Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes for Two

At my little brother's birthday party this week my family enjoyed a chocolate cake with cream cheese icing that I made. However, my vegan cousin was also coming to the party so I couldn't leave her to watch everyone else devour dessert without anything for herself! Instead of making a whole separate vegan cake or a whole batch of cupcakes, I found this great recipe for vegan vanilla cupcakes that just makes two. It's a perfect recipe when you just need a little something sweet but don't want to make a large batch and have a bunch of leftovers!

The cupcakes were moist, sweet, and full of vanilla flavour. You would honestly never know they don't contain butter or eggs. Even the vanilla icing is vegan! I used Becel Vegan Margarine, which is a tasty and very affordable product Becel recently came out with, but feel free to use Earth Balance or another vegan margarine. My cousin loved her cupcake and I enjoyed the second one. Now I kind of wish there were more than just two!

Vanilla Cupcake Ingredients:

1/4 cup soymilk (I used So Good sweetened vanilla)

1/4 tsp. lemon juice or vinegar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. cornstarch

1/8 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. baking soda

pinch salt

1 Tbsp. canola oil

2 Tbsp. white sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a muffin tin with 2 cupcake liners. Depending on the size of your muffin tin you may be able to get 3 cupcakes out of this recipe.

In a large bowl, whisk together the soymilk and lemon juice. Set aside for 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the canola oil, sugar, and vanilla to the bowl with the soymilk and stir to combine. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until no large lumps in the batter remain. 

Fill the prepared muffin cups 2/3 full with batter and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer the cupcakes to a wire cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.

Vegan Vanilla Icing Ingredients:

1/4 cup vegan margarine (Becel or Earth Balance are the two most common brands)

3/4 cup icing sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

splash of soymilk

Directions:

In a medium bowl, beat the margarine with an electric mixer until smooth. Add in the icing sugar and vanilla and continue mixing until completely combined. Add in a splash of soymilk and mix. If you accidentally add too much and the icing is too thin then just add in a bit more icing sugar until you get a spreadable consistency. Scoop the icing into a plastic bag or piping bag and chill slightly before using to frost the cupcakes. To frost the cupcakes, snip the corner off the plastic bag and pipe on the icing, or pipe on using your tip. You could also just spread the icing on with a spoon. Top with sprinkles or coloured sugar and enjoy!

*Recipe adapted from My Little Celebration