Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Frosting
Ohhh, the frosting…
Truth be told, the cupcakes are just a vehicle for the frosting!
Whipped coconut milk with vanilla and a hint of sweetness. I wouldn’t blame you if you forgot about making the cupcakes all together and just piped the frosting onto a spoon!
The best part about these beauties is that no white flour or white sugar was used! Whole wheat pastry flour, apple sauce and maple syrup instead! These would make a healthy treat for your Valentine’s Day honey! I know I’m jumping the gun a bit, but Valentine’s Day will be here before we know it! They would even make a great kid’s birthday treat, especially for those with food allergies! Although I haven’t tried it, I’m guessing an all-purpose gluten-free flour and xanthan gum can replace the whole wheat pastry flour.
If you don’t have whole wheat pastry flour, you can use half white flour and half whole wheat flour instead. The original recipe can be found here at the Food Network. The only change I made was to use whole wheat pastry flour instead of white flour and coconut oil instead of canola oil. The frosting recipe can be found here. They recommend freezing the opened can of coconut milk. Personally, freezing the coconut cream for an extended amount of time made mixing really difficult! The first time I made these, my poor hand-held electric mixer had smoke coming out the back! This time, I just placed the coconut cream in the freezer for around 10 minutes and it worked like a charm!
- For the cupcakes:
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cups pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
- ¼ cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup soy milk or milk of your choice
- For the frosting:
- 1 can full fat coconut milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- sweetener of choice (I used 2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup. You can use powdered sugar, agave or stevia instead)
- Flaked coconut for garnish (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cupcake tin with cups and set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, melted coconut oil, apple sauce, vanilla and soy milk.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and use an electric mixer to combine. Do not over mix!
- Fill cupcake cups to ¾ full.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool.
- For the frosting:
- Do not shake can of coconut milk! Open and scoop out the coconut cream. Transfer to a small bowl and place in the freezer to set. The watery part can be stored in the refrigerator and used later!
- Using an electric mixer, whip coconut cream with vanilla and sweetener.
- Frost cupcakes and enjoy!
Have a cupcake, it’s Friday!
