my first vegan endeavor

I found out yesterday that a friend/ex-boss of mine just suffered a break-up. For some reason, my first thought was to bake him a vegan cake. Perhaps this is because the last time we went to lunch he requested a slice of vegan cake. I didn't oblige. So I figured this was as good a time as any, and I would even one-up his past request. I would make it mySELF. hah. I got Matt on board and away we went.

Lucky for me, Kristina had just sent me two new foodie blogs earlier in the morning, and I jumped on them right away to see if they had any delectable goodies. I searched the dairy free section of this DELICIOUS LOOKING BLOG and found these cupcakes. You should certainly check out this blog, but I will also re-post the recipe below, only claiming ownership of the substitution of carob chips for chocolate chips :) [I believe the original poster of this recipe adapted it from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World]

Oh, and I also used a different frosting. I didn't have any rum, and I wanted to use a Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese base, so I put together my own little frosting recipe.

So!
Here's what you need and do!

Pumpkin Chip Cupcakes with Tofutti Cinnamon Frosting

For the cupcake [makes 12, by the way!]:
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup soymilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon each ground cloves, nutmeg, and ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegan carob chips

For the frosting [link above has the intended frosting, but mine was delicious!]
1 8 oz. package of Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
2 T Earth Balance Buttery Spread
1-1 1/2 c powdered sugar [this is an estimate - I slowly added until the texture/taste was to my liking]
1 t vanilla extract
2 t cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.
Put your cupcake cups in your cupcake pan!

-In a medium bowl, stir together the pumpkin, oil, sugar, soymilk, and vailla.
-Sift in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices [sidenote: I do not own a sifter. So this is what I did, and I think it worked quite well: I measured out and combined all of the dry ingredients in a small bowl. I then grabbed two spoons and, using them like salad tossers, i gently picked up the mixture and dropped it back in the bowl again. I did this for a few minutes and then I used a vegetable steamer to sift the mixture in with the wet mix. This way you get all the clumps out!]
-Gently mix by hand until just combined. Don’t use an electric mixer or over mix the batter as it may become too gummy. Once combined, fold in the chips.
-Fill your cupcake liners each with 1/4 cup of mix. I came out with EXACTLY 12 cupcakes when I did this - so you should, too!
-Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick [or fork, if you're unprepared like me :)] comes out clean
-Remove from pan, let cool, and frost!

While your cupcakes are baking is an excellent time to put together the frosting.
Beat together the Tofutti, Earth Balance, and vanilla. Slowly add in your powdered sugar and your cinnamon - keep tasting until you're happy :)
[During my first frosting attempt, I added 1/4 cup of soymilk, per another recipe I had found. DO NOT do this!! My frosting came out more like a glaze and was just too thin to stay put on top of the cupcake. I had to run back out and buy a second container of Tofutti. ugh! It seems that the combination "cream cheese"/"butter" works best.]

See the blog linked above for an amazing photo of what these cupcakes should look like.
See the photo below for what they will realistically look like.
See the 2nd photo below for my reaction after eating one for breakfast this morning.

Oh, and our recipient loved them.
Jessica = 1 Vegan Baking = 0