Down the Rabbit Hole

Raspberries wait for no one.

Catching everyone by surprise, the wild raspberries are early bloomers this year, springing forth in clusters of ruby red jewels, dripping from vines heavy with their bounty. There’s not a moment to lose when it’s first come, first serve, and the birds tend to have a more flexible schedule for picking. Ready or not, here I come, but this year has already been somewhat of a disappointment. With my dad overseas on work, it’s not nearly such a joyous event to trudge out into the thorns and mosquitoes in search of a few small berries. Needless to say, yields have suffered tremendously as well, and there’s no chance that I’ll even come close to our record.

But, as they say, the show must go on, and it would be a shame to let all of that edible plunder out there go to waste. Doing my best to reach the farthest branches the treasure deeply buried within the wilderness of suburban Connecticut, I donned long sleeves and pants, braving the oppressive heat, and gave it my all. Before long, a neat little pile of still-warm raspberries sat heaped in my basket. Mother nature waits for no one, so it was a relief to have made it to my favorite picking spot seemingly just in time. All was right with the world again.

Lulled into a false sense of safety, despite being temporarily jolted into high alert after shaking a tennis ball-sized beetle off my hand, I was feeling pretty good about this first solo venture. Moving a bit further into the woods, I was now venturing into unknown territory… And that’s when the ground went out beneath me.

Suddenly I was falling, down, down, down, shockingly far into the earth.

When I finally got my footing again, my painstakingly gathered berries were scattered and smashed all over the moldy forest floor, and I was literally knee-deep in some mysterious hole! Completely covered with vines, like some fiendish trap, I hadn’t seen any hint or warning of what I was stepping into, despite having checked my footing beforehand. Unhurt but as crushed as those wasted berries, the fruits of my labor sent to rot, I quickly pulled myself up and high-tailed it out of there. There’s no telling what sort of creature (or monster, perhaps) created a trench of such a size, but let’s just say it was a rabbit, for comfort’s sake. Yes, a cute, fuzzy rabbit that certainly would not have eaten me. I feel much better about that.

Returning on a separate occasion to gather a conservative punnet of raspberries, carefully staying far away from the booby-trap hidden within the woods, I still couldn’t stop thinking about that bizarre rabbit hole. Even after finally securing my berries and returning home, the image of perhaps a giant rabbit the size of an SUV danced through my mind… Or maybe they had mistaken me for Alice, perhaps. So I did the only logical thing I could think of, as an offering of sorts to this mystical and mysterious rabbit: Make carrot cake.

That would be raspberry carrot cake, of course!

Dotted with tiny, crunchy clusters of wild berries, it’s more or less a standard carrot cake, but I felt compelled to share the recipe. After bringing a batch to both friends and family, at different events, I’ve been blown away by the rave reviews they received. My perpetually skeptical aunt was amazed that they were vegan, and even my grandma, a seasoned baker, seemed curious about the recipe.

What really makes them special, however, is the frosting.

Though I was planning to go the traditional cream cheese route, there was none at the grocery store to be found. Reaching instead for the sour cream, it was a happy accident that lead to perhaps the best frosting I’ve ever made, and a new personal favorite.

Light and fluffy, less heavy than a standard buttercream and yet more substantial than airy whipped cream, it’s the Goldilocks of frostings; Just right. Flecked with real vanilla bean, it’s delicately flavored and a treat for the eyes as well. Even if you don’t care for carrot cake, or have fears of a demonic bunny looming in your mind that must be assuaged, I insist that you still try the frosting. You don’t even have to go foraging in the woods for it.

Yield: Makes 12 Servings

Raspberry Carrot Cake with Sour Cream Frosting

These carrot cake cupcakes studded with fresh raspberries is a refreshing change of pace. Topped with light, fluffy, and subtly tangy vegan sour cream frosting, they're an easy way to eat your fruits and veggies.

Ingredients

Raspberry Carrot Cake:

1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
2 Cups Shredded Carrot
1 Cup Fresh Raspberries
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
3/4 Cup Plain Non-Dairy Milk
1 Teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar, Firmly Packed

Sour Cream Frosting:

1/2 Cup Vegan Butter, at Room Temperature.
1/2 Cup Vegan Sour Cream
1/2 Vanilla Bean, Seeds Scraped
3 – 4 Cups Confectioner’s Sugar

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line 12 standard muffin tins with cupcake papers.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and soda, spices, and salt so that all of the dry goods are evenly distributed. Add in the shredded carrot and raspberries, and toss to coat in flour. Set aside.
Separately, whisk together the oil, non-dairy milk of choice, vinegar, and brown sugar. Once the sugar is more or less dissolved, pour the whole mixture into your bowl of dry ingredients. Stir gently with a wide spatula so as not to smash the berries, just until the batter comes together. A few lumps are just fine, as long as you don’t over-mix.
Evenly dose out the batter between your prepared muffin tins. These bake up to be fairly large cupcakes, so don’t be afraid to mound that batter up in the center.
Bake for 26 – 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cupcake comes out dry. Let cool completely before frosting.
To make the frosting, first soften the vegan butter in the stand mixer by briefly beating it alone. Add in the sour cream, scrapped vanilla bean, and 2 cups of the confectioner’s sugar. Start the mixer on a low speed until the sugar is mostly incorporated, and then pause, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add in another cup of sugar.
Start slowly again, and then once everything is assimilated, turn up the mixer to high and whip the frosting for about 4 minutes. Pause, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and if it is too loose for your liking, add the remaining cup of sugar.
Get that final addition mixed in as well, and whip for another 4 – 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. The key to the texture is patience; You must allow a good amount of time for the mixer to work its magic.
Once it’s at the consistency you desire, frost away!

Recommended Products

Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase after clicking through the link. I have experience with all of these companies and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions I make if you decide to buy something through my links.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 709Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 171mgCarbohydrates: 136gFiber: 2gSugar: 120gProtein: 3g

All nutritional information presented within this site are intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on BitterSweetBlog.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. Even though I try to provide accurate nutritional information to the best of my ability, these figures should still be considered estimations.

July 17, 2010November 23, 2025

Hannah (BitterSweet)38 Comments

Sugar Daddy

What to get for the father with everything?

Moreover, what to get for the father who seems to want nothing? Preferring little fan fare and perhaps his favorite meal of hot dogs, my dad remains as difficult as ever to spoil. Always shy to ask for anything and frequently claiming to not want anything at all, he never gives away any clues as to what might strike his fancy, making Father’s day a real challenge to celebrate.

No way would I ever take his assertions to heart though; It would be a crime to give up and do nothing for such a caring and dedicated dad! Deserving of recognition much more than just one day out of the year, it’s near impossible to make this one date count in a truly meaningful way, so the least I could do was maybe treat him to something special.

Grasping for Straws

During one late night brainstorming session, thinking of all present and past favorite foods, I somehow became fixated on his love for iced tea. Years ago, all he would drink was from a powdered mix, dumping a few heaping tablespoons into a tall glass and topping it off with ice water. As a result, I had thought for the longest time that iced tea was something completely separate from those little bags of dried leaves. He’s now graduated to actual tea, sweetened to such an intense level that my mom has taken to calling it “sugar water,” but the memory of that instant tea mix stuck with me.

After picking up a package of that powder for nostalgia’s sake, it took a long time and many dubious concepts before I finally struck upon the perfect use for it:

Cake! Or more specifically, cupcakes!

Mixed into both the cake and the frosting, the instant tea powder brought me right back to my childhood, thinking how grown up it was to be drinking this fancy iced tea concoction. These cupcakes are decided less “grown up,” but way too much fun to pass up.

Piled high with mounds of fluffy frosting, I made sure to be generous with the piping bag to satisfy his well-established sweet tooth. As if that weren’t enough, a light sprinkling of coarse white sugar adds a slight crunch, and is a nod to that sugar-saturated brew my dad is so fond of. Finally, that touch of lemon is a nod to the lemon flavored tea that was a common choice back in the days of buying a mix. Although my dad isn’t exactly the biggest fan of cakes in general, this is one that I hope will strike a chord.

Yield: Makes 12 Cupcakes

Iced Tea Cupcakes

Instant iced tea mixed into both the cake and frosting of these sweet treats lends a tangy, refreshing flavor that's perfect for summer.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

Iced Tea Cupcakes:

1 Cup Plain Non-Dairy Milk
1 Tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice
1/3 Cup Olive Oil
1 1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Instant Unsweetened Iced Tea Mix
2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Lemon-Iced Tea Frosting:

1/2 Cup Vegan Butter, at Room Temperature
3 Cups Confectioner’s Sugar
1/2 Cup Instant Unsweetened Iced Tea Mix
1/2 Teaspoon Lemon Zest
2 – 4 Tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line 12 muffin tins with cupcake papers.
Whisk together the milk, lemon juice, and oil in a large bowl, and let sit for about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine the flour, iced tea mix, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt so that all of the dry ingredients are well distributed.
Add the dry goods into the wet, and stir just enough to incorporate everything and get out most of the lumps. Distribute the batter equally between your prepared tins, and bake for 18 – 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cupcake comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.
To make the frosting, simply place the vegan butter, confectioner’s sugar, tea mix, and lemon zest in the bowl of your stand mixer, and start it on low speed. Slowly add in the lemon juice one tablespoon at a time, increasing the speed once the sugar is mostly incorporated. Whip on high for about 4 minutes, until light and fluffy.
Apply to cooled cupcakes and top with coarse sugar or pearl sugar if desired.

Cupcake Evolution

Although there are still some conflicting stories about how the ever-popular cupcake came about, it’s generally agreed that they got their name by the method they were made: One cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of four, and so on, all in nice even cup-based measures. Eventually, it seems like younger generations that have become removed from the baking process only saw the product, and assumed that they were named because they were all baked in little cups, thus their small size and shape. These days, most people just think of cupcakes as miniature cakes, and not much more. If you ask me, the cupcake still has a bit more evolving to do, and the next step is pretty clear, isn’t it?

Naturally, it only makes sense that they become literal cups made out of cake!

Browsing through a quirky little junk store, a pile of silicon ice cube trays and various molds caught my eye, and I dug in, thinking of the adorable frozen shapes I might plop into cold drinks. However, it was the shot glass mold that grabbed my attention, and after confirming that it was oven safe up to about 500 degrees, I began scheming my grand cupcake plan.

Going with Asian flavors, I whipped up a quick matcha cupcake batter, pouring it into the molds and placing a sheet pan underneath just for insurance. As predicted, it did bubble up but not over, and so the mushroomed ends simply needed a trim once cooled. The tricky part came when it was time to remove them. Despite a liberal spray of cooking oil with flour, those cakes refused to loosen their grip on the silicon, and my first victim tore horrifically. Thinking on my toes, I tossed the remaining cups into the freezer, forgot about them for a few hours, and was able to take them out intact once fully frozen.

Filled to the brim with sweet adzuki bean mousse, the presentation was almost as good as the taste! This is one format that the frosting-lovers among us would adore, since the deep pocket allows for far more filling than any standard cupcake. While it may take a bit more effort to make, this latest evolution of the cupcake might be it’s most impressive yet. I won’t tell if you just use this mousse in any old cake though, since it’s far too good to be contained to just one type of baked good!

Yield: Makes About 2 1/2 Cups

Adzuki Bean Mousse

Think beans can't become a decadent dessert? Think again! This mousse is rich and velvety, thanks to the earthy depth of sweet adzuki beans with the silky smoothness of tofu.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Ingredients

2 Cups Cooked Adzuki Beans
5 Ounces (Half of a 10.9-Ounce Package) Firm Silken Tofu
1/4 Cup Plain Soymilk
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar, Packed
2 Tablespoons Instant Clear Gel

Instructions

Toss your cooked beans and tofu into a food processor or blender, and crank up the power. Once the mixture is mostly pureed and there are no more chunks of tofu remaining, add in the soymilk and vanilla, and pulse to combine.
In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and instant clear gel, and slowly sift these dry ingredients into your machine while the motor is running.
Once fully incorporated, continue blending for a minute or two to dissolve the sugar, scraping down the sides as needed, until the mixture feels mostly smooth and slightly thickened.
Pipe into or on top of cupcakes, or eat with a spoon. Those beans make it much healthier than your average mousse, after all!

Float Away

Eons ago when my sister and I were but wee tots and my parents still exercised the authority to restrict my intake of sweets, I remember the harshest restrictions being placed on soda. Occasional candies and chocolates were okay, but soda? Only once a year, on New Year’s Eve were my sister and I allowed the pleasure of the bubbly liquid. If we were really, seriously lucky, we might even be permitted to add the most conservative scoop of ice cream, making the most alluring concoction we could ever imagine with our underdeveloped minds.

Only root beer would be utilized for such occasions, mind you, lest we consume the evil substance known as caffeine along with this most decadent treat! For years we obeyed by this ruling, until eventually we grew older and [theoretically] wiser, trusted to make good decisions for ourselves, and soda was no longer such an illusive indulgence. In fact, you could say that their well-meaning plan backfired, seeing as I drink soda almost everyday, and rarely root beer!

Thinking about this small aspect of my childhood, I wanted to make something special to celebrate a small vacation from school, wherein my sister would get the chance to come and visit for a few days. Hoping that she would remember these past rituals as well as I do, there was little question over what new form I would try to recreate these memories in a more mature form. Not just a simple drink any more, but a real dessert demanding respect and attention. Don’t even think about comparing it to the old fashioned standby, as it has grown up quite a bit from it’s formerly childish embodiment.

That’s right, the newest incarnation of my beloved root beer float is now embodied by ever-popular cupcake, albeit much more animal-friendly than the original. A drizzle of ganache provides a bite reminiscent of a hot fudge ribbon, topped by a sweet dollop of vanilla frosting to take the place of melting, messy ice cream. In my opinion, this baby’s got everything you could ever want from this previously juvenile delight, and you don’t even need a straw on hand to enjoy it.

Yield: Makes 12 Cupcakes

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

Transform the classic root beer float into a cupcake! A drizzle of ganache provides a bite reminiscent of a hot fudge ribbon, topped by a sweet dollop of vanilla frosting to take the place of melting, messy ice cream.

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Additional Time 15 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

Root Beer Float Cupcakes:

1 Cup Root Beer Soda
1 Teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/3 Cup Olive Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 Teaspoons Root Beer Extract
1 1/3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
3/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/8 Teaspoon Salt

Ganache:

5 Ounces Dark Chocolate
1/4 Cup Plain Non-Dairy Milk
1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup

Frosting:

1 Cup Vegetable Shortening
3 Cups Confectioner’s Sugar
2 Tablespoons Plain Non-Dairy Milk
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a dozen cupcake tins with papers.
Combine the soda and vinegar and let stand for a few minutes. Add in the sugar and oil, whisking vigorously until slightly frothy. Integrate your extracts, and gently introduce the flour, along with the baking powder / soda, and salt, being careful not to over mix.
Distributing the batter evenly between the prepared tins, fill cupcake liners approximately 3/4 of the way to the top. Bake for about 18 – 22 minutes. Allow them to cool completely before proceeding to the ganache.
Combine all the ingredients for the ganache in a microwave-safe container and nuke for about a minute. Stir thoroughly even if it doesn’t look completely melted – It should come together after a bit of agitation, but if the chocolate still isn’t entirely smooth, return to the microwave for 15-30 seconds at a time, watching carefully to ensure that it doesn’t burn.
Drizzle ganache in squiggles over the tops of the cupcakes. You’ll probably have plenty of left over ganache, but is that a particularly bad thing? Allow ganache squiggles to fully cool and dry before preparing the frosting.
For the frosting, place the room temperature shortening into your mixer, and beat thoroughly until creamed. Add in sugar and start on a low speed so as not to spray powder everywhere. Incorporate non-dairy milk and extract, and combine thoroughly. Apply to cupcakes as desired. Wax nostalgic about childhood memories.

Use Your Noggin’

Paging through one of the first Christmas-oriented baking catalogs a month ago, I found one recipe in particular that held my interest. Upon first reading the name and skimming through the list of ingredients, I thought to myself, “Could they have made it any more un-vegan? This is one of those things that I don’t think could ever successfully be veganized.”

So I continued looking through the pages of useless cooking contraptions and increasingly repulsive recipes with this thought hanging in the back of my head. Reaching the back cover at last, I returned to this egg nog tea cake recipe (Eggs! Milk! Butter! The only thing that would have made it less vegan-friendly would have been bacon, perhaps!) and took a closer look. Why should this be any different from the other recipes I’ve converted in the past? It became a challenge I simply couldn’t turn down, so I took the bull by the horns and went for it.

My first change was in the final form it would take. I knew immediately that cupcakes would receive a much warmer welcome than some ugly, multiple serving loaf cake. Everyone deserves their own personal cake in the season of indulgence anyways, aside from the popularity of cupcakes in general. Making this conversion from an approximate total of two loaves yielded a copious amount of sweet cuppers; Exactly two dozen were to emerge from my oven from this one batch.

By no means is this recipe diet-friendly… But what good would anything egg nog be if it were ‘light’? I understand that it may appear to contain disturbing amounts of margarine and such, but just remember how many cupcakes this makes! It’s not so bad spread out, unless you find it hard to stop at one…

Yield: Makes 24 Cupcakes

Not-Nog Cupcakes

Paging through a Christmas-oriented baking catalog during the holiday season, I found one recipe in particular that held my interest: eggnog bread. As I scanned the ingredients, it occurred to me how incredibly non-vegan this concoction was. The dense loaf was saturated with eggs, milk, butter, and of course eggnog. Converting this into an unlikely vegan variant was a challenge I simply could not turn down! A few failed batches later, the original quick bread was converted into cupcakes, and my kitchen was filled with a veritable army of lightly spiced, sweet holiday gifts. The resulting recipe was made to bring to a large holiday party, so it does make a whole lot of little cakes, but I am sure you won't have any difficulty finishing them off!

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 22 minutes

Total Time 52 minutes

Ingredients

Nog Cupcakes:

1 1/2 Cups Vegan Butter
2 Cups Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 Teaspoons Ground Nutmeg
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Teaspoon Salt
3/4 Cup Vanilla Vegan Yogurt
1 Tablespoon Flax Seeds
2 Tablespoons Water
3 3/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 1/2 Cups Vegan Eggnog

Caramel Topping:

2 Tablespoons Vegan Butter
1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Light Corn Syrup or Agave Nectar
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Rum (Any Variety)

To Garnish:

1/2 - 1 Cup Sliced Almonds

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350ºF (175ºC) and line two dozen muffin tins with cupcake papers.
In your stand mixer, cream the vegan butter with the sugar, nutmeg, vanilla, and salt. Add the yogurt and beat thoroughly.
While the mixer churns, grind the flax seeds into a powder with a spice grinder, and whiz them together with the water. Introduce the flax mixture into the main bowl and stir to combine. The batter will probably be fairly lumpy at this point, but as long as you do not have any obscenely large clumps of solid margarine, it should be fine.
In a separate vessel, combine your flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Slowly add these dry ingredients to the contents of the bowl waiting in your stand mixer, alternating with the eggnog until both are used up. Fully incorporate each addition, but be careful not to over mix.
Pour the resulting batter into your prepared cupcake liners about ⅔to ¾ of the way full, and bake for 20 to 22 minutes. The cupcakes should not appear browned; so keep a close eye on them. They will be done when a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean.
To make the topping, set a saucepan over medium-low heat. Melt the vegan butter with the brown sugar, corn syrup or agave, and salt, stirring until everything is dissolved and no longer grainy. Once the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Remove your pan from the heat and add in the rum, stirring thoroughly. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes before spooning a dollop on top of each cupcake.
Top with sliced almonds to cover as desired. The topping will continue to thicken and firm up slightly as it cools, but it should still remain soft.
Serve within 24 hours, or the topping may begin to soak into the cake. It will still be delicious, just a little funny looking!

Notes

Recipe updated and printed in Sweet Vegan Treats by Hannah Kaminsky.

Classic Chocolate Cupcakes

How many times have we all heard the dreaded comment: “Pretty good for a vegan dessert….”

No, stop right there. Not today.

As my Valentine’s gift to all of you out in blog land, I present with a fluttering heart, my perfect chocolate cupcakes. I know, every recipe out there claims to be the “ultimate” or “best ever,” but stick with me here, try these little cakes and you will never go back to that hodge-podge little brownie you usually end up with when omitting animal products.

Right from the start, you have to know that this batch will be different. After all, just look at those tops – they rise in the oven, such a novel concept! A firm, almost chewy exterior protects a soft, moist cake for the body. Oh, the flavor? A chocolate to suit any tastes – not too overpowering or sweet for the mature palate, but sure to be an instant with kids, no alterations necessary.

I made a double batch of these and gave them out to some test subjects friends yesterday, all of them omnivores… and not one of them had any idea. After everyone was so stuffed that they couldn’t eat other bite, kids we walking out the door with two or three in their hands to horde for later! Needless to say, I returned home with only an empty tray, bearing only the odd fallen sprinkle or two.

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/3 Cup Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Cup Vanilla Soymilk
2 Teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and line medium cupcake tins with papers. The papers do tend to adhere themselves a bit to the cake, so you could sprinkle the papers with just a little bit of flour or cocoa powder… but you really don’t have to. They’ll still come out just fine.

Mix all of the dry ingredients a medium size bowl – no electric mixer required. Combine all the wet ingredients in separate bowl – *EXCEPT VINEGAR.* Add your wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and stir until everything is mixed in, but don’t go crazy trying to beat out every single little lump. Now, add the vinegar quickly and stir in – pour batter into the pans and immediately put them in the oven. Bake for approximately 14 to 18 minutes. Allow them to cool in the pan for just a little bit, and then I placed mine on newspaper as a make-shift cooling rake until I was ready to frost them.

Makes one dozen lovely little snacks.

Printable Recipe

For the holiday, the obvious choice for this batch was to go the pink route, so I opted for a sugary sweet strawberry frosting, topped off with adorable little pink and white heart sprinkles. I admit, I was in a bit of a time crunch, so I cheated a little and used a store bought vanilla frosting as a base. For those of you planning on recreating these masterpieces at home, be sure to check labels carefully – Not all brands are vegan! For the proper flavoring, I added in about 1/3 cup of pureed frozen strawberries, along with a little less than a teaspoon of strawberry flavoring for an extra kick. No artificial coloring required, this is exactly what I ended up with.

…Now, who says vegan baked goods can’t compare?

February 14, 2006November 18, 2025

Hannah (BitterSweet)30 Comments