Let me tell you a quick story about my grandma.
Not only was she awesome, but she was a lady ahead of her time. She was making ‘cold-brew’ coffee WAY before it ever became popular.
To this day, I can remember coming home from school and watching her mix up her instant coffee with some ice and milk. My grandfather, and quite a few other family members, thought she was crazy for drinking coffee cold. Yet, she loved it just the same.
Who knew, that 20 some years after her passing, my grandma’s afternoon cool down drink would become a pretty popular beverage around town.
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Vitacost.
All thoughts and opinions are 100% all mine.
An Overzealous Blogger
Vitacost contacted me a few weeks back and asked if I wanted to work with them on a campaign to help celebrate National Coffee Month. Little did they know that they would receive an email, a very overly enthusiastic email, begging stating that I would love to.
Thankfully, I didn’t scare them away with my over zealous need to be a part of this campaign.
I mean, I love me some coffee, so this was practically screaming my name.
In Honor Of My Grandma
Celebrating coffee is an every day occurrence for me. Every time the coffee maker dings to let me know it’s done brewing… I celebrate.
To go a step further though, I thought it would be fun to pay homage to Grandma and create a recipe that involved using cold brew.
Now, with no disrespect towards my grandma, I decided to opt out of using instant coffee becaues I had a beautiful bag of Equal Exchange coffee to use.
With just a few steps, I had a delicious jar of cold brew all set to go.
Chocolate Cold Brew Coffee Cupcakes | Gluten & Dairy Free
Chocolate and Coffee.. You Can’t Go Wrong
I could have put together a nice cold brew drink and take a few pictures, but just like my grandma, I wanted to do something a little different.
Craving something sweet, I decided to put together a cupcake recipe.
And not just any cupcake. This cupcake recipe was going to be gluten-free, dairy-free, have lots of chocolate and infused with some the cold brew.
Oh wait… Not only all that goodness, but the icing was going to be made with the Califia Farms Vanilla Creamer I received too!
Can you say.. YUM?!
Here’s To You Grandma… And All Those Coffee Lovers Out There
Once the cupcakes were cooled and had a nice layer of icing on them, it took me about 2 seconds to take my first bite.
WOW!! They tasted AMAZING!
The cold brew kicked the chocolate flavor to new heights and the icing… WOW again.. the icing tasted soo good!
Now It’s Your Turn
I really hope you try these cupcakes. You’ll love them.
PrintChocolate Cold Brew Coffee Cupcakes | Gluten & Dairy Free

Made with homemade cold-brew or store bought, these Chocolate Cold Brew Cupcakes have an off the charts chocolate flavor.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 cupcakes
- Category: Dessert
Ingredients
Cupcake Ingredients
- 1 cup gluten free flour blend
- 1 cup organic sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon guar gum
- pinch of salt
- 2 egg replacers
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1/4 cup cold brew coffee
- 1/4 cup coconut oil or appleasauce
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Vanilla Icing
- 1/2 cup softened vegan butter stick
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- Califia Vanilla Coffee Creamer
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350’F. Place 12 liners in cupcake pan
- Sift together flour blend, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, guar guam, and salt into mixer bowl.
- In a medium bowl, combine the egg replacer, milk, cold brew, oil or applesauce, and vanilla. Whisk together to just combine. Don’t over whisk.
- Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients. Beat on low for a minute or two combine. Stopping half way through to scrape the sides.
- Pour the batter evenly into cupcake liners. Filling them to about three fourths of the way.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center of cupcake comes out clean.
- Once baked, let the cupcakes cool in the pan for about 10 minutes on a wire wrack. After 10 minutes, take out of cake pan and let cool completely on wire wrack.
- While cupcakes are cooling, make the icing.
- Ice each cupcake and serve.
Notes
I’d tell you keep leftovers in an airtight container, but I don’t think you will have any.
Best Served With..
Now you know these cupcakes will go great with some hot coffee too. And if you’re looking for some great insulated cups, make sure you check out these Repurpose cups that are available on Vitacost too.
I’ve been using them all week and I love that I don’t need a collar around the middle. They really don’t get hot on the outside which is great.
HEAVENNNNNNN my eyes are in HEAVENNNNNNN! My mouth needs to follow suit – IE: I need to make this! 😉
Ha ha! Yes you do Gigi. They are pretty darn awesome!
These look absolutely amazing. I wish I could make these right now!
I wish you could too Rachel. I’m going to make them again VERY soon.
I need to try these! I love anything with coffee, so this is a must!
Thanks Abbey! They truly are delicious! Not a huge coffee flavor but it definitely kicks the chocolate flavor over the top! And the icing… YUM!
Oh wow those look absolutely amazing. Can’t go wrong with the coffee and chocolate combo!
Ha ha. No you can’t! It’s a great combo for sure!
These sound amazing! I’m not a regular coffee drinker but I love coffee flavored treats. I’ve done some cold brew peanut butter cups as well as some cold brew chocolate pie…now I definitely need to try these cupcakes!!
Oh wow! I’m going to have to stop by your site and find those recipes.. they sound awesome too! Thanks for stopping by!