Vegan Pumpkin Cupcakes

Last night, Halloween night, I whipped up some vegan pumpkin cupcakes as I waited for trick-or-treaters. I thought I might get quite a few visitors. See, I’d gone to our Quincy CVS earlier in the evening for some Hershey’s cookies ‘n creme candy skulls, and while I was there I overheard a man talking about how he’d already handed out over 100 pieces of candy; he was at CVS to replenish his supply. His neighborhood was flooded with trick-or-treaters, he said. His neighborhood had also had a scarecrow contest, I learned, and he had won first place. He was chatting with a lady dressed up as a mermaid.

Well, I didn’t end up getting any trick-or-treaters, but that’s okay. I’ll bring the candy to the office with me tomorrow and share it with my coworkers.

I had fun making my cupcakes (and listening for the doorbell). Buntin, my high-maintenance tortie, was “helping,” of course. She was opening the kitchen cabinets and exploring them. She sat in a large stew pot for a while, which was really cute. Then she burrowed in among the cardboard in the recycling bin and made herself a little nest.

The cupcakes turned out great, though they looked a bit plain until I topped them with adorable (non-vegan) mellowcreme pumpkins. You really ought to try this recipe—because it’s easy and totally delicious. I found it on this lovely blog and tweaked it just the tiniest bit.

Vegan Pumpkin Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

1/3 cup vegan butter
3/4 cup white granulated sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Icing:

1/2 cup vegan cream cheese
1/2 cup vegan butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. With an electric beater, cream the butter and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the pumpkin puree, almond milk, and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated. In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, flour, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just blended. Be careful not to overmix.

Pour the batter into a lined cupcake pan, filling about two-thirds full. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes. Test with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cupcakes are done.

Remove the cupcakes from the pan and let them cool completely on a wire rack before icing. To make the icing, whip the vegan cream cheese, vegan butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice together until the mixture is light and fluffy.