I’m not going to lie, I’m not vegan. However, my younger brothers have always had an exhaustingly long list of food allergies (dairy, eggs, peanuts, treenuts) and I have always loved to bake. So from a pretty young age I started baking with their allergies in mind, as baking is no fun when you’re the only one enjoying it. Turns out that baking without eggs and dairy is basically vegan baking as those are the most common animal products used in baked goods. As I got older not only did I try more complicated recipes, I tried to find the most basic quick recipes that could be done with minimal clean up and easy ingredients so if I needed to make something quick I could.
Here is my easiest and fastest recipe that has become a staple in my household, two ingredient cake.
Many boxed cake mixes are not vegan, however Duncan Hines cake mix is! Vegan eating is often very expensive and not easy to sustain especially on a college campus. Just because something isn’t advertised as vegan doesn’t mean it is not vegan friendly. In addition, just because something is vegan does not mean it’s necessarily healthy! This recipe is better for you than normal cake, but it’s still cake, so be smart.
Boxed cake is perhaps one of the easiest things to make, with only three ingredients needing to be added. However these necessary add ins aren’t vegan or allergy friendly in my house. To avoid these ingredients sometimes you have to be creative. So with only one additional ingredient, and an oven you’ll have the easiest vegan cupcakes you’ll find anywhere.
Ingredients:
- 1 box of cake mix (any flavor, check ingredients for allergens and dietary restrictions always)
- 1 can of seltzer (12 oz. or about 1.5 cups)
Directions:
- Preheat your oven to the temperature on the back of the box, paying attention to differences in type of pan being used and high altitude directions.
- Line your pans! This is a very soft cake, and if your pan isn’t lined a whole cake might crumble a bit in the middle or on an egde. Nothing that can’t be fixed with a little frosting but till it’s better to try and prevent as much as we can.
- Once the oven is heated you can begin making the cake mix, because this methods of making a cake relies on the carbonation in the seltzer you do not want to let the cake batter be sitting for super long outside of the oven.
- Pour the cake mix into a large bowl, and have a whisk or mixer ready. Works best with a mixer (stand or hand), but a whisk works fine if you mix well.
- Add the can of seltzer, or the measured out cup and a half if using seltzer from a large bottle. Immediately begin mixing and pour into desired pans (this recipe works for cakes and cupcakes!)
- Bake for time on the back of the box, let cool in the pan completely before removing. Frost and enjoy! There are vegan/allergy friendly jar frostings, or you can make a simple frosting from scratch!
