I love that every day of the year, there are unique holidays to celebrate. I hope to have a Year of Celebrations in the future, whenever the Divine says “go for it”. In the meantime, I occasionally choose one of these lesser known special days to enjoy. Today is Cupcake Day, always celebrated the third Monday in August. I passed over this holiday initially, however, an idea bloomed in my head and I went for it. This is my Happy Cupcake Day Vegan Style!
Wacky Cake
When I was a child, my mom used to make a wacky cake, a delicious chocolate confection made without eggs, hence the “wacky” part. For my purposes, egg free was perfect!
I found a wacky cake recipe that was easy to adapt for a plant based eater such as myself.
Vegan Wacky Cake
1 3/4 cups gluten free flour (I used gluten free oat flour)
1 cup coconut sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons light olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup cold water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop 12 cupcake papers into a cupcake baking pan.
Mix gluten free flour, coconut sugar, salt, baking soda and cocoa powder in a large bowl, stirring until well combined. Make three wells in the dry mixture. Add olive oil to one well, apple cider vinegar to another, and vanilla to the third. Pour cold water over the top of everything. Using a wooden spoon or a spatula, hand mix batter until mixture is smooth and slightly bubbly.
Immediately pour batter into cupcake papers, dividing evenly among the 12 compartments. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in cupcake comes out clean. Top with whipped coconut cream, unsweetened dried fruit, fresh fruit or nuts.
The batter visually reminded me so much of Mom’s wacky cake. I sampled it by swiping a finger along the edge of the bowl, and it tasted like her cake. The kitchen smelled wonderful as the cupcakes baked while I cleaned up. I ended up baking my cupcakes for 24 minutes.
Refined sugar is not on my diet. Coconut sugar, which resembles unrefined brown sugar, or pure maple syrup or raw honey are the only sweeteners I use. So no frosting allowed for these wacky cupcakes. Instead, I topped my mini cakes with unsweetened shredded coconut and wild blueberries, thawed.
Taste Test
The cupcakes cooled and the wild blueberries thawed while I dined on a simple veggie meal. Then it was time to sample the wacky cupcakes. They smelled wonderful! But how would they taste?
These little treasures were perfect…tender, full of chocolate flavor, and not too sweet. The shredded coconut and wild blueberries made an excellent topping. Next time I create these I want to try making my own whipped coconut cream for a topping.
Tonight, however, I could not have wished for a better treat to celebrate this special day, in my own way.
Happy Cupcake Day Vegan Style!
