Delightful Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Date Cashew Vanilla Frosting

Not quite what Grandma used to make. They’re vegan instead! Grandma worked as a baker at a big University near where I grew up. She got up early in the morning and was home mid-afternoon. I remember baking with her. It was a free-for-all! She had a funny way of measuring, always left out the secret ingredient when giving out the recipe. When I would cook with her, she hid the secret ingredient from view and then gave an impish smile.

Chocolate is a favorite of mine. I usually like it undecorated. Just chocolate please, dark and bitter is just fine. These lovelies are not bitter, they are dark. Low in sugar, in fact the frosting is sweetened only with dates and cashews – which taste sweet to me. Very simple, very easy. During war time a lot of recipes were created that didn’t use eggs, butter or much sugar. Those were kept for the troops. So this is a modified war time recipe as well.

So here it is, ta dah! Grandma’s very modified recipe for vegan chocolate cupcakes with date, cashew, vanilla frosting.

Ingredients for the Cake – Use organic as much as possible

1.25 Cups whole wheat flour
¾ Cup whole sugar (evaporated cane juice)
6 Tablespoons cacao or cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
dash of salt
pinch of ground vanilla

Place above in a sifter and sift into a medium bowl – if you’re making cake instead of cupcakes, you can mix right in the pan.

Add to the dry ingredients

5-6 Tablespoons coconut or sunflower oil (organic of course)
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 Cup cold water

Mix until combined – do not over mix, just combined. Scoop into cupcake tins Bake at 350 for about 10-25 minutes depending on size – i.e mini’s take about 10-15 minutes, regular muffin tins about 15-20, 9 x 9 cake pan about 25-30.

Some of my favorite mods for this recipe is to add 1 Cup shredded zucchini with the water, yum.
I sometimes make a strong mint infusion and use a cup of that instead of water.
Add 3-4 Tablespoons of cacao or cocoa to the frosting.

For the Frosting

Take about 1 Cup of dates (pitted coarsely chopped) and about 1/3 Cup of cashews (or other nut) pour hot water to cover – let soak atleast 30 minutes.

Drain water, add 1-2 Tablespoons fresh water, blend – in a blender or with a hand mixer until creamy. Spread away…

Variations

Make a strong peppermint tea to use for the water in the cake piece of the recipe, allow the tea to get very cold in the fridge. Omit Vanilla in frosting. Consider adding a drop or 2 of Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade essential oils to frosting – peppermint.

Substitute Lavender Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade essential oils for vanilla – just a drop or 2 to taste.

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