Vanilla Almond Cupcakes with Plum Frosting

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Everyone loves a nice, fluffy cupcake. I love when a cupcake is light and airy, with smooth and creamy frosting on top! One of the easiest ways to keep a cupcake moist and fluffy is to use yogurt in the batter. But that doesn’t mean your cupcakes can’t be dairy-free or vegan-friendly!

I really enjoy making vegan cupcakes; they are surprisingly simple to make and taste just as delicious as normal cupcakes (or, dare I say it, even better!) I became interested in vegan baking when I made cupcakes for my sister-in-law a couple of years ago. Since then, I’ve noticed how easy it is to make delicious baked goods that are dairy and egg free!

Silk dairy-free products are perfect for cupcakes, because they add additional flavor to the batter through their Vanilla and other flavored yogurts and milks.

To make these Vanilla Almond Cupcakes with Plum Frosting, I went to Walmart to pick up a Silk Half Gallon Vanilla Almond Milk and a couple of Silk Vanilla Yogurts. You can find them in the dairy aisle, with the normal milk and yogurts.

Silk Almond Milk has 50% more calcium that dairy milk, with no cholesterol and no saturated fat. Silk offers seven almond milk options, all 100 calories or less. I love Vanilla Almond Milk in my cereal, its so tasty!  Silk yogurt, made from soy, has 6 grams of soy protein per serving with no cholesterol and no artificial flavors or colors. The yogurt is dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegetarian.

Plums are in season at the moment and I absolutely love their flavor, so I decided to make a plum frosting. The delicious flavor of plums is enhanced with almonds and vanilla, so Silk products are perfect with plum!

Cupcakes:

• 1 stick margarine (8 tablespoons), at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 (5.3 oz) containers Silk Vanilla Yogurt (~1 cup)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup Silk Vanilla Almond Milk

Frosting:

• 3 plums, diced
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 stick margarine  (8 tablespoons), at room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• a pinch of salt
• a couple drops blue food coloring, if desired
• cinnamon, for garnish

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.

Add the softened margarine and sugar to a bowl. Mix using an electric mixer on medium until well combined.

Add the Silk vanilla yogurt and mix to combine.

Add almond and vanilla extracts and mix to combine.

Mix together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl (cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt).

Alternate adding dry ingredients and Silk Almond Milk to to the sugar, mixture mixing after each addition, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.

Scoop the batter into the prepared cupcake tins, filling each tin half way (these guys puff up a lot!)

 

Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until inserting a toothpick into one of the center cupcakes comes out clean.

 

While waiting for the cupcakes to bake, dice your plums.

 

Add the plums to a saute pan with the honey and simmer until the plums soften and begin to break up, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool. When room temperature, puree.

Pour through a fine mesh sieve, using a spatula to push the mixture through the sieve. Discard solids. (Isn’t this color so pretty?)

Mix butter with powdered sugar and salt on low until combined (about 2 minutes).

Increase the speed to medium and beat until pale and fluffy (another 2-3 minutes).

Add the plum mixture and mix to combine.

You can keep the frosting this really pretty pink color if you want, but if you want to make it more “plum,” add a few drops of blue food coloring to reach your desired coloring.

Add the frosting to a piping bag (or a ziplock bag with a lower corner snipped off) and pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.

Top with a pinch of cinnamon.

These cupcakes are SO fluffy!

The sweetness of the powdered sugar is cut a bit with a slight tanginess from the plum puree.

Plum, vanilla, almond, and cinnamon are all really complementary flavors so these cupcakes work great! You’d never know they were vegan!

Need more inspiration? Check out www.nurturingandnutritious.com for more recipes!