Monday, October 8, 2012

'Niller Cupcakes

Sometimes, you gotta work out the basics. Nothing is more basic than a vanilla cupcake with almond icing. Well, maybe one with vanilla icing, but you either add 2 tsp vanilla or 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp almond, so really, same level of basicness as far as I'm concerned.

I wanted to try a new and fancy recipe. I love VCTOTW but they're the only vegan cupcakes I've ever made; I thought it might be time to branch out into the wonderful world of something else. So I used glorious old pinterest to find 'the BEST VANILLA CUPCAKES EVER!!!eleventy!!!' and veganized the hell out of them. Unfortunately, other than discovering I am masterful at veganization of cupcake recipes, these aren't all that different from VCTOTW and they were more work and required more ingredients. I mean, they're tasty and all. But I wouldn't go out of my way to buy coconut milk yogurt just to make them again. I did skip the whole scraping the vanilla pod and mashing it with the sugar step from the original, because I'm lazy like that, so maybe that would make a big difference. I could also be the wrong person to ask, since I'm a chocolate cupcake gal myself. So keep that in mind and definitely try these out vs your regular recipe and draw your own conclusions.

I asked Ian to take a picture. And I got a cupcake floating in space. What?



















Vanilla Cupcakes

2/3 c milk (I use almond)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 c earth balance
1/3 c canola oil
1 c sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/3 c vanilla coconut yogurt
1 3/4 c flour minus 3 tbsp (this is the stupid shit that happens when the original calls for cake & pastry flour)
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat your oven to 350. Line 16 cups with muffin papers. 16? I KNOW, RIGHT? I hate that kind of thing. So annoying.

Mix together the milk and vinegar. Set aside to curdle. Meanwhile, pull out the ol' kitchenaid or handheld beaters and beat the sugar, oil and earth balance together. It will have a kind of gross consistency. Add the vanilla and milk mixture and beat until well combined.

Sift in the dry ingredients and either beat on slow slow speed or else just use a spoon or spatula to mix it all together. Small lumps are okay, they will bake out. Scoop the batter into the cups and toss in the oven for 15 minutes. Check with a toothpick to see if they are ready; if not, leave them in for another minute or two and check again. Let cool in pans for a few minutes before removing them to a rack to cool the rest of the way.

Almond Icing

1 c Earth Balance, softenend
3 c icing sugar
2 - 3 tbsp soy creamer (I used Silk French Vanilla)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract

Cream the earth balance till it's all nice and, you know, creamy. Beat in a cup of the sugar, followed by a tbsp of creamer. Then, more sugar. Then, more creamer. Then, the last of the sugar. Add the extracts. If it's not quite spreading consistency, add a bit more creamer until it is.

Natural: about to nommed, which as we all know, is the natural state of cupcakes anyway.



3 comments:

  1. Give me all your vanilla cupcakes! I mean, if you're more of a chocolate cupcake girl I'd be happy to take some off your hands.

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  2. These are so cute! I really should start decorating my cupcakes with frosting bags instead of a knife.

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  3. This is the cutest cupcake I've seen in a long time. I don't know whit it is about those perfectly layers of icing accented by the delicate rainbow sprinkles, but it makes me want to SQUEE.

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