Vegan vanilla cupcakes....not too bad afterall!

No I am not vegan, although i do admire those who have conviction enough to give up so many of lifes indulgences! My little poppet Willow however, is both dairy and soy intolerant. a total curse for a mother who is a bit of a cupcake queen!

I have been determined that my Wills will not miss out on all the good things and as a result over the past 6 months gone to great efforts to trial recipes that she can enjoy. And so my search began for the best vegan cupcakes...

let me first say that when I made this batch of vanilla ones I wasn't too hopeful, previously they have come out either rubery or crumbly..but despite the  golden colour, these are rather good indeed...

Thanks to the blog "whipped' for providing me with the best vegan vanilla cupcake recipe thus far...

Very Vanilla Vegan Cupcakes

Yields 14 standard sized cupcakes or 48 mini cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the Vanilla Cupcakes

• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsweetened plain soy milk (I used oat milk)
• ½ cup canola oil
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon white or apple cider vinegar

For the Vanilla Frosting

• 1/2 cup nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening (I used Nuttelex)
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1-3 tablespoons unsweetened plain soy milk (I used Oat milk)

*For the Strawberry Frosting variation add 2 tablespoons strawberry puree (drained thoroughly) and omit vanilla extract

*This makes just enough frosting to cover each cupcake, if you would like extra feel free to double this recipe! I ended up throwing out about half of the frosting when I made this with the double batch so just gauge how much you make on how much frosting you like on your cupcakes.

Preparation

For the Vanilla Cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) cupcake pans with 14 cupcake liners or 2 (24-cup) mini cupcake pans.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together soy milk, oil, vanilla, and vinegar. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and whisk until just combined. Do not over mix.
4. Fill the cupcake liners about two-thirds full with batter. Bake standard sized cupcakes for 15 to 18 minutes (or mini cupcakes for 8-10 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean with a few crumbs clinging to it. Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting.

For the Vanilla Frosting

1. Using a handheld or stand mixer, beat the vegetable shortening until smooth.
2. With the mixer running on low, add powdered sugar, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon soy milk at a time, as needed, until frosting reaches a spreadable consistency.
3. Beat on high for another 2 minutes until light and fluffy.

*For Strawberry Frosting Variation

Omit vanilla extract. Add 2 tablespoons strawberry puree to vanilla frosting mixture after Step 2 from above (right after you have beat in powdered sugar and soy milk) and continue to beat on high until light and fluffy.