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.

I've expanded my baking experience with a wonderful vegan gluten free chocolate cupcake recipe.

Karina from the Gluten Free Goddess website truly has the biggest gluten free cooking and baking website online! She has extensive recipes for baking and cooking, due to her own allergies. She has vegan and non vegan recipes alike, and a fantastic page on GF substitutions here. It was very educational reading up on the different flours used and combined to get nearly the same results as regular baking.

So recently, a co worker was diagnosed with celiac disease, and it turned her world upside down, especially when she has a family to feed, and many of her regular favorite foods are now off limits. It's still a learning process for them, but Karina's website was the first one I gave to her, to brush up on all of the ins and outs of GF cooking. I came into play, being the baker at work for the rest of our coworkers, wanting to be able to share some goodies with her too, since she was being left out.

What I didn't realize is the variables for baking, with so many options for flours. I had picked up some sorghum flour, potato flour, (then there is potato starch too-not to be confused!), and some xanthan gum. Then my search began for a vegan recipe for me, but a GF recipe for her that would use these ingredients. And Karina's site came to the rescue with the recipe for GF chocolate cupcakes with coffee icing. It fit the bill for vegan and GF!

I am not gluten sensitive or intolerant at all, so I had no idea what to expect when eating these cupcakes, but they were really good! I was surprised at how high they rose, and the recipe did make 12 cupcakes as  the instructions said. They were light and airy, and very moist. What else do you need in a cupcake, as long as it looks pretty too!

I didn't use Karina's exact coffee icing recipe, but I did use Earth Balance margarine instead of the spectrum shortening, and ended up doubling it, since frosting the cupcakes with the rosettes, required a larger amt of frosting. I must not have made the coffee strong enough, as I didn't even taste it, so I added 1/2 tsp of organic almond extract to each batch of frosting, instead of the vanilla. (1 tsp extract for a double batch of her recipe). They were just as nice as any of my previously made vegan recipes, and I highly recommend giving it a try!

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe with Coffee Icing


If you don't care for the taste of coffee, use plain water or a light rice milk in the batter in place of the coffee and make a vanilla or chocolate flavored icing.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup cupcake pan with paper liners.
Whisk together the dry ingredients:

3/4 rounded cup sorghum flour
3/4 rounded cup potato starch, cornstarch or tapioca starch
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup organic cane sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon xanthan gum


Add in and beat till smooth:

1 cup warm coffee (not too hot or it will make the potato starch gluey)
1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer beaten with 1/4 cup warm water
3 tablespoons light olive oil
2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon light tasting vinegar

Beat the batter for a full two to three minutes until all the ingredients are incorporated and the batter is smooth. Using an ice cream scoop, plop the batter into the cups and smooth the tops. Bake in the center of a preheated oven till done- about 20 minutes or so. Cool the cupcakes on a wire rack (don't let them sit in the baking pan too long or they'll get soggy). Frost when completely cooled. See recipe for coffee flavored icing below.

Vegan Coffee Icing Recipe

2 cups confectioner's (powdered) sugar

2-3 tablespoons Spectrum Organic Shortening (or Earth Balance margarine)

2-4 ounces cold coffee, as needed

1 teaspoon bourbon vanilla (or a half tsp of almond extract)

Starting with the least amount of liquid, beat the sugar to incorporate the shortening, coffee and vanilla. if you need more liquid, add a small amount at a time. beat for two minutes or so until smooth. If you need to stiffen the frosting, add a little more confectioner's sugar. Chill the frosting before using it. I chill it, covered, for roughly an hour ( I didn't chill it all and used it right out of the bowl). Frost the cupcakes. Cover in an air-tight container until serving. best eaten the first day. If making ahead of time, chill frosted cakes briefly in the freezer before wrapping individually and freezing. Makes twelve cupcakes.

Creamy peanut butter frosted chocolate cupcakes!

I've been sitting on posting this for a few days, as I just hadn't taken the time to sit down to write out the recipe, but this is one of my favorite flavor combinations. Who doesn't like peanut butter and chocolate together?

From the ever famous cookbook, Vegan Cupakes Take Over the World, by Isa Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, this is the standard chocolate cupcake recipe, which makes a dark, and nearly black cupcake, using dutch processed cocoa.

Chocolate Cupcake

1 cup soy or non dairy milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract or more vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup dutch cocoa powder, or regular
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
Whisk the soy milk and vinegar together and let sit for several minutes.
Add the suagr, oil and extracts, and whisk till foamy.
In another bowl, add dry ingredients, sift, and mix till combined.
Add dry ingredients in two batches to the wet ingredients, and beat till no lumps remain. A few small ones are acceptable.
Pour into liners, 3/4 full. (original recipe states 12 cupcakes, I usually get 13 or 14)
Bake 18-20 minutes, till toothpick comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack to completely cool before frosting.

Closeup of the yummy pieces parts!

Peanut Butter Frosting

(Note: The above are mini cupcakes, so I actually only made half of the frosting recipe to pipe, but if you make regular sized cupcakes, you will have plenty of frosting to pipe down in the center, for creamy filled mouthfuls!)

1/2 cup of Earth Balance, non dairy margarine (It's also trans fat free, and whey-less!)

2/3 cup peanut butter

3-4 cups of confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1-2 Tbsp of non dairy milk

With an electric mixer, cream the margarine and peanut butter together, till creamy, for about a minute. Add remaining ingredients, and start mixer out on low speed, and gradually increase, to prevent a powdered sugar cloud. Mix till light and fluffy- about another 1-2 minutes.  Using your favorite piping tip, frost till your heart's content!

I had left over caramelly goodness in my fridge, which I used to drizzle over these cupcakes, and added some finely chopped peanuts on top.

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day with cupcakes!

Today's cupcakes are a chocolate banana with what turned out to be a frosting that ended up like a syrupy caramel.....all good in my book! Celebrating the holiday for looks, the pretty cupcake is adorned with a colored coconut dollop. This recipe comes from The Novice Blog

Chocolate Banana Cupcakes

1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup ripe banana (about 1 1/2 bananas)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin pan with paper liners. Makes 12 cupcakes.

In a small bowl, mash the banana with a fork. Whisk in the coconut milk, sugar, oil, and vanilla extract until incorporated. Mixture will still be a little lumpy because of the nature of the banana, but whisk out as many large lumps as you can. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour in banana mixture. Stir until just smooth (do not overmix).

Pour into liners, filling each with 3 tablespoons of batter (cups should be no more than 2/3 full). Bake 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

The frosting came from this site, and I will change the directions to reflect what I had to do with it...Grist.org

Vegan Coconut Milk Chocolate Fudge Frosting


Make sure you have your cupcakes ready to ice before beginning the frosting. It will set up quickly. If it fully sets up before you finish icing your layers, warm it slightly in a bowl set over simmering water. You can thin it further with a few drops of coconut milk.  (I found this wasn't necessary)

1/4 cup virgin coconut oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt the coconut oil in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir in the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt.

Add the coconut milk, stir well, and bring the mixture to a boil. Adjust the heat to a steady but gentle boil and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. The mixture should begin to thicken.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Set the chocolate mixture aside to cool for about 30 minutes. ( I needed to put my pan in a cold water bath to get it to thicken up enough to spoon over the cupcakes. Make sure it's thick enough, or you'll lose alot with it dripping off of the cupcakes!)

Beat the frosting until it thickens, about 20 strokes with a wooden spoon. Spread it over your cupcakes.

Any leftover frosting can be poured in a pan, allowed to harden, and cut into squares like fudge.

The green coconut is approx 2/3 cup of coconut placed into a ziplock bag, drop 2 drops of green food coloring in, zip the bag closed, and shake till color is evenly distributed. Apply coconut evenly over all 12 cupcakes, while frosting is still wet, and not set up.

More Vegan cupcakes! It really isn't all I know how to make, I swear!

One of my fellow coworkers retired yesterday, and we had a food fest at work, and I was responsible for making, guess what......cupcakes! This coworker has been a nurse twice as long  (44 yrs) as I have,  and has worked at our place of employment for 34 or 36 yrs....I forget already. That is dedication to say the least. Nursing is hard work, and to stay in one place for that long, is to me, rather incredible.  Good luck Yo- we're going to miss you, but it brings me great pleasure that we got to eat yummy food together!

I have found out through my most dedicated coworkers,  what cupcakes tend to go rather fast! I believe the site of  CHOCOLATE anything, makes people salivate. Combine chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and filling, and that is a win win combination! The other cupcakes were vanilla with a mint chocolate ganche filling, and a buttercream frosting, using Earth Balance margarine.

Don't forget people....we are talking the most awesome of vegan cupcakes here! So much so, that a day shift nurse called back to the unit, asking for me, so she could tell me how awesome they were, while talking illegally on her cell phone, driving! Really...she did. People don't realize that vegan baking is not hard or a mystery, but it is chemistry, and much healthier!

Vegan cupcakes rock my world!

I'm on a cupcake baking kick right now, also practicing my food photography along the way. Love natural light, but that means you have to cook and photograph during the day, which is sometimes kind of hard with my schedule. I have been lucky enough though to make sure I have day light hours to photograph these beauties!

The first up is Oreo Delights, which I can tell you, caused more than just the women at work, to go nuts....even the guys were raving about their deliciousness!

I happened to take two different setups of that particular cupcake so the other is more of a high key, but on white fur.

then another one made recently for a family get together were also snapped up in a jiffy! These are chocolate with a chocolate buttercream frosting, which also provided filling for the center of the cupcake. Bed Bath and Beyond has a cupcake corer/filler tool that is actually pretty nice, but while I didn't think of it, a small round cookie cutter would have been cheaper and just as effective!

ok.....you better check your keyboards to see if there's any drool dribbles on your keys!  Enjoy your baking adventures!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope this was an enjoyable and productive day for you all. My hubby and I had a late lunch/midafternoon dinner, so I'd be sure to have room for my own dessert! with all foods being vegan, I want to assure you, you would NEVER know that this mousse had NO dairy in it! The recipe for both the cupcakes and the mousse are found on Vegan Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate mousse frosting

I have to say I loved the light texture of the cupcakes, but be sure not to overfill the liners, or they will topple over the top, onto your baking tin.  The cup holding the mousse is just a candy form and melted semi sweet chips, and what is Valentine's Day without chocolate dipped strawberries?  Dessert was pure heaven!