Vegan Donut Cupcakes: Challenge Accepted

Okay Christina, here is my best attempt!

I used this recipe and cut it in half and veganized it with direct replacements.  Next time I think I want to make these with cardamom and put powdered sugar on top of them.  I don't know why, but the texture just makes me want them to be cardamom-y.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Earth Balance buttery spread
3/4 cup evaporated cane juice (sugar)
1 cup soy milk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp flax meal
1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 cups flour

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray cupcake pan with coconut oil or whatever spray oil you like.
In the stand mixer, I creamed the butter and sugar together at medium speed.  While that was going, I mixed the flax and water in a small cup so that it could get gelatinous.  I also mixed the soy milk and vinegar so it could curdle (like buttermilk).  After the butter and sugar were well mixed, I added both mixes I had just made and then the vanilla.  I let that all mix on medium while I mixed together my dry ingredients.  I mixed that dry mixture in 2 batches and mixed only until it was combined (next time I think I would hand mix in the dry ingredients just to make sure it was combined but not overworked).  I used an icecream scoop to fill the cupcake pan and made them really big and ended up with 11 instead of 12.  Oops.  The dough was very sticky, so the texture made it hard to get level scoops.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Next I was left with topping decisions.  I ate one directly out of the oven just to get an idea of what I was dealing with.  Ohhh... I could eat them all like this.  Instead, I decided to dress up three of them.

Chocolate Icing:
1/4 cup chocolate chips (I use Tropical Source)
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp soy milk

Microwave these ingredients for 10-20 seconds then stir until smooth and dip cupcakes into glaze.

I personally like them better without the glaze.  If I had some strawberries I would macerate them with powdered sugar and cut the cupcake in half and cover it in sugared strawberries.