For the decor items you will also need: either chocolate cake crumbs or brownie cake crumbs about ½ cup total and some yellow & red sprinkles
For the Date Caramel Recipe:
Medjool Dates 1 cup (approximately 10-12 large dates)
Nut Butter- I used tahini 4 Tablespoons
Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons (10ml)
Soy Milk ½ cup (118ml) *any plant milk is fine
salt ¼ teaspoon
Instructions
Prepare the buttercream and then take out about ¾ cup for the green "lettuce"
Prepare your vanilla cake recipe as per the instructions and bake them into cupcakes.
Make the snickerdoodle cookies but scoop them with a #100 scooper
Prepare the date caramel by combining the dates, plant milk, salt, vanilla & nut butter into a food processor and process to a paste that is not chunky. You may have to add a tablespoon or more of plant milk to get it to a thinner sauce like consistency.
Once everything is prepare, core out the centers of the cooled cupcakes and fill with the date caramel
Pipe vanilla vanilla buttercream icing and then cut a snickerdoodle cookie in half and insert into the icing like a taco shell
Fill with a small amount of buttercream to stick on the chocolate or brownie crumbs to represent "meat-less ground"
Pipe green buttercream leaves for the lettuce and sprinkle the yellow & red jimmies for "cheeze" & tomatoes!
Notes
taco Tuesday Dulce de Leche cupcakes can be left at room temperature for about one day, they won't go bad as much as they may sag & droop from the heavy decoration
They stay much nicer in the refrigerator but will be best served at room temperature
Store cupcakes in the refrigerator for up to 4 days
Recipe by Gretchen's Vegan Bakery at https://www.gretchensveganbakery.com/dulce-de-leche-cupcakes/