I made these last night and they were delicious.
I’ll have pictures eventually, maybe, if we don’t eat them all before I get around to it. At any rate, I’ve failed the “picture perfect frosting” thing. Visually, they aren’t Pinterest worthy. That’s okay, consider them your secret weapon.
Cupcakes: I modified this recipe, which was already vegan.) Makes about 14-19 cupcakes.
- 2 cups unsweetened, plain almond milk
- 1-1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1/2 tablespoon lime juice
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 cups cane sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Pre-heat oven to 375F and whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl. My muffin pan was too small to accommodate all this so I used the mason jar ring tip from this site — the candle-making business has left me with an abundance of mason jar rings — on regular baking sheets. Worked great and made everyone think I was a genius for using Google. I poured the batter in the measuring cup and used that to distribute it between the baking cups.
Frosting/Icing
I tried a recipe that claimed to be “creamy,” but instead was alternately a lumpy, gross mess, or a melty runny mess. So, in a last-ditch effort to get something on top of the cupcakes, I modified this tried and true recipe.
- 1/4 cup Earth’s Balance “butter”
- 1/3 cup plain almond milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
- 3-2/3 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1/3 cup chopped pistachios (I peeled a pile and chopped them in the food processor.)
Use a mixer to turn the butter, extracts, and sugar into semi-blended blobs before pouring the milk in slowly as you mix. (This is especially important if you’ve halved the recipe and your measuring cup doesn’t mark off 1/6. Too much milk and it gets runny.) After the almond milk is in and it looks like frosting, dump in the chopped pistachios, and blend until they’re evenly mixed.
Cool cupcakes before frosting.
