Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes with Pitaya Coconut Icing

Who doesn’t like cute colourful cupcakes? I know with little kids I need to master some fun recipes so they don’t feel too left out! I will be making these vegan vanilla cupcakes for future birthday parties and playdates. My twins don’t actually like normal icing as they find it too sweet.

I used dried pink pitaya powder to make a pink icing. You could also use matcha, spirulina, blue spirulina, beetroot powder to make different colour cupcakes.

Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes with Pitaya Coconut Icingmakes 12 cupcakes

For the Cupcakes:

• 1 ¼ cup plain flour
• 1 cup soymilk or nut milk
• 2 tsp of vanilla essence
• ½ tsp of baking soda
• ½ tsp of baking powder
• 2 flax eggs (2 tsp of flaxmeal + 6 tbsp of water)
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup sugar or sweetener of choice.
• 1/3 cup of melted coconut oil

Pitaya Coconut Icing:

• 400ml can of coconut cream (refrigerated overnight)
• 1 tbsp of granulated stevia
• 1 tsp of pitaya powder

To make the cupcakes:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line the cupcake pan with liners.
   2. In a mixing bowl, combine the soymilk and vinegar. Set aside for a few minutes to curdle.
   3. Add the flour, sugar, vanilla, baking soda and powder, flax eggs and stir together.
   4. Add in the coconut oil and stir together.
   5. Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 cupcake liners. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until done in the center. Cool completely before frosting.

To make the coconut icing:

1. To make the whipped coconut icing, place the coconut cream and stevia in a bowl and whisk using an electric mixer for 1-2 minutes at high speed.
2. Add in the pitaya powder and whisk for 30 seconds or until combined.
3. Spread a teaspoon of the icing on each cupcake.