Vegan cupcakes

This is a really simple yet very tasty cupcake recipie. For my first recipie I posted something quite tricky so with this I'm going back to basics. I used strawberry essence but you could use vanilla, lemon, rose anything really.  This recipie made me 16 cupcakes but it will depend on how big your cases are.

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups caster sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup vegetable  oil
2 tsp essence (any flavour)
2 tsp distilled white vinegar
1 cup water

Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Place the cases in a muffin tray. Mix together ALL the ingredients untill smooth. Put the cupcakes in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Frosting is optiantal, I just whipped some cream added icing sugar, strawberry essence and red food colouring, but if you want to add actual frosting here are some recipies.

Cream cheese:
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) lightly salted butter
1 lb (4 cups) icing sugar
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

 Let butter and cream cheese soften at room temperature for about 20-30 minutes. Cream butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy (about 1 minute). Add vanilla. Mix on low until vanilla is incorporated. Add icing sugar gradually, still mixing on low.


 Buttercream:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup milk or cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter until light, about 3 minutes on medium speed. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, 3 to 5 minutes.Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the frosting is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not add all of the sugar.

1 stick  Wegmans Unsalted Butter, softened to room temp
1 Tbsp  Wegmans Pure Vanilla Extract
4 cups  Wegmans Powdered Sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp  nonfat dry milk powder
3-4 Tbsp water, divided - See more at: http://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10052&catalogId=10002&productId=710495#sthash.TYKYpE1a.dpuf

1 stick  Wegmans Unsalted Butter, softened to room temp
1 Tbsp  Wegmans Pure Vanilla Extract
4 cups  Wegmans Powdered Sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp  nonfat dry milk powder
3-4 Tbsp water, divided - See more at: http://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10052&catalogId=10002&productId=710495#sthash.TYKYpE1a.dpuf

1 stick  Wegmans Unsalted Butter, softened to room temp
1 Tbsp  Wegmans Pure Vanilla Extract
4 cups  Wegmans Powdered Sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp  nonfat dry milk powder
3-4 Tbsp water, divided - See more at: http://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10052&catalogId=10002&productId=710495#sthash.TYKYpE1a.dpuf