Vegan Healthy-ish Cupcakes

Vegan Healthy-ish Cupcakes

1 cup organic, vegan sugar
1/2 cup organic shortening
2 Tbsp. ground flax seed
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/4 cup soy milk (or other vegan milk, such as almond or hemp)

Grease and flour muffin tin and preheat oven to 350F. Mix ground flax seed with 1/4 cup of water and let sit for about 5 minutes until it gels. Combine milk and vanilla and set aside. Combine flours and baking powder and set aside. With electric mixer, beat shortening and sugar on high speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add flax seed mixture and beat until well-combined. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in 3 parts alternately with milk mixture in 2 parts (i.e., add some flour, some milk, some flour, the rest of the milk, and the rest of the flour), mixing until just combined in between each addition. Don't over-mix. Fill muffin tin and bake for about 30 minutes (ok, the time is a guess - I baked them until they were done). They are done when they bounce back slightly when pressed in the middle. Let cool and frost with vegan frosting, below.

Vegan Frosting:
1/2 cup vegan shortening
1/4 cup soy milk (or other vegan milk)
2 lbs. organic powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Not rocket science. Mix all ingredients. There you go. You may need more or less powdered sugar, so have extra on hand, especially if you use homemade food coloring, which might thin it out.