Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes

Despite my professed love of butter, I begrudgingly respect my vegan friends and loved ones and I really want to feed them cupcakes,.
These picturesque cupcakes are a simple vegan recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World, the book that makes it possible for all my friends to receive cupcakes. These were so simple to make and very very delicious.


The cupcakes were uber moist and fluffy. Funnily enough, they kinda resemble the store bought sponge cakes you can get at the supermarket. I used vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract because I like the little flecks of vanilla bean and I wanted to up the vanilla flavour.
I had never baked with soymilk before, so I wasn't sure what would happen when the recipe called for adding vinegar to the soymilk, but I went with it because it is similar to the way you would make your own buttermilk. Soymilk really does curdle, it separates into little curds that all came together again when whisked with the other wet ingredients and combined with the dry. It was prety cool to see that soy can approximate the tenderizing effects of buttermilk. The cupcakes baked into golden yellow cupcakes with slightly domed centres. I liked them plain with fruit, but a little frosting never hurt anyone, and what else would I use to adhere the requisite rainbow sprinkles (a.k.a. pixie shit.)
Overall, I was very pleased with the result of this recipe and would return to it next time I need to make a vegan cupcake, or just for my own personal consumption because they were really good.


Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes
time: about 1-1/2 hours

• 1 cup soymilk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2-1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2. Whisk the soymilk and vinegar together in a measuring cup and set aside a few minutes to get good and curdled.
3. Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl and mix.
4. Bet the curdled soymilk, oil, sugar, and vanilla together in a large bowl. Sift in the flour cornstarch, baking powder, soda and salt and mix until no large lumps remain. Fill cupcake liners 2/3s of the way with batter and bake for 20-22 minutes until done. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.

Vegan Vanilla Frosting:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup margarine(such as earth balance)
• 3-1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted if lumpy
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup plain soymilk
  

1. Neat the shortening and margarine together until well-combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes. Add the vanilla and soymilk, beat for another 5-7 minutes until fluffy.

Adapted from: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World