Homage to the Vegan Cupcake

This post is a bit of a tributary piece to my friend and co-author, Carrie. As a graduation present, Carrie bought me the book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and I have been loving my life ever since. 

I anticipate that there will be many future posts about the delicious recipes from this book, but here is the first of many. 

Side Note: I would like to mention that I have never had any success making frosting before I tried the following recipe for Fluffy Vegan Butter Cream Frosting. 

Basic Chocolate Cupcake

One of the wonderful things about these recipes is that they're very accessible. This one uses rather traditional ingredients, though I'm sure you could substitute whole wheat flowers and other types of sweeteners. (In fact, the book does include different types of recipes including Gluten Free and Unprocessed ingredients.) There are many delicious variations in the book, like Cookies n'Cream and German Chocolate. 

(PS. I decorated these ones with sprinkles and pieces of Pizelle cookies)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Vegan Fluffy Butter Cream Frosting (Recipe to Follow)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
2. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and other extract, if using, to the soy milk mixture 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 wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK).
3. Pour into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

  

Vegan Butter Cream Frosting

This frosting gets super fluffy, and you can even pile it on top like crazy! 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup nonhydrogenated shortening (I use Spectrum Organic 100% Vegetable Shortening) 
• 1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted if clumpy
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup plain soy milk or soy creamer

Directions:

1. Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
2. Add the vanilla and soy milk, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluffy.