Living Without Meat

Last night, at the arts and crafts class that I teach, we decorated vegan cupcakes. It was the first time that I had baked vegan sweets, and they were delicious! Everyone agreed that they were pure fabulousness.

I made the chocolate mini-cakes at my house ahead of time with the help of a friend (She decorated the turkey and snowflake ones). We followed a recipe that I found on Chow, a Web site for food-lovers that is heavy on the meat but has great vegetarian and vegan sections too. The recipe comes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, a blog and recipe book.

Basic Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

* 1 cup soy milk
* 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1/3 cup canola oil
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla extract
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular
* 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, and extract(s), to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy. Sift the dry ingredients and add slowly to wet ingredients. Beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK).

3. Pour into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes.

Next, I let the crumbly, cocoa cups cool while I whipped up some vegan vanilla buttercream frosting from the Vegan Chef. Here’s the icing on the cake from Beverly (the woman who is the vegan chef):

Vegan Buttercream Frosting

* 1/2 cup soy margarine, softened
* 1/4 cup soy milk, rice milk, or other non-dairy milk of choice
* 3 cups Veganized Powdered Sugar
* 1 1/2 t. vanilla

Using a mixer, blend the soy margarine and soy milk. Add half of the sugar, and beat well to combine. Add the remaining ingredients and continue to beat the mixture until light and fluffy.

Other flavor options: For berry frosting, add 1/4 cups mashed fresh or frozen berries, such as raspberries, strawberries, or blueberries. For chocolate, add 1/2 cups cocoa powder or 1/3 cups melted vegan chocolate chips. For coffee frosting substitute cold coffee or espresso for the soy milk in the recipe. For a mocha, substitute cold coffee or espresso for the soy milk in the recipe and add 1/4-1/3 cup cocoa powder or 3-4 T. melted vegan chocolate chips.

You can also stir in chopped nuts, chopped vegan chocolate, shredded coconut, or chopped fruit to create additional variations.

These are … excuse me, I just remembered that the paisley one in this picture is still sitting in my kitchen waiting to be enjoyed …