Last week I posted about a delicious vegan chocolate cake that is simple and delicious. However, there is no sense in talking about cupcakes if you aren’t going to mention the frosting. As my dad always says, the cake is just the vehicle to transport the frosting. In other words: it’s all about the frosting!

This is a very easy variation on the American buttercream that I’ve posted about before. The difference being that we’re going to adjust the ingredients to be allergy friendly/vegan, and ta da! We’ll have a great, inexpensive frosting that even the most allergic child can eat.

My frosting is all about the perfect ratio, which is 2:1 powdered sugar to butter. In this recipe, which I’ve halved from the original, you need 1 lb. powdered sugar and 1/2 lb. (2 sticks) of butter. Of course, we can’t use real butter, so use your favorite substite. My favorite is a little hard to find but when I do find it, I stock up on it. It’s called Best Life Buttery Baking Sticks, and I’ve only found it at Walmart. They also sell it as a spread, but don’t use that for baking.

There are other options as well; Nucoa has a mild margarine-y taste (and trans-fat), and I hate the taste of Earth Balance (plus it has flax and my husband is allergic to flax of all things), but if you’re used to the taste, it’s fine to use. I don’t think it looks right, it has this weird transclucent quality… anyway. I’m sure that’s just me. :D {If you don’t have food allergies, just know that finding a margarine without any milk products is hard to do, so when you find one that tastes decent and is safe for your child(ren), it’s blog worthy!} 

Hmm, I got off topic on a margarine rant. Where was I?

Oh yes. The recipe! One of the tricks to any successful butter-based frosting is beating your butter/margarine and powdered sugar together very well. Keep that in mind as you begin. Here’s the recipe!

WAIT! By vegan, I just mean “dairy and egg free.” Don’t run away. Don’t be afraid. This is a NORMAL recipe. It’s got REGULAR ingredients, that can be found in YOUR cupboard. No tofu involved, I swear. Also: easiest chocolate cake recipe ever. And did I mention it’s reallyreally good?

It only figures that I went to all that effort of mastering a delicious chocolate cake recipe, only to have to go back and start learning how to bake for Abigail, with no milk or eggs (and no almonds, thank you). As a young toddler, it wasn’t that hard to trick her into eating something… similiar. I mean, I still give her bagels and call them “donuts” while the rest of us nosh down on the good stuff. But as she gets older, the kid gets wiser.

I love to bake. But it’s got to be easy, no fuss, and I don’t want to do it twice if I can avoid it.
And it has to be delicious.
Otherwise, what’s the point?

I won’t waste time mentioning how many dozens of cupcakes I threw away, trying weird variations of recipes. Finally my sister in law brought this ‘vegan cupcake’ to a family party for my sister and her milk-allergic dad. It’s so simple. By far my easiest cake recipe. Just dump in the dry ingredients, follow with wet.

Unfortunately I didn’t think ahead to measure my ingredients for the strawberry frosting. It’s basically my recipe for Rich Chocolate Frosting, but I omitted the vanilla and cocoa. I used strawberries as my liquid instead of milk and just added strawberries until it looked about right. :D

The recipe comes from the amazingly fantastic allrecipes.com.

tried a new devils food cake recipe but I’m not a fan. Anyone want to save me from eating a couple dozen muffin-esque cupcakes? I hate to toss them!