Rainbow Vanilla Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Buttercream

Ingredients:

Vanilla Cupcakes:

• 1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 cup non-dairy milk (we used soy milk)

• 2 tsp vanilla essence

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil (we used rice bran)

• 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar

• *Optional - rainbow sprinkles

Cream Cheese Buttercream

• 240g Angel Food cream cheese

• 1 1/2 cups icing sugar

• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

• 2 Tbsp vegetable shortening

Rainbow lollie belts for garnish

To celebrate the last day of Pride month, we’ve whipped up these gorgeous rainbow cupcakes! The vanilla cupcake recipe is based on - Loving It Vegan https://lovingitvegan.com/vegan-vanilla-cupcakes-strawberry-vanilla-frosting/

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a cupcake tray with 12 colourful cupcake liners.

2. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the sugar, baking soda and salt.

3. Then add the non-dairy milk, vanilla extract, oil and white wine vinegar.

4. Mix in thoroughly using an electric beater. Add sprinkles if you’re using them after mixing and stir through the batter with a spoon.

5. Pour the batter into a jug that allows for easy pouring and pour evenly into the 12 cupcake liners, ensuring that all the batter is used up.

6. Place into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. Check the cupcakes at 20 minutes and if a toothpick inserted into the centre doesn’t come out clean, then put them back in for a further 5 minutes.

7. Move to a cooling rack and allow to cool thoroughly before frosting.

8. Beat Angel Food cream cheese with an electric beater for 5 minutes until light and fluffy, then add vanilla essence and vegetable shortening and beat for another 2 minutes. Slowly add icing sugar and continue mixing until smooth.

9. Pipe icing onto cooled cupcakes and top with a rainbow lollie belt!