Dairy Free Chocolate Cupcakes

Sean bought me the cookbook Healthy Kids by Marilu Henner a while back because it was on the $1 dollar table at Barnes and Nobles and he knows I like cookbooks. I put it on the shelf after a cursory glance because she cooked with soy milk and and soy margarine.

But after learning that Amy has trouble with dairy, it upsets her stomach, we've switched to... soy milk and Earth Balance ( a non dairy canola based margarine). So I pulled out the cookbook to see what it had. I've been so surprised and elated to find out that the recipes are really good! Every one of the baking recipe's that I've tried has turned out wonderful. I think she's got the knack for baking with funky soy margarine (or Earth Balance). Her recipe's turn out much better than the ones where I've just substituted out soy milk and Earth Balance for milk and butter. So here is her recipe for dairy free chocolate cake. Yum!

3/4 cup Earth Balance
2 1/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons soy milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups unprocessed pure cane sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup chocolate chips (She recommends grain sweetened. Some dark chocolate brands contain no milk.)
1/8 cup unsweetened chocolate, melted

Heat oven to 350. In a med. bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Put the 3/4 cup soy milk and vanilla in a small bowl. In the bowl of and electric mixer, cream the 3/4 cup margarine and sugar for at least 5 min. until nice and creamy. Lower to med-low speed and add eggs, one at a time. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture alternately with the milk mixture. Beat until smooth. Add melted chocolate and remaining 2 tablespoons of soy milk. (At this point I added a scoop of unsweetened cocoa powder to make it more chocolaty, maybe 2 T.)

Fill cupcake liners and bake for about 20 min. Cool

Frosting

3/4 cup Sucanat
1/4 cup unbleached while four
3 T. unsweetened cocoa
1 cup soy cream (I used milk since I didn't have cream)
1 cup soy margarine (Earth Balance)
1 T. vanilla extract
1/2 cup grain-sweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

In a med. saucepan, stir together the sucanat, flour, and cocoa until well blended. Slowly stir in the soy cream and continue stirring until smooth. Cook over med heat, stirring, until the mixture thickens and boils. Reduce the heat to low, cook 2 min. stirring constantly. Remove from heat and cool completely. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the margarine at med. speed until creamy. Slowly add the cooled soy cream mixture. Add the vanilla and melted chocolate and blend well. You may have to refrigerate the frosting a little for a stiffer, more spreadable consistency. ( I did.) This frosting sounds weird, but it is really good!
Enjoy!