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Low-Fat Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes
June 8th, 2009 Madhuram Posted in Muffins/Cupcakes, Vegan Baking | 
| 28 Comments »
I was going to try these vegan cupcakes just before the end of the low fat baking event, but had to bake it now itself. The reason being, the other 2 experiments to lower the fat was not that satisfactory. Thankfully it was edible (and healthy), so I did not end up nourishing my trash can. So I resorted to this eggless vanilla cupcake recipe from the Allergy-Free Cookbook by Alice Sherwood. (I have also updated in the event announcement that recipes which are already low in fat can be sent).
Yield: 6 regular size cupcakes and 11 mini cupcakes.
2 In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in the sugar.
3 Add all the remaining ingredients and beat until you have a smooth, liquid batter.
4 Using a ladle, pour the batter 3/4ths full. Approximately 3 tablespoons of batter for large cupcakes and 1 and 1/2 tablespoon of batter for the mini cupcakes.
5 Bake until risen and firm to touch. Approximately 12-13 minutes for the mini cupcakes and 15-16 minutes for the large.
6 Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Frosting is optional. I did not frost the entire batch. Made a very small batch of chocolate ganache using 1/4 cup mini chocolate chip cookies and 2 tablespoons milk. Heat the milk, don’t let it boil. Add the warm milk little by little until the chocolate chips melt and is very smooth. The chocolate chips did not melt enough. So I heated some water in a saucepan and place the bowl of chips on the saucepan and kept stirring it with a whisk and it melted from the heat in no time. If you add excess milk, keep the frosting in the fridge until you get the correct consistency to frost the cupcakes.
I was pleasantly surprised with the good taste of these vegan cupcakes. Earlier I have baked something similar and it was literally awful and I had to throw the cake. The other recipe used more oil, soy milk instead of water and white vinegar. The soy milk gave a sticky texture, the use of vinegar was very obvious. So I was relieved to see a recipe with just 2 tablespoons of oil and water. That’s why I went with apple cider vinegar this time. I wouldn’t say that these cupcakes taste exactly like the regular vanilla cupcakes, but it’s definitely very good for a low-fat, egg free and dairy free vegan cupcake. The next time I will probably reduce the quantity of sugar by at least 2 tablespoons, especially if I decide to frost it.
As for the texture, it is not light. At the same time it’s not dense or moist either. It’s somewhere between light and dense. It’s solid and not crumbly, so I should probably try this in a round/square cake pan to make a good layered cake with icing and stuff.
2 It was a little sweet for me even without the frosting.
3 I forgot to refrigerate the cupcakes on the first day, so I felt it was sort of sticky on the top on the second day. I think the sugar released out moisture and made it sort of sticky. The inside was good though.
4 To make vegan ganache, use vegan chocolate chips and any other non dairy milk.
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February 18th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
would be very helpful if when you go to print the recipes if they were in a recipe card format.
February 8th, 2010 at 7:03 am
These tasted quite nice, quite light, but just a little sticky, a slight uncooked taste. I used normal sugar and not brown sugar, could that be the reason? I cooked them for about 17 mins.
Mina, I think it’s the recipe. A couple of others too did not get it right. Maybe I should try it once again and see how it comes because we liked it the first time and I’m not sure why others are not getting it right.
January 31st, 2010 at 11:53 am
[...] The recipe for the vanilla cupcakes are adapted from Madhuram’s Eggless Cooking site (click here for the original recipe), and the frosting is from a recipe I found on VegWeb.com. My first batch [...]
January 30th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
I tried it with almond milk instead of water and it didn’t turn out well at all – very doughy. Almond milk usually works very well in place of cow’s milk, but I think the batter was actually too thick. I will try it with the water, but I am a little skeptical. I think there is not enough fat in this recipe with just two tbl of oil and a cup of water.
Hmm.. I too substitute almond milk in baking recipes and it comes out well. I feel that soy milk only gives that stickiness.
January 30th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Can I sub almond milk for the milk? Adds little fat plus good protein and other nutrients. I will try it and let you know how it works.
That should not be a problem Nona. Do let me know how it turns out.
January 4th, 2010 at 11:59 pm
I’m Definitely NOT a vegetarian by any means but these cupcakes look DELICIOUS. I love healthy baking of any kind and especially for my kids. I cannot believe the amount of parents out there nowadays allowing their kids to live on Fast food,it will catch up with you.
That’s true Carol.
October 28th, 2009 at 6:55 am
This website is very very helpful as we are pure vegetarian however we do not eat egg
thank you x
September 19th, 2009 at 8:46 am
These are really good with frosting!
Thanks!
You’re welcome Natasha.