Vanilla Lavender Cupcakes

These vegan, vanilla lavender cupcakes are sure to be a hit at your next get-together. From bridal showers to picnics, these mini cakes are sure to have party guests asking, "Where did you buy these?" Only for you to respond proudly that it was homemade!

Vanilla Lavender Cupcakes [Vegan]

Ingredients

• 2 cups plain flour, sifted
• 3/4 - 1 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup, plus 1 tablespoon almond milk (or any non-dairy milk)
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoon soy yogurt
• 3 teaspoon vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

For the icing

• 3/4 cup vegan butter
• 3 cups icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon lavender extract
• 3 teaspoon blue food colouring
• 3 teaspoon red food colouring
• sugar butterflies to decorate

Preparation

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC/356ºF. Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl or jug add the apple cider vinegar to the almond milk and let it curdle for a bit.
2. Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture and combine well, but do not overmix (this creates a tough batter; we want our cupcakes to be light and fluffy). Spoon the batter into lined cupcake tins and bake for 23 minutes*.
3. For the icing, beat together the softened vegan margarine and icing sugar with an electric whisk, taking care not to cover yourself in white powder. Add the lavender extract and beat again. Mix the red and blue colours in a separate bowl/teacup/small container. It will look terribly dark but believe me, it will fade to a pale lavender once you add it to the buttercream. Add the colour a few drops at a time and whisk until you are happy with the colour.
4. When the cakes have cooled decorate them with the icing and sugar butterflies.

Notes

*If you feel like 23 minutes sounds rather pedantic, let me explain: I’ve tried everything from 20 to 25 minutes, and indeed anything in that range will do, but 23 minutes seems to be the perfect amount of time, at least for my oven. Do remember that every oven is different and maybe you will need to leave your cupcakes baking a little longer, or a little less. But don’t fixate too much on the time; half a minute won’t make a drastic difference.

https://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-recipe/vanilla-lavender-cupcakes/