Chocolate Chai Cupcakes

recipe from shape.com

Perfectly moist.

Perfectly chocolaty.

Perfectly chai.

Perfectly vegan.

You read that right... vegan! I wouldn't go so far as to say these are "healthy", but they are vegan, and no one would know if I didn't tell them.  Mac's response was "oh, yeah, these are definitely a keeper."  He ate four.  Perfectly perfect.

Ingredients:

Cupakes:

1 cup almond milk

1 tsp. apple cide vinegar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

Frosting:

1/2 c. vegan margarine (okay, I cheated and used butter... but if you don't care about being vegan, then its okay)

3-4 cups powdered sugar (I used close to 4)

2 chai tea bags

2 Tbsp. boiling water

2 Tbsp. almond milk

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

For the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the vinegar and almond milk and let sit for five minutes.  Meanwhile, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond milk/vinegar, oil, sugar, and vanilla.  Add to the dry ingredients and mix until combined.  Pour into greased/lined cupcake pan and bake for 15-25 minutes, or until springy.  Let cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, steep the tea in the 2 tbsp. boiling water for 10 minutes.  Discard tea bags and add in the almond milk.  In a large bowl, beat butter until soft and creamy.  Add the tea/milk, powdered sugar, and cinnamon to the butter and beat for 10 minutes until very light and fluffy.  Add more powdered sugar as desired for taste.  Sprinkle frosted cupcakes with cinnamon.