Soccer Picnic Party Cupcakes

We celebrated J's birthday yesterday at Dufferin Grove Park. Since he is a fan of soccer, we thought it would be a fun idea to have a soccer picnic in the lovely weather. Mother Nature was on our side too. While it was muggy, the trees offered a lovely breeze and the rain gods stayed away. For photos of our fun day, please check out this site.

I promised to make cupcakes, and sure enough on Friday night, in a bit of a heat wave, i worked on making 2 dozen cupcakes. I wanted to make ones that J likes as well as follow the black and white theme colours of a soccer ball. So, i chose RootBeer Float and Banana Cupcakes.

I found the rootbeer recipe on Bittersweet's lovely blog. I can't wait until she publishing that vegan dessert cookbook! I had to make some alterations, namely i couldn't find rootbeer extract anywhere in Toronto. I could have ordered some on-line, but i chose to substitite some almond extract instead. I also added a bit of cocao for colour and these cupcakes turned out divinely moist and sweet and the chocolate ganache on top was heavenly.

The banaa recipe was from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World book and they were dreamy too. J's favourite, in fact. Here, i didn't have the necessary pineapple preserves, so i added 1/4 cup of apple sauce. It added a nice touch too, and i really wanted the icing to taste banana-y, so i added a bit of banana extract to it. Nothing like good fluffy icing. Mmmm..

Banana Fluffy Icing
1/2 cup vegan shortening
1/2 cup vegan margarine
3 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp banana extract
1/3 cup vanilla soy milk

In a mixer, blend the shortening and margarine together and slowly add the sugar. Once mixed thoroughly, add the rest of the ingredients and beat for about 5 minutes, or until fluffy.