Recipe Box

(almost) Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

Starting out with this recipe for vegan chocolate cake, which I modified using 1/2 c of white sugar 1/2 cup turbinado, apple cider vinegar and 1 cup of coffee instead of the water, I made some cupcakes for my friend’s birthday.  She is aiming to be vegan & gluten-free, and I pretty much managed to get the vegan part down, but I don’t know enough yet about alternative flours to feel comfortable experimenting at the last minute.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• 1 cup water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease one 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add the oil, vanilla, vinegar and water. Mix together until smooth.
3. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Then I used this recipe as a basis for the frosting:

• FOR THE FROSTING:
• 1 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
• ½ cups Vegan Margarine
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• ½ cups Powdered Sugar
   

Now the thing is, I didn’t have actual vegan margarine, and looking at the margarine I had, turns out there was a little bit of whey in it, as one of the last ingredients, which is why I’m calling these “almost vegan”.  But you can see how they are easily vegan if you have the right ingredients!  (On a side note, margarine kind of freaks me out, is the vegan stuff better than the non-vegan?  Not something I have much experience with…)  

I also didn’t have a food processor like the recipe called for, so I did my best with egg beaters and the frosting came out kind of lumpy.  I was going to try and pipe it on the cupcakes with a sandwich bag, but it was just coming out in blobs.  So I decided to go for flowers on top.  

I think overall they came out pretty good for some first time winging it!  Well, not totally true, I’ve made many eggless cakes before.  Just maybe not cupcakes, and this was the first time of this combo of ingredients & frosting. :-)