Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter/Vanilla frosting and Chocolate Ganache

Made these for a friends birthday, they went down a treat. Must say I had trouble getting through one of them though!
Recipe makes about 12 cupcakes


For the cupcakes:
1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the peanut buttercream:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup vegan margarine
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp soy milk

Vanilla buttercream:
1 cup of vegan margarine
3 cups of powdered sugar
2 tbsp of vanilla
3 tbsp soy milk

Vegan Ganache:
1/2 cup of dark cooking chocolate (vegan)
2 tbsp vege oil
1 tbsp agave nectar
2 tablespoons of soy milk





To prepare Buttercream:
Beat peanut butter and butter until smooth, add vanilla and soy milk, once soft beat in icing sugar until light and fluffy

for vanilla, same concept except without the peanut butter


To prepare cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 180°C and line a muffin pan with liners (I always lightly spray with cooking spray too).
Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and other extract, if using, to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together until no lumps remain (a few small ones are ok)
Pour batter into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.


To prepare ganache:
Temper chocolate in a glass bowl over boiling water, when melted add remaining ingredients. Lightly drizzle over prepared cupcakes.




Assembly:
WHEN CUPCAKES ARE COMPLETELY COOLED, add frosting.
For the two tone effect you need to set up two different piping bags (1 with peanut butter, 1 with vanilla) and then place them both into 1 prepared piping bag with the nozzle you wish to use.
If unsure you can always google great tutorials on how to do this, it's simple once you get the hang of it
Drizzle prepared cupcakes with ganache, this will harden some on cooling.

Enjoy!