Sunday, April 24, 2011

Vegan Creamsicle and Root Beer Float cupcakes! Oh MY!!!!!

This has been the best invention yet, I believe. Who doesn't like creamsicles or Root Beer floats? They are the epitome of summertime deliciousness! BUT....when you go vegan, you choose not to eat the standard brand ice creams or desserts that are on the market. Of course there are awesome vegan brand ice creams out there, but I just don't happen to buy them.....but I LOVE baking cupcakes, which lead to trying some new flavors.

The basic vanilla cake mix recipe is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, again, by Isa and Terry. Love these recipes. They are excellent and bake up perfectly.

The only difference between the two, is the two flavorings used. Both have plain frosting filling in the cupcakes too. I think I do that on most of my cupcakes now....it just adds an additional surprise to the eater~

Vegan creamsicle cupcakes


vegan rootbeer float cupcakes



Vanilla Cupcake Recipe:

1 cup of non dairy milk and I use soy milk
1 tsp of apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups of flour
2 T of cornstarch
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup of canola oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract *** (see options below)
1/4 tsp almond, caramel or more vanilla ***


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake liners in pan. Measure soy milk in a liquid measuring cup, add cider vinegar and mix. Let sit for a few minutes to curdle, then add sugar and oil and extracts, and whisk together. In a large bowl, sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder soda, and salt together. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry, and mix till thoroughly combined and no large lumps remain. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full, and bake for 20-22 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and frost when completely cool.


***** Creamsicle cupcakes: Use 1 1/2 tsp of pure Orange extract (I used McCormicks)in the batter, and another 3/4 tsp to 1/3-1/2 of frosting recipe- kind of a taste as you go. I like tasting the orange personally (See below). I added orange Wilton food coloring to the batter with the orange extract, and the white frosting has no added flavoring in it.

In a pastry bag with it folded outward, place the colored frosting in half the bag, and the white in the other half, and using a 1M large decorating tip, start around the outer edge, and pipe around, and inward to make it twist-like.  See Wilton's page here to see how to hold the bag.





***For the rootbeer floats, I used 2 tsp of McCormick's Root Beer Concentrate in the batter, and then another 1+ tsp in half the frosting....Again, use your own judgement in how strong or weak you like the flavor. This amt worked for me. Be aware that the concentrate will make a brown frosting, and was piped with just the open end of a pastry decorating bag, then smoothed, before the small balls of white frosting were applied. For the small icing balls, I used the small end of a melon baller. Small scoops with a spoon could work too.  Then cut colored straws down, taking about 2 1/2- 3 inches off the bottom, and bend the straw, as if it were in a soda, and place strategically!


Standard buttercream frosting

1/2 cup Earth Balance non hydrogenated margarine (or reg marg)
1/2 cup non hydrogenated vegetable shortening
4 1/2-5 cups of confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla (or other extracts as desired)

This makes a moderately stiff frosting, thin or stiffen as you see fit.  Cream with margarine and shortening with an electric mixer, add powdered sugar, milk, and extract and continue to mix till nice, light and fluffy, for several minutes.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Jess, everywhere I look I see you delicious cupcakes! I might just have to make these myself soon, since now I am going to crave them (or at the very least the Orange Creamsicle)

Jess said...

I'm going to research how to ship cupcakes just for you! Go for it, they're very good :)

Heidi @ Food Doodles said...

Those look fantastic! Love the orange swirl in the creamsicle ones. And I just imagine how yummy the float ones taste, I've never seen root beer concentrate but I'll be looking for it now :D

MA said...

Cupcake yumyum! Good stuff!

Cool Math Games said...

These looks very delicious !! yummmmm!!

kelly said...

Very nice recipe except I will do away with soy milk and Canola Oil.

My cousin's wife who is breastfeeding has to stop drinking soy milk because her daughter gets rashes. (On top of these, she has to stop eating beef. Meat and soy milk were food I had warned about before.)

Soy lecithin can cause anaphylactic shock in severe cases, allergies in milder cases.

As for Canola Oil, it still has euracic acids that may not be excreted so the acid can be accumulatively toxic.