Vanilla Bean Cupcakes Dipped in Ganache with Buttercream Frosting

Ok, so it may not be very orig­i­nal as a Valentine’s dessert, but it’s pretty! Also, I have yet to make choco­late cov­ered straw­ber­ries so I needed an excuse. I dipped the top of my cup­cakes in ganache because it’s sim­ple, but if you want some­thing a lit­tle more deca­dent, use a pas­try tip to fill them instead.

INGREDIENTS

Makes 24 cupcakes.

Cup­cake Batter:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 table­spoon bak­ing powder
• ½ teapoon. salt
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• 1 cup non­hy­dro­genated mar­garine, room temperature
• 2 cups gran­u­lated sugar
• 7 ½ tsp. EnerG Egg Replacer mixed with…
• ½ cup plus 2 tbsp. water
• 1¼ cups vanilla soy milk
• 1 ½ tea­spoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 table­spoon vanilla extract

PREPARATION

Cup­cake Batter:

Whisk together water and Ener-G Egg Replacer. Set aside.

Com­bine the vanilla soy milk with apple cider vine­gar and set aside.

Scrape the vanilla bean seeds into a bowl with the but­ter and dis­card the pod. Beat on medium-high speed for 3 min­utes, until light and creamy in color.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for one more minute.

Com­bine the flour, bak­ing pow­der and salt in a bowl. Cream together sugar, Ener-G Egg, soy milk mix­ture, and vanilla bean mix­ture. Mix flour mix­ture into the wet ingre­di­ents just until smooth.

ASSEMBLY

Pre­heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a muf­fin pan with cup­cake liners.

Fill cup­cake lin­ers slightly over 2/3 of the way full with cup­cake batter.

Bake for 18–22 min­utes. Let cool before dip­ping in ganache.

GANACHE

• 3/4 cup soy milk, rice milk, or other non-dairy milk of choice
• ¼  cup soy margarine
• 12 oz. vegan choco­late chips (or chopped vegan chocolate)
• 24 straw­ber­ries

In the top part of a dou­ble boiler, place the soy milk and mar­garine, and heat together until the mar­garine melts. Add the vegan choco­late chips, con­tinue to cook while stir­ring con­stantly until the vegan choco­late chips have melted com­pletely and the mix­ture is very smooth.

Dip tops of cup­cakes in the ganache. Let cool slightly before frosting.

FROSTING

• ½ cup non­hy­dro­genated shortening
• ½ cup non­hy­dro­genated margarine
• 3½ cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1½ tea­spoons vanilla extract
• ¼ cup plain soy milk

Beat the short­en­ing and mar­garine together until well-combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more min­utes. Add the vanilla and soy milk and beat for another 5 to 7 min­utes until fluffy. I added a touch of red food col­or­ing to make the frost­ing pink. Pipe onto cup­cakes and top with a ganache cov­ered strawberry!