Best Vegan Cupcake + Cake Recipe

Best moist, fluffy sweet vanilla funfetti cake and cupcakes right here! Can I just drink the batter. It’s so flipping good. Last dessert post I declared that I was moving toward small dessert sized portions. Dessert for “one”, right?

And in a smooth move to irony here’s a recipe that made epic portions of goodies. I cranked out 18 full cupcakes, 1 mini layered nude (naked?) cake and a huge tray of tiny bite sized cupcakes. How the tables have turned. I went to an event and wanted to bring cupcakes so that explains me tripling the recipe. Below I’ll just post below a single portion. I’m guessing that makes a dozen cupcakes but feel free to double or triple the recipe.

Cake was a bit messy so I don’t have any pictures of it cut. It was actually my first time attempting a layered cake. And also making a nude or naked cake. So glamours.

1 cup flour, 2 ts baking powder, dash salt, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup oil, 3/4 cup vanilla almond milk, 1 ts vanilla, 1/2 TB vinegar, 30 g sprinkles + vegan frosting (I used duncan hines)

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together (except sprinkles)
2. Add wet ingredients on top of the dry ingredients (expect sprinkles). Mix with a hand mixer for 2 minutes.
3. Fold sprinkles in. Pour batter into cupcake liners or greased cake tin. Bake at 350 til tooth pick test shows the batter is fully cooked. I baked cupcakes for about 20 minutes. I baked the mini (tiny) cupcakes for 9 minutes. I baked the cake layers for about 15 minutes. Times may very.
4. Mix food dye with vegan frosting and apply as shown in the video below. ENJOY

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups of flour
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of chocolate chips 
1/2 cup of cocoa powder 
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of oil
1/3 cup of brown sugar
2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, add the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips, mix well.  Once the dry ingredients are mixed well, add the water, oil, and vanilla and fold until the dough is moist and thick.

Form into typical cookie shapes and bake for 15 mins.  Allow to sit on the baking sheet for an additional 5 minutes then place on a cooling rack.

S'mores Cookies

2 cups of flour
1 cup of sugar

3/4 cup of chocolate chips
1/3 cup of brown sugar 
2/3 cup of vegan marshmallows
1/2 cup of oil 
1/4 cup of water 
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla 
1 teaspoon of salt

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Chop the marshmallows into 1/8 inch chunks.  If the marshmallows are too large, they will expand and the cookies will not hold.  Do not overlook the step.

In a bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, brown sugar, chips, and marshmallows and stir well.  Add the oil, water, and vanilla and mix well.  This dough should be a nice brown color and damp.

Form into 1 inch balls on a baking sheet.  Bake for about 14 minutes and allow to cool on the baking sheet for another 5 after removing from the oven.  This will allow the marshmallows to shrink back to a normal size.  Then place cookies on a cooling rack and allow to cool.

Another Banana bread

4 ripe bananas
4 cups of flour
1 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup of applesauce
1/2 cup of pecans (or walnuts - optional)
4 tablespoons oil
2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Pre-heat the oven at 325. Grease and flour a loaf pan. In a mixing bowl, mash the bananas, oil, applesauce, vanilla, and maple syrup. It is preferred that the bananas still have a little chunk to them. The consistency of your banana bread will be better. In another bowl, combine and mix all other ingredients. Then combine the two bowls and mix until the batter is a golden color and there is no dry flour. Pour into a loaf pan, cover with foil and bake for 55-60 minutes. Check with a toothpick.

Lemon Cake

3 cups of flour
2 cups of sugar
3/4 cup of water
3/4 cup of lemon juice
1/4 cup of oil
2 teaspoons of baking soda
2 teaspoons of vanilla
2 teaspoons of lemon zest

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Then add the wet ingredients starting with the oil and ending with the lemon juice. There will be some bubbling, do not be alarmed. Mix until all the lumps are out, our into a greased 9x9 baking pan and bake for 45 minutes. Use the toothpick test in the center to see if the cake is complete.



Lemon Glaze

2 cups of confectionery sugar
1/2 cup of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of lemon extract
1 teaspoon of lemon zest

In a mixing bowl, add the sugar and lemon juice and mix well. Add the zest and extract and mix well. If the glaze is too thick, add more lemon juice. If the glaze is too runny, add more sugar.

Perfectly Fluffy Vegan Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 6 tablespoons Earth Balance (vegan margarine), cut into  medium sized pieces
• 3/4 cup non-dairy milk

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400. In a medium bowl combine the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder. 

2. With your fingers or a pastry cutter cut in the Earth Balance pieces until they are the size of peas.

3. Take 1 tablespoon of milk out of the 3/4 cup and set it aside. Pour the rest of the milk over the flour and stir gently with a spatula until it comes together.

4. Pour the dough onto a floured surface and gently knead it a few times until it's not super sticky. Pat it out gently to 1" thick. Fold the dough over itself and pat it out to 1" thick again. Repeat twice to fold 3 times. This needs to be done very gently! Pat it like you're playing patty cake with a baby. No smooshing. After the third fold pat the dough to 3/4" thick, and cut out your biscuits. Don't forget to pat together your scraps to get 1 or 2 more! Repeat until you're out of dough. With a normal sized cutter (2-2 1/2 inches) I get 8. 

5. Brush the biscuits with the remaining tablespoon of milk. Bake for 15-17 minutes until the tops are golden.

- For the best results make sure your ingredients are very cold. Consider combining the dry ingredients and placing them in the freezer for 30 minutes before adding the Earth Balance. I store my baking ingredients in the freezer so they're always ready.

Vegan Garlic Bread

It requires simple ingredients and takes less than 1 hour.  

Dough ingredients :

• 4 cups of flour
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 3 tbsp. vegan butter
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cup of water

Garlic butter ingredients:

• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup vegan butter
• 1 tsp. basil leaves
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 2 tsp. salt

First, combine the sugar, baking powder, flour, vegan butter and salt in a bowl and mix it a bit. Then, add the 1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water to it and mix well until you obtain a homogeneous and soft dough. Tip: after a bit of mixing, you can very well use your hands to do this and assure the dough is uniform. Cover the bowl with a cloth and let it rest in a warm location for around 15-20 minutes. It should grow a bit in the meantime while you prepare the garlic butter.

Preheat the oven to 150ºC (~300 ºF).

Next, for the garlic butter, in another bowl, mix 2 minced garlic cloves, 1/2 cup of vegan butter, 1 tsp. of finely chopped basil leaves, 1 tsp. oregano and 2 tsp. of salt. Mix the ingredients well until you reach a paste consistency. By then it is ready to spread.

After that, grab, divide and start to mold the dough, so that you first get a somewhat circular flattened base, then spread the garlic butter paste and give it a turn (or roll), closing the dough with the garlic paste inside. Then, you can shape the dough to your own desire per what shape you want to achieve. We decided to divide the dough in four and made four different shaped breads, you can be creative! The next step is to grease a baking tray with some butter, put the garlic bread inside and spreading some more garlic butter paste on top of them, and also sprinkling some dry oregano and basil leaves to finish. Put it in the oven for around 25 minutes or until you see the garlic bread is already with a golden color. After baked, we used the last bit of garlic paste to spread it in the bread  

It is that easy! You’ll end up with some yummy and addicting vegan garlic bread.

MAPLE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

 Servings 48 Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup peanut butter creamy but you can use crunchy
• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup maple syrup
• 1 egg replacer chia meal/flour, flax meal or mixed according to directions on your box
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup walnuts chopped, to mix with one third of the batter, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. Put a silpat pad (silicone pad) on a cookie sheet or parchment paper.
3. Mix the egg replacer and water together and set aside.
4. In a large bowl add the flour, baking soda and salt. Mix together.
5. Mix the peanut butter and syrup until well blended.
6. Stir in the egg replacer mixture and vanilla.
7. Stir the peanut butter mixture into the flour mixture. Blend well.
8. Roll into about 48 balls and then place some on a cookie sheet about 2" apart.
9. Flatten each ball slightly with the back of a fork to give the traditional peanut butter cookie cross hatch design.
10. You will need to dip the fork in water every once in a while to keep it from sticking.
11. Bake 10 to 12 minutes.
12. On your last 1/3 of the dough you could mix in the walnuts before rolling if you want some with nuts.

Recipe Notes

They keep a couple of weeks in the refrigerator or you could freeze them in a freezer bag or a freezer container for a long period.

Nog Cheesecake

Special Kitchen Items
• 8” springform pan
• 9” cake pan
• large pan for the bain-marie (water bath)
• large baking sheet to support the bain-marie (optional)
• large food storage container for chilling/storing the cheesecake
• parchment paper
• cooking oil spray
• blender
• food processor (optional)

Ingredients for the Crust 
• 1 commercial vegan graham cracker crust

Ingredients for the Cheesecake Filling
• 2 cups (10 oz) dry raw cashews (DO NOT presoak in water)
• 3 cups homemade or commercial soymilk (sorry, no substitutes; this recipe relies on the curdling action of the soymilk when the lactic acid is introduced)
• ¾ cup organic sugar
• ¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 3 T brandy or dark rum
• 4 tsp kappa carrageenan (available from ModernistPantry.com)
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg plus ¼ tsp for garnish
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• 4 tsp lactic acid powder (available from ModernistPantry.com)

Preparation
Trace the circumference of the bottom of the springform pan on parchment paper and cut. Assemble the springform pan and spray the interior generously with cooking oil. Line the bottom with the parchment paper and mist the paper with cooking oil.

8” springform pan lined with parchment paper; 9” cake pan to prevent water from entering springform pan; and aluminum roasting pan for bain-marie set on baking sheet for support.

Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325°F/165°C.

Process the graham cracker crust in a food processor until finely ground. Alternately, crush the crust into crumbs in a large bowl. Add the crumbs to the oiled and lined springform pan and pack evenly on the bottom and halfway up the sides. The oiled pan will help the crumbs stick to the sides. Set aside.

Add the dry raw cashews to a blender with the soymilk and process on high speed for 2 full minutes. Add the remaining filling ingredients EXCEPT for the lactic acid and process until thoroughly blended. With the blender running, add the lactic acid all at once. The mixture will immediately thicken and stop turning in the blades – turn the blender off.

Pour the filling into the springform pan and gently shake the pan side to side or tap the sides to release any air bubbles and help the filling settle.

Place the springform pan into the cake pan and set the cake pan into the bain-marie. DO NOT use aluminum foil as an alternative to the cake pan for preventing water from leaking into the springform pan. Water will condense inside the foil and ruin the cheesecake. Trust me on this one. If using an aluminum roasting pan for the bain-marie, place it on a large baking sheet for support and for ease transferring to and from the oven.

Pour very hot tap water into the bain-marie halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Be careful not to splash water into the cheesecake filling.

Transfer to the oven and bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes. When complete, turn the oven off but leave the cheesecake in the oven for 15 minutes with the oven door slightly ajar (if needed, use an oven mitt to hold the door ajar).

Remove from the oven and carefully remove the cake pan from the water bath. Let the cheesecake cool to room temperature and then remove from the cake pan and release from the springform mold. Leave the cheesecake on the bottom of the springform mold and transfer to the storage container. Seal and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

About an hour before serving, prepare the sauce. Add the sauce ingredients to a small saucepan and bring to a brief boil while swirling the saucepan contents occasionally. Watch carefully or the sauce may boil over. Immediately reduce to a simmer and cook for exactly 4 minutes, again swirling the contents occasionally. Set aside to cool at room temperature.

To transfer the cheesecake to a serving plate, carefully slide a thin flexible spatula between the parchment paper and the crust and slide onto the plate. Moisten a knife with warm water to slice the cheesecake. Drizzle individual slices with the sauce. Store the cheesecake in the sealed container in the refrigerator.

BANANA PECAN SHORTBREAD VEGAN GLUTEN FREE

Serves: 30

Ingredients

• 1 cup coconut oil (or sub vegan butter)
• 1/3 cup mashed ripe banana (~ 1 small banana)
• 3/4 cup organic cane sugar or granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 cups gluten-free flour blend or unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup pecans, finely chopped
• optional: 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Cream oil, sugar and banana.
2. Add vanilla, sea salt and blend.
3. Add flour and blend.
4. Add pecans and mix once more.
5. Transfer to a large piece of parchment paper and roll into a tight log, ~ 2 inches wide. Freeze for 15 minutes to harden.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (175 C).
7. Unroll paper and slice cookies into slightly less than 1/2 inch discs with a sharp knife. If the dough has become too hard, let it rest for a few minutes at room temp to soften. If it’s too soft, freeze longer.
8. Place on an un-greased baking sheet. They won’t spread much, so they can be placed close together.
9. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until light golden brown.
10. Yields about 30 cookies.