caramel will be thin when warm — it thickens as it cools. Pour into a heatproof jar or bowl and leave to cool completely. Reserve 3–4 tablespoons for the buttercream; the remainder is for filling and drizzling.
- Make the cupcakes. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 12-hole cupcake tin with paper liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt until evenly combined with no lumps (sift if needed — lumpy cocoa powder does not distribute evenly through the batter). In a separate bowl or jug, whisk together the oat milk, oil, vanilla, and apple cider vinegar. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with a spatula until just combined — a few small lumps are fine; overmixing develops gluten and makes the cupcakes tough. Add the hot water or coffee and fold in until the batter is smooth. The batter will be quite thin — this is correct; the high liquid content produces the moist, tender crumb. Divide evenly among the 12 lined holes (fill each approximately two-thirds full). Bake for 20–22 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs (not wet batter). Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before filling or frosting.
- Make the aquafaba buttercream. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer), combine the aquafaba and cream of tartar. Whip on high speed for 8–10 minutes until the aquafaba has tripled in volume, is bright white, and holds stiff, glossy peaks that stand straight up when the whisk is lifted. Do not rush this step — under-whipped aquafaba produces a greasy buttercream that will not emulsify properly. Switch to the paddle attachment (or continue with the hand mixer). With the mixer running on medium speed, add the softened vegan butter one tablespoon at a time, waiting 30 seconds between additions for each piece to fully incorporate before adding the next. The mixture will look curdled and broken after the first few additions — this is normal; continue adding butter and the emulsion will come together. Once all the butter is incorporated, increase the speed to high and beat for 2 minutes until the buttercream is smooth, light, and fluffy. Add a pinch of fine salt. Add 3–4 tablespoons of the cooled caramel sauce and beat on medium speed for 1 minute until evenly incorporated and the buttercream is a uniform caramel color. Taste — the buttercream should be intensely caramel-flavored and pleasantly salty; add more caramel or a pinch more salt if desired.
- Fill the cupcakes. Using a small sharp knife, a cupcake corer, or the back end of a large piping tip, cut a cone or cylinder from the center of each completely cooled cupcake approximately 2.5cm (1 inch) in diameter and 2.5cm (1 inch) deep. Remove the core (eat it — baker’s privilege). Spoon approximately 1 teaspoon of the cooled caramel sauce into each hollow. The caramel should fill the hollow but not overflow; it will settle and firm slightly as it sits.
- Frost the cupcakes. Transfer the caramel buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip (a 1M or 2D tip produces the classic swirled, peaked cupcake frosting). Pipe a generous swirl of buttercream onto each filled cupcake, starting at the outside edge and spiraling inward and upward to a peak. Alternatively, use a palette knife or offset spatula to spread the buttercream in a thickly swirled dome.
- Finish and serve. Drizzle a small amount of the remaining caramel sauce over each frosted cupcake — a thin zigzag or a simple pour from a spoon works beautifully. Finish with a pinch of flaky sea salt directly on the caramel drizzle. Serve at room temperature for the best flavor and texture — refrigerated buttercream firms and loses its silkiness; allow refrigerated cupcakes to sit at room temperature for 20–30 minutes before serving.
Pro Tips
- Cool the caramel completely before using in buttercream — warm caramel added to buttercream melts the vegan butter, causing the emulsion to break and the buttercream to become greasy and soupy. The caramel should be completely cool and thickened before it goes into the mixer. If the buttercream breaks (looks curdled and greasy), place the bowl over a pan of warm water for 30 seconds and beat again — gentle warmth re-emulsifies a broken vegan buttercream in most cases.
- Whip the aquafaba to stiff peaks, not soft — under-whipped aquafaba is the most common reason aquafaba buttercream fails to come together. Stiff peaks means the foam holds its shape completely when the whisk is lifted and does not slump or droop. This takes the full 8–10 minutes on high speed; do not be tempted to move to the butter addition stage earlier. The aquafaba foam is the structural backbone of the buttercream; the stiffer it is, the more stable the final buttercream.
- Use room-temperature vegan butter — cold butter does not emulsify into the aquafaba foam; it simply breaks the foam into greasy lumps. The butter should be soft enough to leave an indent when pressed with your finger but not melted or oily. If the butter is too cold, microwave each piece for 3–4 seconds before adding. If the butter is too warm, refrigerate the buttercream for 10 minutes and re-beat.
- Fill the cupcakes after they are completely cold — warm cupcakes make the caramel filling run and soak into the crumb rather than staying pooled in the hollow. Completely cooled cupcakes (room temperature for at least 1 hour after baking) hold the caramel filling as a distinct, molten pocket rather than absorbing it.
Salted Caramel: The Flavor That Defined a Generation of Pastry
Salted caramel — the combination of deeply caramelized sugar, cream, and a meaningful amount of salt that is now one of the defining flavor profiles of contemporary Western pastry — is frequently attributed to French chocolatier Henri Le Roux, who created a salted butter caramel (caramel au beurre salé) in Quiberon, Brittany, in 1977, using the salted cultured butter characteristic of the Breton dairy tradition. Le Roux’s caramel won the prize for the best confection in France in 1980 and began a slow spread through French patisserie that would eventually, in the late 1990s and 2000s, reach the United States and transform the global pastry landscape. The salted caramel explosion that began in American bakeries and cafés in the mid-2000s — driven in part by Pierre Hermé’s famous ispahan and salted caramel macaron, and accelerated by the rise of artisan chocolate and specialty coffee culture — produced a decade in which salted caramel appeared in virtually every category of confection and baked good imaginable, from ice cream to popcorn to potato chips to liqueur. The flavor’s appeal is straightforwardly explained by food science: salt amplifies sweetness perception, suppresses bitterness, and enhances the Maillard-derived aromatic compounds in caramelized sugar, producing a flavor that is simultaneously sweet, savory, bitter, and aromatic in proportions that activate multiple taste pathways simultaneously — a multi-sensory experience that the brain registers as unusually complex and satisfying. The vegan salted caramel in this recipe uses coconut sugar instead of sucrose, which adds a natural molasses depth that takes the caramel profile even further into complexity.
Flavor Variations
- Vegan Salted Caramel and Espresso Cupcakes: Add 1 tablespoon of instant espresso powder to the cupcake batter along with the cocoa for a mocha cupcake base, and add ½ teaspoon of espresso powder to the buttercream for a salted caramel latte flavor profile that is one of the most sophisticated dessert combinations in plant-based baking.
- Vegan Salted Caramel Apple Cupcakes: Replace the chocolate cupcake base with a spiced apple cupcake (1½ cups AP flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp each nutmeg and ginger, 1 cup unsweetened applesauce, ½ cup brown sugar, ½ cup oil, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp ACV) and fill and frost with the same salted caramel — the combination of spiced apple, molten caramel filling, and caramel buttercream is an autumn cupcake that rivals anything available at a seasonal café.
- Vegan Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes: Increase the cocoa to ¾ cup and reduce the flour to ¾ cup for a more intensely dark, fudgy cupcake base, and drizzle the finished cupcakes with melted vegan dark chocolate alongside the caramel for a double-chocolate-caramel finish that is deeply indulgent.
Nutritional Highlights (Per Cupcake)
| Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fiber | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ~385 kcal | 4g | 48g | 2g | 20g |
Storage
- Room temperature: Store unfrosted cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. The crumb remains moist and the chocolate flavor deepens overnight.
- Refrigerator (frosted): Store frosted cupcakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. The buttercream firms in the refrigerator — allow cupcakes to return to room temperature for 20–30 minutes before serving for the best texture and flavor. The caramel filling firms considerably when cold and softens again at room temperature.
- Freezer (unfrosted cupcakes): Freeze unfrosted, unfilled cupcakes wrapped individually in plastic wrap, then placed in a freezer bag, for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature for 1–2 hours. Fill and frost after thawing.
- Caramel sauce: Store leftover caramel sauce in a sealed jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Reheat gently in a saucepan or microwave in 15-second increments, stirring between each, until pourable. The caramel improves in flavor over the first 2–3 days as the coconut sugar mellow and deepens.
- Buttercream: Store leftover buttercream in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month. Re-beat at room temperature with a stand mixer or hand mixer for 2–3 minutes before using; it may look curdled when cold but comes together smoothly after beating.
Frequently Asked Questions
My aquafaba won’t whip to stiff peaks — what’s wrong?
Three most common causes: traces of fat in the bowl or on the whisk (fat destroys aquafaba foam — ensure both are completely clean and dry before starting; wipe with a cut lemon or a paper towel dipped in white vinegar and dry thoroughly); aquafaba from salted chickpeas (which does not whip as reliably — use aquafaba from unsalted canned chickpeas only); or insufficient cream of tartar (cream of tartar is essential — it lowers the pH of the aquafaba, which stabilizes the protein foam and allows it to reach stiff peaks; do not omit or reduce it). If the aquafaba has been whipping for 10 minutes and is still not at stiff peaks, add a second pinch of cream of tartar and continue whipping.
Can I use store-bought vegan caramel sauce instead of making my own?
Yes — a good-quality store-bought vegan caramel or date caramel sauce works in both the filling and the buttercream. Use approximately 4 tablespoons in the buttercream and 1 teaspoon per cupcake for the filling. Look for a sauce that is thick enough to spoon rather than pour (a thin sauce will soak into the cupcake rather than staying in the hollow) and add flaky sea salt to the filling and buttercream regardless, as most commercial caramel sauces are under-salted for this application.
Can I make a simpler frosting instead of the aquafaba buttercream?
Yes — a simple vegan caramel buttercream made from 1 cup of softened vegan butter, 2½ cups of powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons of caramel sauce, and a pinch of salt, beaten until light and fluffy, is a straightforward alternative that takes 5 minutes rather than 15. It is denser and sweeter than the aquafaba version but still delicious and significantly easier. For a lighter alternative without aquafaba, whipped coconut cream (chilled overnight full-fat coconut cream whipped with powdered sugar and caramel sauce) is a third option that is lighter than a butter-based frosting but less stable at room temperature.
How do I stop the caramel filling from leaking out when I frost the cupcakes?
Two strategies: first, use a piping bag to fill the hollow rather than a spoon — a piping bag allows you to fill to exactly the right level without overflow; second, allow the caramel filling to cool and firm slightly in the hollow for 10 minutes before frosting, as warm liquid caramel moves easily while slightly cooled caramel is thick enough to stay in place when the buttercream is piped on top. If the caramel still overflows, it has been overfilled — 1 teaspoon per hollow is the right amount; more than that exceeds the capacity of the cored hollow.
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