The Vegan 8 Vanilla Cupcakes

My most favourite vegan chef is Richa Hingle, known to the world as Vegan Richa. Hot on her heels is another tremendous vegan chef, Brandi Doming, or The Vegan 8 (the 8 representing that her recipes contain 8 ingredients or less).

I discovered The Vegan 8 on Instagram and fell in love with Doming’s baked goods — me being the obsessed baker that I am. I would rather bake than cook any day. Truly my great love besides family and animals is baking.

Today I want to feature a cupcake recipe that is particularly dear to my heart. It’s a vanilla cupcake recipe made with rice flour and no oil. This is melt in your mouth vegan heaven.

Here’s what it looks like on Instagram. I list the ingredients just below that. There are some ingredients that are not likely to be on your shelf, vegan or not, so I am putting Amazon links to them.

Vegan 8 Vanilla Cupcakes

View this post on Instagram

I have a friend's birthday 🎉this weekend and thought I'd share what I'm making…these BEST WHITE VANILLA CUPCAKES! I enjoy baking for others immensely. I have been baking since I was a kid and it’s a way I like to express my love and appreciation for people I care about. ❤️ If you are looking for the absolute best cupcakes you ever sunk your teeth into, these are IT my friends. ALL 5 ⭐️ star reviews on the blog. (See readers remakes and reviews in my stories!) You can see just how light, fluffy and cloud-like that texture is! This was one of my most tested recipes of all-time for that TRUE cupcake texture. Cupcakes should be light, soft, tender and FLUFFY. I am very picky and don’t want my cupcake to be dense and wet looking or tasting. This can happen often with vegan baking, especially gluten-free, but I cracked the code on these babies and they are light as air. They are both GLUTEN-FREE & OIL-FREE (there is a cake flour version noted though if you aren't gluten-free), but you'd never in a million years guess it. Link to recipe in profile! https://thevegan8.com/vegan-gluten-free-vanilla-cupcakes/ #bakersofinstagram #vegancupcakes #vanillacupcakes #veganbaking #veganbaker

A post shared by Brandi Doming | Author (@thevegan8) on Sep 12, 2019 at 12:52pm PDT

Ingredients

1 cup (160g) white rice flour (best substitute: cake flour)
1/2 cup (64g) cornstarch
3/4 cup (144g) fine pure cane sugar (white sugar will work too and make them even whiter!)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 1/4 cups (300g) full-fat coconut milk CANS (not the carton) shaken well & ROOM TEMP (highly recommend the Thai Kitchen brand, it’s the best and always smooth and creamy)
1/2 cup (120g) melted liquid coconut butter (shop my faves Nutiva and Spicy World)
2 teaspoons (10g) vanilla extract

Buttercream Frosting

One 4oz vegan Earth Balance butter stick (1/2 cup, 112g)
1/2 cup (96g) Spectrum shortening (shop my faves Nutiva and Spectrum)
2 1/2 cups (380g) powdered sugar
1 tablespoon (15g) coconut milk (recommend Thai Kitchen, pack of 6)
1 teaspoon white vanilla powder for a white frosting or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (I use this white powder.)

» Go here for Directions

(Don’t worry about clicking the link above. This site is totally cool. It’s not one of those that bombards you with pop ups and ads jumping up and down so you can barely scroll or read anything. Hate ’em!)

These are the dreamiest cupcakes ever. They are wonderful for bridal showers, baby showers, christenings and more.

If it helps regarding keeping some non standard ingredients around, I do a monthly order on Amazon for things I don’t find easily in neighborhood grocery stores. I get items that can stay good on the shelf for a decent amount of time.