For Easter, we went to Matt’s mom’s house for a yummy feast and brought along these cupcakes– chocolate with chocolate buttercream and lemon with lemon buttercream topped with gum paste flowers and chocolate butterflies.

The gum paste I actually made myself– get yourself a container of Gum- Tex and follow the directions on the can.  It’s tinted using food coloring paste and cut with a simple flower cutter.

The butterflies are an idea from some cake decorating book that I borrowed from the library a while back.  I can’t remember the name of the book, but these butterflies turned out cute and are pretty easy to make, just be sure to make more than you will need because these are super delicate.  All you have to do is melt down some chocolate (like pure chocolate, not chocolate chips or chocolate with a bunch of stuff added to it), and pipe a design onto wax paper.  When the chocolate dries, carefully peel it off the wax paper.  Be sure that the detail inside the butterfly wings touches the outline of the wings at all points to provide more stability.  The wings are piped separately then “glued” together after they have hardened by the “body” of the butterfly.  You will need to prop them up against something while the body dries.

The chocolate cake recipe was my old standby from The Joy of Vegan Baking and the lemon cake is a variation of the “yella cake” recipe from La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer. I borrowed this book from the library and I wouldn’t mind adding it to my personal cookbook library. There are lots of yummy looking recipes in here, and it’s the best vegan vanilla cake recipe that I’ve tried.

Lemon Cake with Lemon Buttercream

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Lemon Cake

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup non-hydrogenated, non-dairy margarine

1 1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed with 2 TB water

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp lemon extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup soymilk

2 drops yellow food coloring (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line muffin tin with paper liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the sugar, margarine, egg replacer, vanilla and lemon.  Add the flour, baking powder, salt, soymilk and yellow food coloring.  Stir to combine.  Fill muffin tins 2/3 full with batter and bake for 15-18 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Remove cupcakes from tin and cool completely on a wire rack.

Lemon Buttercream

1/4 cup non-hydrogenated shortening

1/4 cup non-hydrogenated, non-dairy margarine, softened

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla

3 tsp lemon extract

1 drop of yellow food coloring (optional)

Splash of non-dairy milk

Cream together the shortening and margarine until well combined.  Add the powdered sugar a little at a time until incorporated into the margarine and shortening.  Add the vanilla, lemon and food coloring and mix to combine.  If frosting is too stiff, add a splash of non-dairy milk until a spreadable consistency is achieved.