taste the rainbow: vegan vanilla cupcake recipe

Vegan Vanilla cake is a simple, fun recipe to make a very colorful and tasty cake, without the use of eggs or dairy.  I debuted these in the form of cupcakes on the Mili’s Sweets menu in 2015, and it has been a hit ever since, and always comes up as a must-have for St. Patrick’s Day.

My inspiration all those years ago was my daughter. She was turning 11 and wanted a rainbow cake for her birthday. I always love to try to make anything my kids can dream-up. She also wanted one of her best friends to enjoy the cake and she is allergic to eggs, so I figured I’d give it a try to color my favorite Vegan-vanilla cake recipe. It worked! I’ll show you how I put it together.

Mili’s Vegan Vanilla Rainbow cupcake recipe

Mili Takashima

I debuted the Vegan Rainbow cupcake for my Mili's Sweets business in 2015, and it has been a hit ever since! This is a simple and a fun way to make a very colorful and tasty cake, without the use of eggs or dairy. My inspiration was my sweet little girl's birthday request. She wanted one of her best friends to enjoy the cake (whom is allergic to eggs and tree nuts), so I figured I'd give it a try to color my favorite vegan-vanilla cake recipe.

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Ingredients

  

Ingredients needed for each individual color/batch:

• 1 and 1/2 cups coconut milk or soy milk I use all nut free ingredients. Coconut is a seed.
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 2 cups all purpose flour The chemistry of this recipe will not allow for gluten free flour alternatives.
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup canola oil You can substitute for avocado oil.
• 1/2 teaspoon coloring of your choice optional and only for creating a rainbow

Instructions

 

• In a measuring cup, place 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. Next, pour the coconut milk to the one and one half cup line of the measuring cup.  (Please note that this recipe also works very well with soy milk.) Allow to stand for 5 minutes. This will allow the milk to thicken and curdle.
  
• Next add the oil and pure vanilla extract, to the measuring cup with the milk and vinegar mixture.
• In a mixing bowl, add all of the dry ingredients, including the all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.Pour the wet ingredients onto the dry and mix until there are no more lumps. I use a scraping attachment of my standing mixer to achieve a smooth batter.
  
• If you are just making Vegan Vanilla cake or cupcakes, you can stop here. If you want to make a rainbow, we have to add a few steps.
• The easiest and best way to make a rainbow is to measure all of the wet ingredients into separate batches, using separate measuring cups. To make a rainbow, I lined up 6 mason jars. If you are making a small batch, I recommend only making 3 recipes so that you can split each batter up and color them. This should yield about 18 cupcakes. If you need to make a larger number of desserts, I recommend making six total batches and coloring them separately.
  
• Once the batter is smooth, add the food coloring. To make a rainbow, you need red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. My kids supervised the whole project, to be sure I was accurate. I use gels and squirt them in. I’m guessing it’s about a 1/2 teaspoon per batch. You can add more, depending on how vibrant you want to colors of the cake to be. I place each colored batch into gallon-sized ziplock bags.
• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• When your cupcake tins are lined with paper cups, it’s time to get to work. Cut a very small hole at one corner of the first bag of batter and pipe in a small amount to cover the bottom. Go up from there until you have purple. It’s important that you hit the edge of the paper with the batter, for the best result. The most beautiful part of the cupcake is the rainbow line that can be seen on the wrapper. You will want as little batter of each color as possible per cupcake. You’ll end up with very full cups, no matter how hard you try for them to be the typical 2/3 up. It’s OK and it will all work out in the end.
• Place in the oven for 16-18 minutes, or until the center of the front cupcakes test dry. Allow to cool before frosting. I used gold, edible luster dust as the finishing touch to this cupcake. 
  

For the purists to enjoy a truly vegan cake, you need to use a “butter” substitute that is truly Vegan. I do not like shortening and will never use it to top my desserts. The brand, “Earth Balance” is the very best Vegan alternative that I’ve found and you can use it exactly like butter. There is also a soy-free version.

Back to the cake! Let’s make it happen!

Here’s what you’ll do:

In a measuring cup, place 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. Next, pour the coconut milk to the one and one half cup line of the measuring cup.  (Please note that this recipe also works very well with soy milk.) Allow to stand for 5 minutes. This will allow the milk to thicken and curdle.

Next add the oil and pure vanilla extract, to the measuring cup with the milk and vinegar mixture.

In a mixing bowl, add all of the dry ingredients, including the all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Pour the wet ingredients onto the dry and mix until there are no more lumps. I use a scraping attachment of my standing mixer to achieve a smooth batter.

If you are just making Vegan Vanilla cake or cupcakes, you can stop here. If you want to make a rainbow, we have to add a few steps.

The easiest and best way to make a rainbow is to measure all of the wet ingredients into separate batches, using separate measuring cups. To make a rainbow, I lined up 6 mason jars. If you are making a small batch, I recommend only making 3 recipes so that you can split each batter up and color them. This should yield about 18 cupcakes. If you need to make a larger number of desserts, I recommend making six total batches and coloring them separately.

Once the batter is smooth, add the food coloring. To make a rainbow, you need red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. My kids supervised the whole project, to be sure I was accurate. I use gels and squirt them in. I’m guessing it’s about a 1/2 teaspoon per batch. You can add more, depending on how vibrant you want to colors of the cake to be. I place each colored batch into gallon-sized ziplock bags.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

When your cupcake tins are lined with paper cups, it’s time to get to work. Cut a very small hole at one corner of the first bag of batter and pipe in a small amount to cover the bottom. Go up from there until you have purple. It’s important that you hit the edge of the paper with the batter, for the best result. The most beautiful part of the cupcake is the rainbow line that can be seen on the wrapper. You will want as little batter of each color as possible per cupcake. You’ll end up with very full cups, no matter how hard you try for them to be the typical 2/3 up. It’s OK and it will all work out in the end.

Place in the oven for 16-18 minutes, or until the center of the front cupcakes test dry. Allow to cool before frosting. I used gold, edible luster dust as the finishing touch to this cupcake. My kids can’t wait for me to make them again!