Vegan Rhubarb Cupcakes

Rhubarb. It was such a pretty bright red color when I saw it in Heinen’s. I had just read in something or another that it was in season in February and then there it was just sitting there in the grocery store. I grabbed a stack without really thinking about what I would do with them. At home, I thought about displaying them in a glass vase like flowers. In the end, I came across the recipe in Coconut and Lime. I had to make a gift for a friend, so I made one batch of her recipe and one veganized recipe for Belle. The recipe was easily and fast—even a novice baker got the desired results. If I make them in the future I think I will make a sort of rhubarb sauce that I will fold into the batter so that I get a marbled red color through the cupcake.

I wanted to make a festive box of pink goodies for my friend, as it was the week of Valentine's day, so I also made some pink meringues. I made a simple syrup and added rhubarb. I folded the red syrup into the meringue. The result was a lovely dusty pink. My husband ate an army of these tiny meringues and said the rhubarb flavor was faint and tasty.

I baked the vegan ones in little brioche pans so that I could discern the difference easily. Belle loved them. They had a sort of muffin consistency with a sour bite. For hers, I served them unfrosted, but I think next time I will make a rhubarb tofutti cream cheese topping for hers. After all, it is so cute to watch her lick and then relick her lips.

Now, I am not much of a baker because I hate to measure. It is the first time I have improvised a baked good. I tried to measure what I used, but in the end, I put it a small dollop of apple sauce (about 2 t) and I know that I didn’t use the full ¾ cup of flour—I used in between ½ cup and ¾ cup flour. Precision is a skill I will learn.

Recipe:
Vegan Rhubarb Cupcakes--Wait for an updated correctly measured recipe (hopefully next week)
(a combination of recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, the Schoomed Food blog, and Coconut and Lime)

Ingredients:Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tins with nonstick spray

Mix dry ingredients:
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients
1 TB apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup diced rhubarb
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup oil
1 t apple sauce, unsweetened

Add the wet to the dry and beat in a blender. When combined fill the muffin tins halfway up and bake 10-12 minutes in the convection oven (or a little more in a regular one.)