vegan chocolate cupcakes

My last post was all about the lemon cake I made Margie for her birthday.  Along with that cake I also wanted to make something special for our wonderful friend Ashley, who also happens to be a vegan. 

I've never made anything vegan, or at least anything baking wise that's vegan.  As far as daily meals go I can sometimes get a little lazy and a lot of the things I eat end up begin vegan without my even trying, but that's not what this post is about.  

I found a recipe for vegan chocolate cupcakes in a book I downloaded for free on amazon for my kindle app.  It's from a book called Cupcake Recipes To Impress Your Loved Ones by Chris Cooker.

I must say I was very intrigued by the idea of vegan cupcakes, but while these look delicious, the actual cake came out so dense I had a hard time really enjoying them because of their texture.  The buttercream on the other hand was delicious!  

Despite the fact that I would probably not make this recipe again, I'm really interested in trying the whole vegan thing again.  Hopefully round two turns out delicious tasting as well as delicious looking.

Fingers crossed.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

from Chris Cooker

1 1/2 c flour

1 c brown sugar

1/3 c cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 c water

1/4 c almond milk

1/4 cup apple sauce

1/2 cup oil

1 tbs vinegar

2 tsp vanilla 

Preheat oven to 375

Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners.

Mix together dry ingredients and set aside.

Combine wet ingredients and add to dry until batter comes together.

Fill muffin tin evenly with batter and bake for 20 mins

Let cool before frosting.

Vegan Chocolate Buttercream

 from Chris Cooker 

1/2 c vegetable shortning

1/2 c vegan butter or margarine

4 c powdered sugar, sifted

1 c cocoa powder, sifted

1 tsp vanilla

3-6 tbs almond milk

Cream together shortening and butter with either hand or stand mixer.  Add sifted powdered sugar and cocoa powder, vanilla and slowly add the almond milk as needed.