Yep... I seem to have found my favorite vegan cupcake recipe! Nice and fluffy, and pretty low fat, too! What's not to like...
Ingredients for 12 cupcakes:
For the cupcakes:
Flour - 250 g. (a little less than 1 cup) Almond milk (sweetened) - 250 ml. (8,5 oz.)
(Coconut blossom) sugar - 180 g. (3/4 cup & 2 large tbsp.)
Vanilla sugar - 50g. (1/4 cup)
Cacao powder - 50g. (1/3 cup & 1 tbsp.)
Hazelnut oil - 2 tbsp.
Olive oil - 3 tbsp.
Apple cider vinegar - 2 tsp. Baking soda - 1 tsp.
Sea salt - a pinch Coffee extract OR vanilla extract OR cinnamon powder (to taste) For the frosting:
Vegan butter (I used Alsan) or margarine at room temperature - 240 g. (1 cup) Powdered sugar (to taste)
Peppermint extract - 2 drops
Green food coloring - 5 drops
I've always adored cupcakes: they're the exact right size, and combined with the right frosting, they're the perfect little explosion of flavors in your mouth. Mmmm...! You can replace the oil by any vegetable oil that can be heated, basically, so just take a look at what you have! I chose coconut blossom sugar (also called coconut palm sugar, a product from the coconut tree) because the glycemic index (GI) of 36 is quite low. The smaller the number, the less impact the food has on your blood sugar. Ordinary sugar has a glycemic index of 60! If you want to add actual coffee to the mixture instead of coffee extract, just make a small, strong espresso and add less almond milk instead. Same with the vanilla sugar: if you want to use vanilla extract instead: no problem!
Preheat the oven (180°C / 356°F). Add the apple cider vinegar to the almond milk, and put aside. Mix flour, sugar, vanilla sugar, cacao powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl or container. Add the olive oil, hazelnut oil and about 10 drops of coffee extract to the almond milk mixture. Then slowly pour that into the flour mixture, while stirring with a spoon. Mix everything together until there are no more lumps in the dough. Line a cupcake tray with paper cases, scoop the mixture in with a spoon (only fill up half the paper case) and bake for about 20-25 minutes in the center of your oven. Allow the cupcakes to cool off for a few minutes, then take them out of the tin and put them on a cupcake rack or wire rack. Make sure you don't leave them in the tin for too long. When they've cooled off (completely!) you can start frosting them. Frosting: Simply mix the vegan butter with the powdered sugar, to taste. Some people like really sweet frosting; personally, I don't. So taste your frosting until it's the way you like it! Then add a few drops of peppermint extract - don't overdo it as it can taste too strong. If you want them to look cute, add some plant based food coloring and that's it! Add the frosting to a piping bag and frost your cupcakes any way you like. Store your cupcakes in an airtight container. Unfrosted cupcakes freeze well; just make sure you wrap them in plastic.
There you go, you made delicious, all vegan, low fat cupcakes! Enjoy!
