My Cupcake.

I adore cupcakes.

Every Sunday, I torture myself by watching Cupcake Wars on The Food Network. There's something about seeing those mini cakes of yumminess displayed in front of the judges prepared by the best bakers in the world that seems thrilling in the most torturous way, perhaps because I can imagine how good those little cupcakes taste ... and that, chances are, I would not be able to eat them.

Between the cake and the frosting, typically there's a bit of dairy in there somewhere.

Well, on Monday, the cupcake craving reached a level of absurdity and I dropped everything to scour the Internet for a good cupcake recipe, sans dairy. I had seen a few before, but after reading them thoroughly and realizing they were healthified cupcakes, I skipped over them, as I prefer that my cupcakes taste sweet and be rather unhealthy. I happily stumbled on this blogger and promptly borrowed her chocolate cupcake recipe, along with her peanut butter frosting recipe. It's vegan. No animal products. I set right to work preparing this tasty treat, and my little Cub happily helped, by shattering a glass vase and drawing on the tile with sidewalk chalk (um, this is when he learned that sidewalk chalk can only be used on the floor OUTSIDE).

But I was not about to be deterred. Between lots of vacuuming, stirring, sweeping, cleaning, pouring, disciplining, and baking, we got it done.

The recipe is fantastic.

Here it is:

For the cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup expeller pressed oil (I used olive oil, since it was all I had)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (I used lemon juice)

1 cup water (room temperature)

Preheat your oven to 350°

Put the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt into a bowl and whisk well to combine.

(you can do this step in an 8x8 pan if you don’t want cupcakes)

Mix the oil, water, vanilla, and vinegar together in a measuring cup or bowl as best you can.

Pour the liquid mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until just blended.

Line a cupcake tin with paper liners.

Fill each one 3/4 of the way.

Bake for 18 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

(Bake for 30 minutes if you’re using an 8x8 pan)

For the frosting:

1/4 cup non dairy butter (I completely omitted this)

1/4 cup palm shortening (I used Crisco)

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons rice milk (I used almond milk, since almonds and peanuts go hand in hand)

Chocolate sprinkles for decoration (optional)

Beat the non dairy butter and palm shortening with a hand held mixer on medium speed until smooth.

Add the vanilla and peanut butter and beat until very smooth.

Add the sugar and beat again until combined.

With the beater still running, dribble in the rice milk, a little at a time until the frosting is fluffy.

Using a pastry bag and large tip, decorate the cupcakes. (I added a bit of water to the frosting to make it creamy and simply spread it with a spatula.)

And oh my word, they were amazing. The cake was extremely moist and chocolatey, and the frosting was thick and rich. Mmm. My husband and I have all but polished off the entire batch.

And, most importantly, they passed the toddler test.

I'm going to add this one to the books.

Have a lovely day!