Vegan white cupcakes with Pistachio Cardamom frosting

Okay, I'll admit it - I'm a terrible blogger.  Jeez, it's been over a month since a post.  I super fail.  Well, since that last post, I've gone full-fledged vegan, so recipes will be a bit different.  I've had a lot of success and learned a lot by reading other vegan blogs, so maybe I can contribute in some small, barely-noticeable way.

I ran out of cupcake cups, so used measuring cups for a few.  This all stems from the fact that I've lost my muffin tin.

This cupcake recipe comes from a regular customer at the restaurant I work at who has provided us with a lot of vegan recipes.  I'm trying to work through all of the recent batch she gave us, serving as sort of a test kitchen before we serve them at work.  This will be the 3rd time I've made these cupcakes myself and we now serve them at work.  A good, simple recipe that can be modified with various frostings and flavorings.

For a dozen cupcakes, you'll need:

• 1 T apple cider vinegar
• 1 ½ C almond milk (my only modification from the original recipe [orig. soy]. I recommend using the sweetened vanilla flavor for these, but if you just have plain, add more vanilla and sprinkle cakes with sugar on top)
• 2 ⅛ c flour
• 2t baking powder
• 1/2t soda
• 1/2t salt
• 1 ⅛ c sugar
• 1/2c vegetable oil
• 1 ½t pure vanilla
• 1/2t coconut extract

The steps:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Combine almond milk & cider vinegar in a small bowl and set aside
• Combine all the dry ingredients.
• Add oil, extracts, & milk mixture and combine
• Dish into a muffin tin and bake for 15-20min

For the frosting, you'll need:

• 1/2C pistachio nuts, shelled
• 1/4C water
• 1/4-1/2C almond milk
• 1/2t vanilla
• 1t Cardamom
• a few cups of powdered sugar

The steps:

• In your food processor (YES! I got one! Finally!), blend nuts and water until it forms a green liquid with tiny pieces of nuts left. Dish this out into a large bowl.
• Add almond milk, vanilla, and cardamom
• Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, fully incorporating it into the mixture until the frosting has reached desired consistency
• Frost your cupcakes when they cool.

Awesome, enjoy these. I am really really going to try to post more. I hibernated there for awhile when my heat was broken. That's my (lame) excuse.

Recipes to come (after cooking dinner for friends tomorrow): 

• black bean soup 
• carrot & jicama salad 
• guacamole