Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry “Cream Cheese” Frosting

Can you guess how many seconds the frosting held up on the cupcake? Let’s not talk about it… Yes, I made the frosting wrong–but no worries! I fixed it. Only in time for my next batch which were vegan chocolate cupcakes, but it was saved. (See next picture for the un-droopy frosting). The winning recipe was definitely the vegan vanilla cupcakes, so that’s the recipe I want to share with you. Let me just say first, I ended up making a double batch of the frosting–which was enough for me to use on a batch of 12 cupcakes, a 9″ round cake, plus extra for some vegan scones I made (I’ll be sharing that with you soon). So, if you’re planning on making 2 batches of cupcakes or a 9″ layer cake, then you can stick with the frosting recipe I have–otherwise, halve it.

Here’s what the frosting looked like once I figured out that I completely underestimated the amount of powdered sugar I needed. Noob mistake. I found both the vegan chocolate cake recipe (that I just turned into cupcakes) and the vanilla cupcake recipe from Chef Chloe‘s site, who I first discovered while watching her win Cupcake Wars. My boyfriend has been very skeptical of these vegan baking adventures I’ve been going on lately in my kitchen, but this according to him is one of his favorite things I’ve ever made. The frosting was inspired by a vegan cream cheese frosting recipe from The Divvie’s Bakery Cookbook: No Nuts. No Eggs. No Dairy. Just Delicious!. I just added some pureed strawberries, hence the consistency problems, but the final product was definitely snack-on-it-anytime-of-the-day-just-because-you-can worthy.

If you want to impress your friends or family with a delicious vegan recipe (a recipe they really wouldn’t even know was vegan unless you told them–and even then it tastes so good they don’t really care that it doesn’t have any eggs or butter in it), then this is the one you should try!

Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes 12 cupcakes or one 9″ round cake (I doubled this)

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• L½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup coconut milk, non-dairy milk, or water
• ½ cup canola oil
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Instructions:

1. Preheat over to 350 F.

2. Sift or whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the coconut milk, oil, vanilla, and vinegar. Combine the wet and dry mixtures and whisk until thoroughly mixed. Distribute batter into lined cupcake baking pan, and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Double Batch of Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

For 24 cupcakes or two 9″ round cakes. (If you’re not going to double the cake batter recipe, only make half of this)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup strawberries, pureed
• 1/2 cup Earth Balance vegan margarine, softened (but not melted)
• 1/2 cup Tofutti Vegan Cream Cheese, softened (but not melted)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 7 cups sifted powdered sugar

Cream together the softened vegan margarine and Tofutti until light and fluffy with a mixer. Add the pureed strawberries and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Slowly add the sifted powdered sugar until fully combined and it’s reached desired consistency. If it’s still not sturdy enough, add more powdered sugar, a little bit at a time.

Tips: Allow cupcakes or cake to fully cool before frosting, and chill the frosting in the refrigerator before using.