Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Irish Whiskey Buttercream

I made these cupcakes to celebrate St. Patrick's day and brought them to my office for a treat for my coworkers, they were gone very quickly and everyone thoroughly enjoyed them.  The cake recipe and icing recipe are both adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  This is a wonderful vegan cupcake recipe book, I highly recommend it.

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes - Makes 12 cupcakes

1 cup almond milk (or soy milk)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract, you can also use vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose unbleached flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with muffin liners.
2. Whisk together the milk and vinegar and set aside to curdle (this will take a few minutes).  Add the sugar, oil, vanilla and almond extracts and beat until foamy.
3. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  In two batches add to the wet ingredients and stir until no large lumps remain.
4. Pour into liners, filling three-quarters of the way.  Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.  Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.  If you don't have a cooling rack you can transfer them to a plate to cool.

Whiskey Butter Cream Icing

If you are going to be spreading the icing instead of piping it, you can halve the recipe.

1/2 cup non-hydrogenated shortening, I recommend Earth Balance

1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine, I recommend Earth Balance

4 cups confectioners' sugar (icing sugar)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp almond or soy milk

2 tbsp Irish Whiskey (I didn't have any and used regular Whiskey, you will be fine if you do the same)

Directions

Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy.  Add the sugar and beat for about 3 minutes.  Add the vanilla, milk and whiskey and beat for another 2 minutes.  You may need to add more sugar, about 1/2 cup, if the icing is not thick enough.

This will be much easier to make with a stand mixer but can also be done with a hand held mixer if you are patient.

Caramel

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup margarine, again I recommend Earth Balance

4 tsp almond, soy or rice milk

In a small saucepan, heat the brown sugar, margarine and milk over medium heat, stirring frequently.  Once the mixture comes together, increase the heat to medium high and let cook for 1-2 minutes, until it begins to bowl and the bubbles move into the centre of the caramel.  Remove from heat.  The caramel will be easier to drizzle on the cupcakes when warm.

To assemble

Pipe the icing onto the cupcakes and dust with cocoa powder.  Drizzle the caramel over the cupcakes using a fork of a squeeze tube.