Cupcakes For My Cupcake

My husband, Desi, loves cupcakes. So last week, for his birthday, I surprised him with these Golden Vanilla Cupcakes with a Chocolate Ganache Frosting.

Given how delicious these are, it is almost surprising how easy they are to make. And they are, of course, completely vegan.

I thought these up also partly for Madhuram's creative egg replacement event. Her egg substitute for this month is egg replacer powder.

I usually use a small amount of cornstarch in my cupcakes to help bind them, but the egg replacer, which is basically a mixture of various kinds of starches, worked very well as a substitute. ( I just realized as I wrote this that the egg replacer here is a substitute for a substitute. Hilarious!)

Ok, time to stop the prattle and get on with the recipe. I am also sending this out to Alka for her thoughtful event, Just for You, because this cupcake was made for my most special guy.

Thanks, Madhuram and Alka, for hosting these lovely events.




Golden Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp egg replacer powder

1 cup almond or soy milk

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

1/3 cup canola oil

3/4 cup turbinado sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Mix together the almond or soy milk and vinegar and set aside for five minutes to curdle.

In a bowl, sift together the flour, egg replacer powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl, mix the oil, sugar, almond/soy milk mixture and vanilla until the mixture is smooth.

Add the flour gradually, beating until it is thoroughly incorporated.

Line a muffin or cupcake pan with cupcake liners and fill each liner with the cupcake batter about 2/3rds full. I get about 10 cupcakes from this recipe.

Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Place on a rack to cool thoroughly before removing the cupcakes to frost.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Ingredients:

1/4 cup almond milk

1/2 cup unsweetened vegan chocolate chips

2 tbsp confectioners' sugar

2 tbsp maple syrup

Heat the almond milk to a simmer, then take off the heat.

Add the chocolate chips and stir until you have a smooth ganache. Add the sugar and maple syrup and stir in thoroughly.

Allow the ganache to cool thoroughly before frosting the cupcakes.

The ganache will be gooey at the beginning, but it will firm up after a few minutes.

Enjoy!