Snickerdoodle Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

These cute little guys are the crowd favorite. This super moist (vegan) vanilla cake with a dash of cinnamon goes beautifully with a lightly tart cream cheese frosting. 

No one has ever said "no" to a snickerdoodle cupcake. No one. 

Not yet at least. 

But seriously, I've never baked a cake so moist before, vegan or not. I found this recipe last summer while coming up with flavors for a friend's wedding, but somehow I lost the recipe. And had to experiment with other vegan vanilla cakes, and they all fell short. But now, 7 months later, I found it once again, and it will forever be in my recipe box. 

This recipe is from Food.com, and it's quite similar to other vegan cake recipes, but the biggest difference is the last step: vinegar is added last and then the batter is only stirred 7 times. Seven. 

Weird? Well, I thought so too, but hey, it yielded 14 perfectly soft cupcakes. The mixture will fizz a bit with the addition of vinegar, and yes, the smell is pretty strong. But trust me, 7 is the magical number. 

The recipe calls for soymilk but almond and hazelnut milk could work too. The vegan brands I trust for butter and cream cheese are Earth Balance and Tofutti. Those brands have yet to let me down. 

And of course, you don't have to make these vegan at all. Real milk and cream cheese would be fine substitutes as well. 

Ingredients for 14 cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup dairy-free milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon vinegar

Frosting

• 1/4 cup dairy-free butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup dairy-free cream cheese
• 1-2 tablespoons dairy-free milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-3 cups powdered sugar

• Ground cinnamon, for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans.

In a large bowl, add the dry ingredients and whisk together.

Add the oil, milk, and extract. Whisk until smooth. 

Add vinegar and thoroughly stir just 7 times then stop! 

Then transfer to cupcake pans. Bake for 11 minutes or until lightly golden.

Allow to rest on a cooling rack while making the frosting. 

In a stand-mixing bowl, add the butter and cream cheese. Using the whisk attachment, mix until smooth. Then add 2 cups sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, and vanilla extract. Whisk until desired textured is met, add more sugar or milk if needed.

Frost cupcakes when completely cooled. Sprinkle with cinnamon and enjoy.

I also topped mine with a miniature snickerdoodle cookie on top. Yum!