Being a Vegan Birthday Guest

Part of having friends is loving the ways we're different!

My great friend Max recently had a birthday party, and he's not vegan. I believe we respect each other's choices. And Max believes that too, I think, because I was invited to bring a vegan cupcake to enjoy during birthday cake time.

Here's what I brought:

Be sure to wrap your cupcake carefully so it doesn't get smooshed!!

Here's my recipe. I'm a girl on the go, so I started with a cake mix. Most of those are vegan-friendly to start with, but call for eggs. I substitute corn starch and flax meal for the eggs. Below is the substitution for 3 eggs. If your box asks for more or less, you can adjust using fractions, which are cool but tricky. I also add a hint of lactic acid powder to make the strawberry taste a little more tangy and real-tasting.

Strawberry White Chocolate Cupcakes

1 box strawberry cake mix

2 Tablespoons corn starch

2 Tablespoons finely ground flax meal

Oil and water according to box instructions

2 Tablespoons finely shaved cocoa butter

2 pinches lactic acid powder (optional)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven and prepare cupcake pan & papers according to package instructions.

Add corn starch, flax meal, white chocolate, and lactic acid to dry cake mix and stir to combine.

Add vanilla, oil, and water (I like to measure them all in the same measuring cup and experiment with mixing the oil, water, and vanilla together. It's pretty!) and beat according to package instructions.

Scoop batter into cupcake papers and bake according to box instructions.

Most store-bought frosting is vegan-friendly, too, but I'll post the recipe for my homemade French vanilla cupcake frosting (in the picture above) sometime soon!

Pro tip: ask if the party kid wants you to bring extras to share or just one for yourself!