Poor vanilla. It's used as a descriptor for the most boring, pedestrian, run-of-the-mill things in life. Dull, conventional people are described as being vanilla, unexciting music is vanilla, and "plain vanilla" is even used in the financial world to describe basic, standard financial instruments.
But vanilla really is a treasure of a flavour. Where would hot fudge sundaes be without vanilla ice cream? Those cookies baking in your oven wouldn't smell half as good without vanilla. Vanilla is the ingredient that makes the difference; it ramps up the quality of baked goods, it turns good enough into OMG AMAZING.
So I say, it's not just plain vanilla. It's just plain amazing that we have such a flavour in our lives. Aren't we lucky?
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Stir apple cider vinegar into the coconut milk. Mix this together with sugar, oil, and vanilla.
In a large bowl, stir together baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour. Add the wet ingredients to the dries, and stir until just combined.
Divide among 12 paper-lined cupcake tins; bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
Allow to cool before frosting.
To make the frosting: beat together coconut oil, icing sugar, and vanilla. Add coconut milk slowly until desired consistency is reached.
(Yield: Makes 12 cupcakes)
Want more cupcakes? Try my super-easy Pot of Gold Chocolate Cupcakes, or my Va-Va-Va Voom Velvet Cupcakes - red velvet without all that food colouring! Maybe you're just looking for a good dairy-free dessert; why not try my Dairy-Free Coconut Cream Puffs!
Adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World
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