Basic Vanilla Cupcakes

This is actually a cake recipe from Sweet and Natural – More than 120 Naturally Sweet and Dairy-Free Desserts by Meredith McCarty. I simply must have my sweets and this makes me feel a little bit better about it. Today I'm just going to post the recipe. I will be reviewing the book at a later date because I feel this is worthy cookbook. This recipe had a dozen variations and I chose to make a lower fat version. The cake is just a bit heavy but moist, delicious and not too sweet. Everybody loves these cupcakes and I encourage you to try them out with your favorite frosting. I ended up with 21(!) cupcakes. Recipe reprinted with permission from Meredith McCarty. You can find her at http://www.healingcuisine.com/

Ingredients
1-1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1-1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1-1/2 TB aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
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1/2 cup canola oil*
1 cup pure maple syrup
1-1/2 cups soy milk
1 TB vanilla
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*alternate lower fat ingredients
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup applesauce

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients into large bowl, whisk to mix. Mix wet ingredients into smaller bowl, mix. Add wet ingredients into dry and whisk until batter is smooth with no lumps remaining. Do not overmix. I used a mixer until all lumps were gone. Scoop into muffin pan lined with cupcake liners. Bake for 20 minutes until tester comes out clean. Take out of muffin pan and cool on wire rack.

I like to frost these with Orange Icing.

Orange Icing
Ingredients
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp orange zest
2 TB fresh orange juice

Directions
Mix until no lumps remain. Add additional juice if frosting is too thick. When cupcakes are cool, thinly frost.

Coming up next: Cinnamon Buns with Vanilla-Maple Icing!