Vegan funfetti cupcakes with BUTTERCREAM ICING (gluten free variation too!)

One of my favorite baked goods so far.. these cupcakes are fast and easy but also buttery and DELICIOUS making them great for birthdays, parties, or anything really. Seriously the best cupcakes I have EVER had. I took this recipe idea from The Minimalist Baker (but subbed out the more processed ingredients to make these more wholesome). It's all natural except the sprinkles (you can easily leave these out, but the cupcakes won't be as fun). The reason mine are a brownish color is because of the whole wheat and fair trade organic ingredients... replace them with white flour and processed sugar for a more "box mix" look. You can also make them gluten free by using coconut flour or almond meal instead of flour. These are way better than your typical box mix, but using all my "brown" ingredients make something that's not even good for you just slightly less bad..... I mean although these are mostly natural.. I did not say these are good for you..... but mark my word, if you're going to splurge on something, this should be it. Who said that going vegan meant you had to give up amazing buttercream icing?!

Ingredients for cupcakes:
-1 cup of coconut or almond milk
-1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
-½ cup (equivalent to one stick) of Earth Balance (vegan butter)
-1 cup fair trade organic cane sugar
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 ½ cups of whole wheat flour (or coconut flour or almond flour to make it gluten free!)
-1 ½ teaspoon of baking powder
-½ teaspoon of baking soda
-¼ teaspoon of salt
-⅓ cup of rainbow sprinkles (check label to make sure they are vegan!)

Ingredients for icing:
-½ cup (another whole stick!) of Earth Balance (vegan butter)
-2 cups of organic fair trade cane sugar (or evaporated cane juice to keep your icing white!)
-¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract
-Splash of coconut or almond milk
-sprinkles to decorate cupcakes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Measure out your milk in a cup and add vinegar. Let sit for a few minutes to "curdle".

Add butter to a large mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer or a spoon (spoon is way more work of course... but may as well burn off some calories in advance before eating these...), combine with sugar and vanilla and mix well for about 2 minutes until well blended. Add dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, & salt) and continue to blend well, and then add curdled milk and continue to blend. Try to break up chunks the best you can. Add sprinkles and distribute them throughout batter. Pour or spoon batter into the cupcake liners evenly. Try to aim to fill each up about ¾ of the way, do NOT overfill.

Bake for about 20 minutes or longer, until a toothpick put in the center comes out clean. Let cool.

Prepare your icing next, while cupcakes are cooling. Clean mixing bowl (this can be done by just eating any remaining batter of course). Add all icing ingredients in the bowl and blend together well. If you're fancier than me and have a hand mixer, beat it until it gets light and fluffy. Or you can be like me and just use a spoon or whisk (to also get a work-out). Add milk if necessary, and only a splash to keep the icing thick and spreadable so it will stay on top of the cupcakes. Add as much as you need to thin out to your liking but try to keep it from getting runny.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, frost them and add sprinkles. Eat right away and don't miss a single crumb! Enjoy :)