The start of fall means the start of fall-themed baked goods. I’ve been trying a lot of new vegan desserts, and my absolute favorite that I’ve tried so far is a vegan spin on pumpkin spice cupcakes with a delicious cream cheese frosting. I turned a traditional recipe vegan, so I’ll include both the original ingredient list and the vegan substitutes I used.
The ingredients needed for 12 cupcakes are:
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2 and ½ cups white sugar
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¾ cup softened butter. To make vegan, use a store-bought vegan alternative, my favorite is EarthBalance!)
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3 eggs. To make vegan, use an egg alternative. I personally used Bob’s Red Mill powder replacement, but you can also use applesauce (¼ cup applesauce per 1 egg) or yogurt (¼ cup dairy-free yogurt per 1 egg)
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1 (15 ounces) can pumpkin puree
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2 and ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
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1 and ¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
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1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
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¾ teaspoon baking powder
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½ teaspoon ground ginger
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1 cup buttermilk. To make vegan, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to any plant-based milk alternative, I used oat milk for its thickness, to total measure 1 cup. Stir and let sit 5-10 minutes before adding to the mixture.
Once you have all these ingredients, start by preheating the oven to 350° F, and line muffin tins with paper liners. Then, use an electric mixer to beat together the butter and sugar until creamy. Gradually add in eggs and then beat in the pumpkin puree.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking powder, and ginger. Alternate mixing the pumpkin mixture and the buttermilk into the dry ingredients. Fill each paper liner about ¾ of the way full, and cook for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and prepare to frost.
The ingredients for the cream cheese frosting are:
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1 (8oz) softened package cream cheese. To make vegan, use any store-bought vegan cream cheese, as long as you have 8 oz. I prefer Tofutti!
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¾ cup butter softened (look to cupcake ingredients for butter alternative)
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4 cups confectioners sugar
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1 tablespoon cinnamon
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract