Strawberry Cupcakes (Vegan)

Light Fluffy Strawberry Flavored Cupcakes with Sweet and Fruity Frosting. Growing up, the box strawberry cake was my favorite type of cake. Unfortunately, those box cakes are filled with food coloring, high fructose corn syrup and other unpleasant ingredients. This a spin on strawberry box cake recipe, but without the unwanted ingredients and unnatural food dyes.

Ingredients:

1 cup of almond milk (coconut or soy will work as well)

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 cups ap flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

¾ cup sugar

⅓ cup oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 Tbsp freeze dried strawberry powder*

3 tbsp beet juice*

Strawberry Frosting

3 ¾ cup powdered sugar

3 Tbsp powdered freeze dried strawberries

5 Tbsp vegan butter softened

3 Tbsp beet juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

Freeze Dried Strawberry Powder*

Blend freeze dried strawberry in a blender. If you don’t have a blender, you can place the freeze dried strawberries into a ziplock bag and crush with a rolling pin or spoon.

Beet Juice*

If you don’t have a juicer, take a small beet and skin and cut into small cubes (should make one cup of cut beets). Place the beets into a blender with ½ cup of water and blend on high until the beet is fully pureed. Use cheesecloth or a nut milk bag to strain out the pulp and reserve the juice until needed.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Line cupcake tins with liners. In a large mixing bowl add the milk, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar, sugar, oil, and beet juice. Whisk together until the sugar is dissolved.

In a separate mixing bowl combine the flour, freeze dried strawberry powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Whisk together.

Add ⅓ of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until completely combined. Add another ⅓ and stir until completely combined. Finally add the last ⅓ and whisk until completely combined.

Use a scoop to fill in portions of the batter into lined cupcake tins until all the batter is used. Make sure to only fill up the liners ⅔ of the way to leave room for the cake to rise. This recipe makes about 15 cupcakes.

Place the cupcakes into the oven and bake for 20 to 25 or until a toothpick cake tester comes out clean.

While the cupcakes are baking, make the frosting. Place the 3 ¾ cups of powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl. Add the vegan butter and mix until all the butter is combined. Add the vanilla and then beet juice one tablespoon at a time to the mixture and keep mixing until well combined. If the frosting is too stiff to spread smoothly add one tablespoon at a time of almond milk until a desired consistency.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven when they are down baking. Let them cool completely on a cooling rack before frosting.

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