I tried out a couple more recipes out of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule this morning, combining the basic chocolate cupcake and the uber-delicious coconut pecan frosting. Delicious! I did some tweaking to the frosting and maybe one might argue that it isn’t the same, it was delicious – more delicious than any other german chocolate frosting I have made so far! So if you want the real recipe and not my tweaked one, go get a copy of the book. Which you should anyways

PS: Why did I tweak it? The coconut was bad enough for us so I figured dumping the coconut milk called for and using almond milk was a better choice to at least cut back some of the saturated fat.

Basic Chocolate Cupcakes (Page 37)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup plain almond milk (Used Silk brand, can use any non-dairy you prefer)
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 1½ tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp kosher salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° and line a 12 count muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Measure the almond milk into a glass measuring cup, add in the vinegar and stir. Let sit and curdle for a few minutes.
3. In a medium mixing bowl sift the flour through salt together.
4. In a large mixing bowl whisk the sugar, oil and vanilla together. Add in the curdled milk and whisk until the sugar is dissolved.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and whisk until a smooth batter forms.
6. Using a disher divide the batter evenly between the liners.
7. Bake for 15 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. (Mine took 25)
8. Let cool for a couple of minutes, transfer to a cooling rack.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Coconut Pecan Frosting (Based somewhat on page 147)

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup plain almond milk (or favorite non-dairy milk)
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• Pinch of kosher salt
• ¾ cup plain almond milk (or favorite non-dairy milk)
• ¾ cup + 2 Tbsp brown sugar, packed
• 1 ½ cup finely shredded sweetened coconut
• ½ cup pecans, finely diced (used food chopper)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a small bowl whisk the first almond milk with the cornstarch and salt until smooth, set aside.
2. In a heavy medium saucepan heat the ¾ cup almond milk and sugar, stirring till smooth, over medium heat. Bring to a boil, turn down to low and cook for 5 minutes, whisking often.
3. Whisk the cornstarch mixture again and slowly pour into the sugar mix, whisking constantly.
4. Let cook for 7 minutes longer, whisking constantly.
5. Take off the heat, add in the pecans and vanilla, beat in, then add the coconut. Stir well to coat the coconut.
6. Let sit on the counter until room temperature, stirring occasionally. To speed up the cooling transfer to a clean dish.
7. Once cooled frost your cupcakes. I used a 1 Tablespoon disher to scoop up generous scoops and then spread it with a spatula.
8. Top with a whole pecan if desired.

~Sarah