Vegan Magical Frosting

I only started making cakes and cupcakes in the past couple of years or so. If you can believe it, I actually bought birthday cakes for my boy's first and second birthday. Hard to believe, right?! Then I taught myself how to make custom theme cakes and will probably never have to buy another cake for him again.

I didn't like cupcakes until I started to make them myself. I have a sweet tooth but I cannot eat things that are too sweet. Most cakes sold in the stores are too sweet for me. I grew up eating Chinese sponge cakes and Chinese bakeries don't make their cakes very sweet. They use whip cream and a lot of fruit and I love that. They are a totally different kind of cake though. I do like classic vanilla and chocolate cakes and those don't go too well with plain whip cream frosting. Buttercream frosting is the way to go but then everything gets sweeter. Add fondant and then get ready to be on a sugar high.

I'm always on the look out for recipes where I can control the sugar level. I tend to reduce sugar any way, even when I shouldn't. For instance my fondant is always on the stickier side because I just don't want to add more icing sugar to it. Lol. When it comes to buttercreams, I love swiss meringue buttercream. It's my go to recipe for frosting! I have also tried another great frosting that uses flour and milk called magical frosting. It actually tastes similar to swiss meringue buttercream. The nice thing about this frosting is that you don't need eggs.

This past weekend, I took the magical frosting recipe and turned it vegan. I also tinted the frosting blue and made some fun cupcakes for my husband's birthday. He had no requests so I made cookie monster cupcakes. I have always wanted to make cookie monster cupcakes! They're hilarious :) I already made a batch of chocolate chip cookies so all I had to do was cut the cookies in half and attach them to the cupcakes. I told everyone at the party that the frosting was vegan but no one cared. I don't think a single person could tell the difference anyway. Happy Birthday to my dear husband!

Cookie Monster cupcakes!

The card my 4 year old and I made.

 

Funny & so easy to do!

Vegan Magical Frosting
Makes about 4 cups frosting
(Adapted from mel's kitchen cafe)

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 of the tub + 2 tbsp vegan margarine, at room temperature (1 tub is 1 lb)

In a small pot, mix sugar, flour, cornstarch, and almond milk. Stir until mixed well and smooth. Place this pot over medium heat and stir constantly until thickened. Don't ignore the pot because if there are clumps, then you'll get clogs in your piping tool. It should be hard to whisk when thickened. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Don't be alarmed if the mixture darkens a bit. Mine looked grayish and a bit transparent.

Transfer cooled mixture to stand mixer and beat for a couple of minutes. Slowly add margarine by the tablespoon while mixing on low. Mix on medium speed for about 5 minutes. Add vanilla. Mix some more. The frosting should increase in volume and start to whiten. That's it!

Now if you want a truly amazing vegan cupcake, make my vegan chocolate cupcakes and ice them with this magical frosting. You will blow away even your non-vegan friends with this dessert :)