Vegan Wedding Cupcakes

Back in June, I made a truck load of cupcakes for the wedding of a family friend. Clearly I didn’t think this decision through because {1} I don’t have a commercial kitchen {2} I’m a Mom and didn’t realize that I would need time to bake 10+ dozen cupcakes and {3} I’m not a vegan, nor a very good vegan baker and agreed to make THEM ALL VEGAN. Oh and did I mention I agreed to make them all vegan? YEAH.

Enter panick mode.

Umm…what was I smoking when I agreed to this??

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Luckily, I did some research and started testing and testing….and testing.

Vegan means no animal products whatsoever. No eggs, no milk, no butter. Seems hard to make a yummy cake without any of those ingredients, right? Well, I’m here to tell you that I’ve found the be-all-end-all of vegan cupcake recipes. One that will please vegans and carnivores alike. {Only took me 17 tries–>literally!} AND, it’s really not that hard to whip out a batch either 🙂

Overall, it took me 9 hours to bake, frost and decorate these bad boys, but it was certainly worth it! After I got them all arranged, I sat back, relaxed, basked in the glory and said ‘let them eat cake‘.

The end.

Here are the deets about my vegan cupcakes–

Kind numero uno: Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Frosting–I used the vanilla cake recipe below and topped them with a vanilla bean frosting and a fresh raspberry. About the frostings, I made these in such huge quantities that I don’t have exact measurements but here’s what went into the frosting: coconut oil, vegan shortening, butter extract, vanilla extract, vanilla beans and powdered sugar.

Kind two: Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Frosting–I used the vanilla cupcake recipe and added vegan chocolate chips. Topped these with the same vanilla bean frosting as mentioned above, but added some mini chocolate chips for garnish.

Numero trois: Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting–I used the vegan vanilla cupcake recipe and added lemon and vanilla extract. For the frosting, I used vegan cream cheese, vegan shortening {just a little}, coconut oil, vanilla extract, lemon extract, powdered sugar. I topped these with teeny tiny flowers that the lady at Safeway just gave me. Kind of random but so awesome.

Kind Four: Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting- I used the chocolate cake recipe as written below and topped these with chocolate cream cheese frosting and some chocolate syrup. The frosting included vegan cream cheese, coconut oil, vegan shortening {just a little}, tiny splash of butter extract, vanilla extract, powdered sugar, cocoa powder.

So that’s that! And of course here’s a fun picture of some of the Brennan’s who attended the wedding. I sure do love all these people! And the ones not pictured too! Also, isn’t my husband adorable? I think so..

PS–here’s a great tip for transporting a zillion cupcakes you just decorated: make a grid with masking tape on a cookie sheet. It will keep the cupcakes separate and still give your hands enough room to take them out. A cheap-o way to get around buying a bunch of cupcake boxes.

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Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes

adapted from HolyCowVegan

Servings 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Earth Balance or other vegan butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup soy milk + 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream vegan butter with sugar. Stir in vanilla extract. In a measuring cup, stir soy milk together with vinegar. Set aside to curdle. In a separate bowl, measure out dry ingredients and stir to incorporate. Alternate stirring in wet and dry ingredients beginning and ending with dry. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins to be 2/3-3/4 way full. Bake 15-20 minutes or until very lightly browned and toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs after being inserted. Cool and frost as desired.
3. Variations: Lemon Cupcakes- stir in 1 teaspoon lemon extract to batter with vanilla.Chocolate Chip Cupcakes- stir in 1/2 cup vegan mini chocolate chips to batter.