Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes

This is a pretty generic cupcake recipe, except for the fact that it's VEGAN!  Which means it's cruelty-free.  And I love cruelty-free!  Now, just because these cupcakes are vegan does not mean they are healthy.  Yes, vegans have junkfood too!  They average approx. 280 calories each without frosting.  Add in a good dollop of frosting and these babies are pushing 400+ calories.  Now, there are ways you can cut out the calories, but for today's venture into vegan baking, I stayed fairly true to the original recipe. 

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 cup Silk light vanilla soy milk *
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar, organic preferred
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, warmed until liquid **
• 1 1/4 tsps vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line with paper baking cups. ( Original recipe says it makes 18 but I found it only made approx 13 cupcakes ).
2. Measure the apple cider vinegar into a 2 cup measuring cup.  Fill with soy milk to make 1 1/2 cups.  Let stand until curdled, about 5 minutes.  In a large bowl,  whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond milk mixture, coconut oil, and vanilla.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.  Spoon the batter into the prepared cups, dividing evenly.
3. Bake in preheated oven until the tops spring back when lightly pressed, 15-20 minutes.  Cool in the pan set over a wire rack.  When cool, arrange cupcakes on a serving platter and frost with desired frosting.

* The original recipe called for almond milk, but the delicately sweet taste of Silk's light vanilla soy milk seemed perfect for these little cakes!  And soy milk has more protein than almond milk, in case that is a concern of yours.

** If you don't want the fat and calories that comes with oil, substitute with apple sauce instead.  Same thing with the sugar, you can use an artificial sweetner like Stevia or Truvia to cut out calories.

For the frosting, I used a store-bought brand that contained no animal products.  In fact, most of the frostings at the grocery had no milk or eggs, they all seemed to be made with soy and oils (all the general cake mixes at the grocery store contained milk).  Of course, you can probably make your own frosting with half the fat, calories, and chemicals.  I chose the easy route today.  As you can see, I mixed in food coloring to create a delicate lavender colored frosting. 

These were super moist, sweet, and delicious!  Some of the best cupcakes I've ever had, and not because I made them.  They are truly yummy!

Happy vegan baking!