Preheat oven to 180ºC.
Put soy milk and apple cider vinegar into a large mixing bowl and set aside to let curdle a bit while you mix your flour.
In a separate bowl, weigh out your flour and add baking powder and salt (and cocoa powder, if using) and give it a little mix - set aside.
Return to your soymilk bowl and add sugar, sunflower oil and vanilla and whisk for a few minutes!
Sift in your flour mix and use a spatula to fold in the flour until just incorporated and there are no scraps of flour left.
Line a cupcake tray with 12 patty pans and divide the batter equally (it’s about 1/4 cup of batter per hole).
Bake for 12-15minutes. To make the icing, whisk all buttercream ingredients together using an electric mixer.
When cupcakes are completely cool, if you want filled cupcakes, you can use an apple corer to take out a chunk of centre and fill with jam.
Pipe butter cream on top and enjoy!!