Cupcakes!

Cupcakes are always a work in progress for me.  I always use healthy flour and sugar and it changes the way the cupcakes taste compared to what one would be used to in a bakery or at a birthday party.  Most of those cupcakes are not vegan and if they are, they may still be baked with white sugar and flour.  I used garbanzo bean flour and agave nectar for this recipe (actually an agave/maple syrup blend that Trader Joe's sells). 


Anyway, I left them in the oven a little too long so they aren't as moist as they should be and the icing is a maple syrup tasting chocolate flavor.  So with that said, you can change this recipe as you see fit.  I'm going to try these again and change a few things and see if I get different results.  These taste good but, again, they don't taste like what you would find in a bakery.  Vegan baking is challenging for me so I'm continually trying to perfect everything :)  When I try this recipe again and end up changing something, I'll do another blog post.

So here is what I did.  I added chia seeds to these cupcakes because it looks cool and they are such a power food.  Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of garbanzo bean flour
2/3 cup of agave nectar/maple sugar blend
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 tbsp. of chia seeds
1 1/4 tsp of vanilla
1 1/2 cups of almond milk/apple cider vinegar blend
1/2 cup of coconut oil

Combine 1tbsp of apple cider with enough almond milk to make 1 1/2 cups of the mixture.  Leave the mixture to sit and curdle for about 5 minutes.  While doing that, mix all dry ingredients (flour, chia seeds, baking powder and soda) in one bowl and the wet ingredients (agave nectar, coconut oil, vanilla and milk/vinegar mixture) in another bowl.  You need to heat up the coconut oil to make it liquid.  Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix well.  Pour the batter into cupcake pans and bake for 15-20 minutes.  Make sure you don't overbake.

Icing: Beat 1/2 cup of earth balance butter, 1/2 cup of agave nectar, 2 tbsp. of unsweetened cocoa, 1 tsp of vanilla in a medium bowl and taste it.  Add more cocoa if you need to.  I still need to perfect my vanilla icing so for now I can share the chocolate with you.

Let the cupcakes cool before icing them.  Top with fruit instead of sugar or food coloring.
Like I said earlier, I'm going to try to make these lighter and I will work on vanilla icing.  I'm used to using white confectioner sugar for the icing but it's not healthy plus not all brands are vegan. 

You can taste the garbanzo bean flavoring in the flour.  You can taste the maple taste in the icing.  Just beware of those two things.  Substitute another flour, use plain agave nectar.  Or use coconut sugar...or just find vegan confectioner sugar.  I hope these turn out for you!  I love cupcakes!!