Upside Down Cupcakes ~ Egg and Dairy Free!

This week my sweet girl had the letter bag for school, she had to fill it with things starting with the letter U and take a snack for her classmates.  I freaked, what foods start with the letter U?  Well, after stressing for a few days that I would fail as a mother I thought about Upside Down Cake!  But then the problem became that there are a number of allergies in her class and I wanted to make sure if I baked that everyone could enjoy it.  I had to do quite a bit of research on things to use as substitutes and truth be told I was scared to try these but oh my they are very good!

So without further ado here is the recipe that many of you have asked for.  I hope you enjoy them as much as we have.  And I apologise for the quality of the photograph, we ate them all before I could take a good picture, this is one from my phone.

Ingredients

Grape Seed Oil

20 oz can pineapple slices, or fresh

Maraschino cherries, pecans would be a good substitute if you don't like cherries

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread, softened, plus 1/2 cup, melted

1 1/4 cup soy milk, plain

2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

2 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups pureed apples (about 2 and a half apples) (you could use applesauce, unsweetened)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder (make sure it's fresh)

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
• In a small bowl, whisk together the soy milk and 1 tablespoon of distilled white vinegar and set aside.
• Coat 2 (total of 24) cupcake/muffin tins with the grape seed oil, make sure to get up on the sides
• Sprinkle the brown sugar into each tin, coating the bottoms.
• Pour the 1/2 cup of melted Earth Balance over the brown sugar in each cup
• Cut the pineapple rings into about 8 slices and place 4 into the bottom of each cup (see image)
• Place a cherry into each tin
• Mix/beat the Earth Balance until creamy
• Add the sugar and mix on low/medium for about 30 seconds, until incorporated and still fluffy
• Add the apple sauce and vanilla extract to the sugar mixture and beat until well combined
• In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt
• Add the dry ingredients to the sugar and butter alternating with the soy milk mixture, starting and ending with the flour mixture. 
• Mix in the remaining 1 tablespoon of white vinegar
• Pour the batter into each cup filling almost to the top
• Bake between 25-30 minutes (these do not get brown so you need to check them with a toothpick)
• Let cool completely in tins
• Carefully remove and enjoy!