In March I was meant to assist a friend cater a Kitchen Tea where the bride to be was lactose intolerant. The afternoon had an Alice in Wonderland Theme and I had been given the task to make cupcakes. Frequently a number of different cooking blogs, I had always heard glowing recommendations for the book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.
It was a wise investment because I love these cupcakes, and this is from a person who doesn’t really like cupcakes at all. On Sunday November 13, a charity netball tournament took place in Richmond. Organised by my close friend Kathryn and Cityside Sports the days aim was to raise money for Janelle who has been diagnosed with incurable cervix cancer.
I had a team entered, and after 9 games of netball we were runners up in our division. Not only was it for a good cause but it was fun.
Knowing it was going to be a long day (9 Games of Netball over 8.5 hours), I thought a mid afternoon treat would work wonders and figured cupcakes would go down quite well, and I think I judged the mood quite well! Without further wait, I bring you Golden Vanilla Cupcakes!
The Ingredients: Cornflour, Soymilk, Canola Oil, Sugar, Flour, Apple Cider Vinegar, Baking Soda, Baking Powder, Salt and Vanilla Bean Paste.
The ingredients are simple and I love that there is no butter involved. As much as I love baking cakes, I hate working with butter. I never plan far ahead enough to have it at room temperature and it’s messy and annoying. The only thing that you may not have in the house is the Soy Milk, but as I’m using vegan recipes more and more I keep one in the cupboard. I don’t really have a preference, selecting what’s on sale. Advice on this matter would be much appreciated!
The soy milk and the vinegar are whisked and then left to curdle for a few minutes, and it forms a liquid similar to buttermilk (I’m not 100% sure on this, in fact it only just occurred to me, as I remembered the advice that if you can mix milk and vinegar in lieu of buttermilk.)
The dry ingredients (except the sugar) are placed in a large bowl. As the recipe doesn’t involve any tedious mixing no electrical equipment is required. Also a keen eye may notice the cinnamon that was not in the ingredients list and that is because for me, a cake recipe without cinnamon is just not right. There is not ambiguity!
The remaining wet ingredients and sugar are added to the soy milk/vinegar and whisked until frothy. You’re meant to add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones in increments but I failed to read that sentence and added it at once. I didn’t feel it impacted on the quality of the cupcake.
Once the batter is placed into cupcake holders and baked for about fifteen minutes in moderate to hot oven. I found they cooked quite quickly and could be removed after 12-13 minutes.
They are delicious and light and fluffy. One of my biggest complaints about cupcakes is they tend to taste like a cake, but these are distinctly a cupcake. They are also super duper easy! I think I’ll have fun exploring Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World next time I’m required to bake for a large group!
Golden Vanilla Vegan Cupcakes
1 Cup Soy Milk
1 teapsoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 Cup Flour
2 tablespoon Corn Flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/3 Cup Canola Oil
3/4 Cup Sugar
2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Method
- Preheat oven to 175C/350F degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- Whisk the soy milk and vinegar in a measuring cup and set aside for a few minutes to get good and curdled.
- Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl and mix.
- Whisk together the soy milk mixture, oil, sugar, vanilla, and other extracts, if using, in a large bowl. Sift in the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix until no large lumps remain.
- Fill cupcake liners two-thirds of the way and bake for 15 to 20minutes.
- Transfer to a cooling rack, and let cool completely before decorating.Icing
For the icing I just mixed some margarine, soy milk, icing sugar and colouring.
A Tale of Two Kitchens 
These look so tasty, and beautiful!
These look great! The faux-buttermilk thing is very common to make vegan cakes light, and I’m glad these ones use that technique as there’s nothing worse than a heavy cupcake.
FYI on the soy milk, realistically in baking you can cut corners with the quality of your non-dairy milk, unless you’re using loads of it in a certain recipe, in which case a good almond milk will add swathes of deliciousness. If you’re drinking it/putting it on cereal/in coffee then it’s a whole realm of other considerations to take into account… but even with using no-name brand crappy rice milk, I’ve never noticed any difference at all in flavour or quality of baked goods. Which is nice, as it allows me to make more cakes more cheaply. 🙂
Also, using Nuttelex vegan margarine is a good one instead of butter in a lot of baked goods… makes life easier because it’s spreadable and soft already (so glad I never have to soften butter again) and gives a full flavour without ever getting too rich (I used to find butter often did that in cookies.)