I’m always hesitant to tell people when my baked goods are vegan, because they tend to shy away. But I’ve made these cupcakes a few times now and they are fabulous. They’ll stand up to any cupcake, vegan or otherwise.

My friend and I made this recently with an interesting “textured” frosting – due to our lack of powdered sugar we used granulated. It was quite nice although next time I’d add some powdered sugar too. 🙂

The cupcake recipe comes from the Babycakes book and was shared via Gwyneth Paltrow’s site, http://goop.com/newsletter/49/en/. I didn’t use their frosting recipe, but instead did one more like a traditional buttercream frosting sans butter.

Cupcake ingredients:

• 1 cup garbanzo and fava bean flour
• 1/4 cup potato starch
• 2 tablespoons arrowroot
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 2/3 cup agave nectar
• 6 tablespoons applesauce
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup hot water
• Frosting for serving

Cupcake directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line one, standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, potato starch, cocoa powder, arrowroot, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt.
3. Add the oil, agave nectar, applesauce, vanilla, and hot water directly to the dry ingredients. Stir until the batter is smooth.
4. Pour 1/3 cup of the batter into each prepared cup. This portion will almost fill the cup up entirely.
5. Bake the cupcakes on the center rack for 22 minutes, rotating the tray 180 degrees after 15 minutes. The cupcakes will bounce back when pressed and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean. Remove from the oven.
6. Let the cupcakes stand for 20 minutes. Transfer them to a wire rack right side up and cool completely.

Coconut vanilla frosting ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups powdered sugar (or 2 cups powdered and 2 cups superfine)
• 1 cup coconut oil

Frosting directions:

1. Gently warm the coconut oil in a sauce pan or on low heat in the microwave
2. Mix all the ingredients together with a spoon or in a mixer.
3. When the cupcakes are cool, slice the top off and spread frosting in the middle. This allows for easier eating but does require you to open the cupcake holders slightly.

Enjoy!