My 16-year-old daughter Violet is in the food business. She bakes the most delicious chocolate cupcakes, which came about from her frustration with the lack of good-tasting animal-free desserts. She tested many recipes, and last November perfected her cupcakes. When her nonvegan friends gobbled them up, she knew she had a winner.

Violet’s business is a marketing guru’s dream: The product is delicious and contains no animal products. A female teenager, striving to repair the world, owns the business. The oven she uses is powered by solar panels, and she had the kitchen kashered by a rabbi. When possible, she uses certified organic ingredients. She does her shopping and delivering in a biodiesel car.

Family and friends have happily supported her baking, and the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco has also welcomed Violet’s business venture. She will be selling her cupcakes at the Healthy Living Fair on Sunday, May 4, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

There’s only one problem: Baking hundreds of cupcakes takes a lot of time, with very little financial compensation. Violet’s father gave her very good advice: “Study hard, go to graduate school, make a lot of money, then you can give it away.”

Violet’s Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes 1 dozen

1 1⁄2 cups unbleached white flour

3⁄4 cup evaporated cane juice

1⁄2 tsp. fine sea salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1⁄4 cup cocoa powder

1⁄3 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbs. vinegar

1 cup water

1⁄3 cup chocolate chips

Sift together the flour, cane juice, salt, baking soda and cocoa. Stir in the vegetable oil, vinegar and water and mix gently. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into 12 muffin cups, and bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool, and top with chocolate frosting.

Chocolate Frosting

Makes enough for 12 cupcakes

4 oz. unsalted vegan shortening

3 cups powdered sugar

1⁄3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 Tbs. vanilla soymilk

Beat all ingredients together until the frosting is light and fluffy.

Orange Vegan Cupcakes

Makes 1 dozen

1 1⁄2 cups unbleached white flour

1 cup evaporated cane juice

1⁄2 tsp. fine sea salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup orange juice

1⁄3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. vinegar

1⁄3 cup chopped dried apricots, tossed with 2 tsp. flour

zest of 1 orange

Sift together the flour, cane juice, salt and baking soda. Stir in the orange juice, vegetable oil and vinegar and mix gently. Fold in the chopped apricots. Pour the batter into 12 muffin cups, and bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool, and top with orange icing. Garnish the cupcakes with the orange zest. (Adapted from “Joy of Cooking.”)

Orange Icing

Makes enough for 12 cupcakes

4 oz. unsalted vegan shortening, melted

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

3 Tbs. orange juice

Beat all the ingredients together until it has the desired consistency. The icing will stiffen as it’s beaten.

Rebecca Ets-Hokin is a certified culinary professional. Visit her Web site at www.GoRebecca.com. She can be reached at [email protected].