I grew up vegan and did a lot of cooking and baking when I was a kid. As a result, I was skeptical about VCTOTW recipes having results that matched the rave reviews, but after trying the Green Tea with Green Tea Glaze, the Gingerbread (with a nutmeg glaze - my own recipe), the Banana Split with Vegan Buttercream, and the Peanut Buttercream, I am sold. And baking a lot of cupcakes.
The Green Tea, so far, have been the lightest and fluffiest. Astounding, especially since one of the ingredients is soy yogurt, which I hate. I find the smell, taste, and texture of every brand I've tried to be vile. Fortunately, I don't smell or taste it at all in the batter or the finished cupcake. These are not too sweet and the flavor is subtle. Lovely!
Gingerbread: just a bit of heat from the big dose of ginger. I might cut the molasses in half and use agave nectar for the other half; the recipe calls for light molasses but I haven't seen a "light" version in the stores.
Banana Split: I left out the chocolate, because I thought it would be too much, and used minced pineapple cooked in brown sugar instead of pineapple preserves. Next time I think I'm going to do the Elvis variation; I can see how this works if you do the full banana split treatment (topped with lots of buttercream frosting, sliced banana, chocolate syrup, nuts, and a cherry), but without the full treatment I thought the banana got overwhelmed.
The Peanut Buttercream was so good I was wondering if I could fit my head into the bowl.