I’ve not been doing a whole lot of creative cooking lately– more of the same, old favorites– but I did make these “cupcapes” last week.

These are the Sexy Low-Fat Vanilla Cupcakes with Fresh Berries from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  These certainly don’t taste low-fat and this recipe is probably the best vegan vanilla cake recipe that I’ve ever tried.  It’s easy to make and doesn’t require anything special (like egg substitutes, etc).  Since I very easily found the recipe posted elsewhere on the web, I’m going to assume it’s safe to post it here as well.  Enjoy!

Sexy Low-Fat Vanilla Cupcakes with Fresh Berries

(from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt (I used coconut milk yogurt, but you could use soy)

2/3 cup vanilla or plain soy milk

1/4 cup applesauce

3 TB canola oil

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 TB cornstarch

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with liners.  In large bowl whisk yogurt, soy milk, applesauce, oil, sugar, and vanilla. sift in flour cornstarch, baking soda, and salt, and mix.  Fill cupcake liners three-quarters full.  Bake 22 to 24 minutes until a knife or toothpick inserted through the center comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

Top with an all fruit spread or jam and berries.  I used raspberry jam and raspberries.  The icing is made from combining powdered sugar with soy milk until drizzle-able.

And on Tuesday, Emma convinced us to have a party “just because.”  She lives in a fantasy world sometimes and was pretending that Tuesday was her birthday and she wanted streamers, balloons and party hats.  We invited Matt’s cousin, Amy and her husband over for some no-cheese pizza and salad and ended the night with make-your-own sundaes/banana splits.  Yum!

For the ice cream, I picked up some Coconut Bliss Vanilla Island ice cream.  I’ve never tried this before, but have read good reviews of the coconut milk based ice creams and I love the coconut milk yogurt.  On it’s own, I thought it was good, but after having it in the banana split, I thought it had a weird aftertaste.  I can’t really describe it better than that, except to say that I thought it was a waste of calories.

While at Whole Foods, I found this Soyatoo soy whipped cream.  I’m not a huge fan of whipped cream to begin with and could probably go my whole life without eating it again and not miss it, so it’s not surprising that I wasn’t super impressed with this vegan version.  People who enjoy whipped cream may be excited about this product, but I thought it tasted funny.  Also, a waste of calories.

Emma enjoyed her sundae which is all that matters, I guess, since it was her “just because it’s Tuesday” party.