Vegan Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes

I'm nowhere near being a vegan. I tried it for three days and was about to kill someone for a piece of cheese. But I was intrigued by this wonderful little book called Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. Two of my co-workers are vegan and always miss out on the work treats, so I wanted something that they could share.

These earned rave reviews from my co-workers, so they'll be on my regular baking rotation.





So very easy and so very vegan! Try them for yourself.

1 cup soy milk (or canned coconut milk)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and other extract, if using, to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain.
Pour into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

I didn't want to buy a whole 1/2 gallon of soy milk, so I used coconut milk instead and it was delicious. Plus, it was only $1.15 at the cheapo grocery by my house.

I used vegan mocha buttercream frosting, which totally freaked me out. I'm a purist who believes that buttercream needs real butter, but this changed my mind.

1/2 cup margarine (read the label thoroughly because some do contain animal products)
1/2 cup shortening (Spectrum is good, find it at Trader Joe's)
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon instant coffee

Mix the water and instant coffee. Mix the margarine and shortening until fluffy, usually a few minutes. Mix in the powdered sugar and coffee until well blended. Spread onto completely cooled cupcakes or pipe on with an icing bag.

Eat until you can't move.