This morning, my friend Heidi surprised me with two delicious vegan cupcakes! Not only was I excited because I've been wanting to make some vegan cupcakes for a while, but I was even more excited because they were SO good! The recipe is from the book, "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World." I bought one on Amazon today...and polished off both cupcakes. They were delish and without any egg, milk, or butter! Enjoy.

Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon 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
Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting (see recipe below)

Instructions
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 (a few tiny lumps are OK).
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.


Cookies and Creme Icing
Ingredients
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated shortening
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine, we use Earth Balance (if you would prefer, you can use a full stick of Earth Balance margarine in place of the 1/2 cup shortening)
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted if clumpy
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup plain soy milk or soy creamer
1/2 cup or 5 Vegan chocolate creme filled cookies, such as Newman O's

Instructions
Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
Add the vanilla and soy milk, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluffy.
chop or break apart chocolate cookies and stir into frosting
After cupcakes have cooled, frost generously