Poof Pastries

Chocolate Lavender Cupcakes

2011-05-24T10:15:00.001-07:00

I haven't made a cupcake in over a month and I was feeling particularly sour about that yesterday. Its sort of spring in Seattle right now and lavender is a big part of spring and summer here. A few years ago I tried to make a lavender cupcake and it flopped. My mistake was in using an extract and not the real thing.

This time around I used a slightly modified version of a chocolate cake recipe that I'm fond of and I decided to use lavender in the icing only. I stepped the lavender buds in hot soy creamer and then chilled the mixture before adding it to margarine and powdered sugar that I had been mixing together. I was bad and didn't measure a thing which is fine so long as the result is good. Thankfully it was. The cake was extra moist and the lavender icing was perfect.

Blood Orange Almond Biscotti

2011-03-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

I often get a weird obsession with certain ingredients and I want to use them everything. Recently I've been on a Blood Orange kick. I've made a Blood Orange Marmalade, Cupcakes, and even dehydrated several for no reason. This recipe is a variation on the Anise Almond Biscotti recipe found in Veganomicon only with Blood Oranges and a few other tweaks. To date this is my favorite biscotti I've made. I'm going to keep making it until the oranges are out of season. I recommend buying the book and trying out a blood orange variation its fantastic.

Hazelnut Cupcakes

2011-03-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

Going off the success of the Pistachio cupcakes I made a few weeks back I decided to try out a rich hazelnut cupcake. We had some extra hazelnuts and I had recently purchased some hazelnut oil at the local import store. Learning from past mistakes I toasted the hazelnuts for 10-15 minutes and was able to easily remove the skin from the nuts. I then added the hazelnuts to a food processor and processed until I had a small granules (Hazelnut Meal).

After the cupcakes were finished baking I prepared a rich cocoa butter cream from 100% cocoa powder and topped with a little leftover hazelnut meal. These cupcakes melt in your mouth a nice success that day considering the previous batch of cupcakes I made lacked baking soda and tasted like play dough. Prep before you bake.

Lemon Sables

2011-03-04T15:16:00.000-08:00

Since Scotland I've been on a bit of a shortbread kick. Sables are essentially the French equivalent to the shortbread. The day before I made the lemon sables I made chocolate sables, going off the recipe I used for the chocolate sables I incorporated lemon zest, fresh lemon juice and coconut flour. The sables turned out fantastic and go really well with a nice Ethiopian Yiracheffe.

Lemon Sables:

2 3/4 cups flour
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup vegan margarine
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest

Mix the sugar and margarine together in a large bowl, but don't cream them together. Add the lemon juice and zest.

Combine the flours and salt together and slowly add them to the margarine and sugar mixture. Divide the dough into to balls and roll into logs. Wrap in parchment paper and chill for a few hours.

Heat oven at 350. Slice the logs every half inch and roll the edges in sugar. Bake for 12 minutes.

Orange Blossom Shortbread

2011-03-01T15:28:00.000-08:00

Having recently returned from Scotland I was inspired to make a vegan shortbread. Most shortbread contains butter which is thankfully an easy thing to substitute. I wanted to make a shortbread that was traditional but had a little something extra that wasn't overpowering. Some recipes called for chocolate or lemon, but these things seem to be a little much and if you're not careful you lose the flavor you were going for.

I still had a bottle of Orange Blossom Water and decided to add about two teaspoons worth to the recipe. The result was a nice shortbread with that slight hint of Orange Blossoms. I was very pleased at the result and plan on making variations of this recipe.

Cranberry Pumpkin Granola

2010-12-19T22:26:00.001-08:00

I started making granola back in August becuase James and I were both annoyed with cereal varieties and prices and even more annoyed with granola prices and sugar content. Why not make our own cereal? I looked into making granola and it turns out that its really easy. All you need is time and a handful of ingredients. We've gone through a couple of different recipes and we like the Cranberry Pumpkin recipe the best.

I start with all the dry ingredients first and then mix the wet in.

-6 cups of Oats
-1 cup slivered almonds
-1/2 cup Ground Flax Seed
-2/3 cup Brown Sugar
-2-3 teaspoons Cinnamon
-1 teaspoon Allspice
-1 teaspoon Nutmeg
1 teaspoon Salt

Mix well and then add the following

-1/2 cup of Pumpkin
-1/4 Grade B Maple Syrup
-1/4 Applesauce

Mix well until everything gets clumpy. Split the mixture onto two large pans and place in an oven preheated to 325 degrees. Turn the granola every 20 minutes until it turns golden brown, depending on your oven this may take 80 to 100 minutes in the oven. I always watch carefully and taste from time to time.

Once you've removed the granola and its cooled for a 15 minutes or so add the following;

-1/2 cup of Dried Cranberries
-1/2 cup of Pumpkin Seeds

You can always add more or less based on you like.

Cranberry Pistachio Cookies

2010-12-10T09:03:00.000-08:00

This is my second cranberry pistachio posting and the saddest. Its sad because these were great cookies, but I was careless and didn't write down the recipe. If I'm able to recreate these wonderful cookies I'll re-post this with the recipe.

Cranberry Pistachio Scones

2010-11-27T17:57:00.000-08:00

This is the first of three post that utilize the same main ingredients; pistachio and cranberries. Since August I've had an excess of pistachio meal that I originally used for cupcakes. I've always enjoyed the cranberries and pistachio's are staring to grow on me thanks to my partner.

I really love scones, they're perfect little treats that compliment a savory tofu scramble or vegan sausage. The best part is that scones are super easy to make. I usually follow Isa's basic scone recipe in Vegan Brunch and then add my own flavors. In this case cranberries, pistachio and a little rose water to bring out the flavor of the pistachio. The result was great, I brought a few into work and my co-workers agreed with my assessment except the one with the nut allergy, she doesn't count.

Pumpkin Loaf

2010-11-27T17:48:00.000-08:00

This recipe is from the Post Punk Kitchen website, I made it last year on a whim and loved it. This year same results only I used a mini loaf pan that I got from a friend. These are perfect bite sized pumpkin loaves that I made good use of over Thanksgiving.

Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes with Cacoa Nibs

2010-11-05T13:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't made these cupcakes in well over a year or so and I forgot how delicious they are. There's nothing better than resurrecting an awesome recipe that kills. I specifically made these for the office Halloween Party. I wanted to add a little something on top to make it look like dirt because we had these cheesy plastic hands that you can stick into the cake. Loved the addition of the nibs, I think next time incorporating nibs into the cupcake will make it even better.

Maple Cupcakes

2010-10-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

I've only made these once to bring into the office, I omitted the walnut because of a nut allergy and they still turned out terrific. I'd like to try them again with walnuts or pecans.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Cupcakes

2010-10-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

Three years ago I came to the realization that everything pumpkin pre-twenty-five year old me had eaten was crap. That goes for a lot of things, but especially pumpkin. I started with waffles and slowly began a love affair with pumpkin, which is how these cupcakes were birthed. I have to give credit to Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, this recipe is so closely related that its essentially their recipe with extra cinnamon and minus the chocolate chips.

I love pumpkin, cinnamon and fall thus these cupcakes come out every fall (and sometimes earlier). I usually top these with a quick icing consisting of;

1/4 cup vegan margarine

1/4 cup shortening

1-3 tablespoons hemp milk

1 1/2 - 2 cups powdered sugar

1-2 tablespoons cinnamon (depending on how long you've had the cinnamon).

Orange Blossom Cupcakes with Matcha Icing

2010-08-07T15:16:00.001-07:00

These cupcakes have been months in the making, I was dorking out in a big way when I finally got to make them. When we were in Paris in early June I stumbled upon orange blossom water and got excited at the prospect of bringing back an ingredient that wasn't readily available in the States. My fondest memory from that trip was strolling through the Tuileries with James inhaling the the scent of orange blossoms. Sadly I was mistaken regarding its availability because every WholeFoods or Mediterranean Market carries it. On the bright side I'll be able to make these cupcakes whenever I want.

I started with a simple vanilla cupcake and instead of vanilla extract I used about 2 tablespoons of orange blossom water. This gives the cupcake a subtle flavor of orange blossom. The hardest part was coming up with the right frosting/icing to compliment the cake. I made two different frostings before I decided upon using a matcha icing. The flavors work really well together and as almost always the cupcakes disappeared within minutes.

Pistachio Cupcakes

2010-08-04T17:30:00.000-07:00

These cupcakes were inspired by and made for James' 36th birthday. James has been in a pistachio fever since we got back from Paris, where pistachio pastries are everywhere. So it was no surprise that he wanted pistachio cupcakes for his birthday party. The only problem was how to incorporate pistachios into a cupcake. I was a bit late to the planning, but had I been more on top of things I could have purchased pistachio oil online and that would have done the trick more or less. I visited the one Mediterranean store I could find in Seattle with no luck, and I didn't have time to search Pike Place Market so I improvised. I took pistachios and processed into a meal and substituted part of the flour in the recipe with the pistachio meal. This sort of did the trick, however the flavor was still a little lacking. By adding rose water I was able to achieve the desired flavor and off to the oven the cakes went.

Thankfully I wasn't anticipating any issues with the frosting since I had mapped that out already. I was going to use the pistachio paste James and I picked up at Le Bon Marché (La Grande Epicerie).
Thanks to the miracle that is the world wide inter webs you too can own pistachio paste by simply going to Google and searching for it.

The pistachio frosting took a lot longer than I thought due to the fact that the pistachio paste is pretty hard and takes a while to mash down and incorporated into the butter cream frosting. After incorporating the paste I added rose water at James' behest so that the flavor would be more pronounced.

The cupcakes came out perfectly and went over very well at the party. Success!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese

2010-08-02T10:33:00.000-07:00

I don't know why its taken me so long to put strawberries and cupcakes together, the two go together like rainbows and unicorns. I was in the mood to bake last week and this was the result, a easy vanilla cupcake with tofu cream cheese and a strawberry puree. I used a blender to blend down the strawberries added a hint of balsamic vinegar to bring out the strawberry flavor and yahtzee! instant cupcake delight.

Bagels

2010-07-18T18:34:00.000-07:00

This is one of the few recipes that I've tried that was a great learning experience. This was my third of fourth time trying the bagel recipe from Vegan Brunch and I finally got it, to a degree. Practice makes perfect, these bagels are far from perfect but they were truly a good and I'm sure the next time will be even better. Thank you Isa!

Sadly I have no pictures because of on-going iPhone issues.

Vanilla Hazelnut Cupcakes

2010-07-05T16:01:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to make a decent quick hazelnut cupcake for a while now I just haven't been in the cupcaking mood the last few months. I made these for a small family Fourth of July celebration and they tasted fantastic. I used a simple vanilla cupcake recipe and added 1/3 cup of hazelnut meal to the batter to get a nice, but not overpowering hazelnut taste. I think you can buy hazelnut meal at a local Co-op or specialty store for an arm and a leg, using a food processor does the same thing for a fraction of the price. I can't believe I actually used to live without one of those.

For the icing I used a quick chocolate ganache from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. And dusted with crumbled hazelnuts.

Chocolate Ghost Chili with Orange Buttercream

2010-02-08T13:47:00.000-08:00

This is take two of the ghost chili cupcake, the first one was very successful but had a fair amount of room for improvement. In the first attempt I had a few proportions off which I was able to correct I also used a simple ganache to top the cupcake which I replaced with an orange cream cheese icing. The reviews were very good, not a single cupcake was left that night. ( I made four dozen).

Chocolate Trinity

2010-02-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

We decided a few weeks back that we would once again host a Vegan Sunday now that we're in a new space that's quite a bit larger than the last. The theme was pre-Valentine's Day and as an extra bonus I decide to get tiny pink pastry boxes so that everyone could take a few cupcakes home with them. At first I wasn't sure what I was going to do and then I settled on about ten different kinds of cupcakes and then decided I didn't know what I was going to do.

I finally came to my senses and kept it easy, I was going to make simple chocolate and vanilla cupcakes and do something different with the frosting. A chocolate cupcake with chocolate ganache and chocolate cream cheese frosting to round out the choco-overload. The hardest part was trying to tame the chocolate cream cheese frosting that had the consistency of feta. Sadly I was never able to spread it in the way I hopped, it was still delicious.

Chocolate Fennel Cupcakes

2010-02-08T13:26:00.000-08:00

These were a last minute dessert for a dinner a few weeks back. I'm kicking myself for not taking any pictures.

A friend invited James and I over for dinner and on the day of asked if I could bring a dessert. She said all she had were figs and that she'd like to have me bake something. I had about an hour and a half post-work. I asked James what would go well with figs, he said fennel. Fennel? I've put stranger things in a cupcake, so I decided to make a simple chocolate cupcake and add some crushed fennel (about a teaspoon). I topped with a fantastic chocolate cream cheese frosting.

The Chocolate Fennel went really well with the figs after dinner, I have to give James all the credit on this one.

Website...

2009-11-11T15:58:00.000-08:00

Thankfully I was able to purchase the domain poofpastries.com I'm working on a website and will hopefully be able to move the blog and give it a little more attention.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes with Orange Buttercream

2009-11-11T15:32:00.000-08:00

I first made these cupcakes a few months ago while tinkering with using real chocolate over dutch-processed cocoa powder. I prefer the taste of melted down chocolate over that of cocoa powder, the switch doesn't require a much extra effort just a few minutes of careful melting in a microwave or using a double boiler.

In this recipe I also decided to play with the flour a tiny bit. I'm a huge fan of almond meal so naturally I suspected that I might enjoy hazelnut meal and I had a ton of raw hazelnuts on hand. Naturally I thought that orange would be the best topping, but I suspect a nice creamy hazelnut or chocolate buttercream would be awesome in this recipe too. I stole the orange buttercream recipe from 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World', my trusty cupcake bible.

The result was nothing more than a food orgasm. The chocolate worked wonders and the hazelnut meal added a great flavor and a little texture. The cupcakes were moist and devoured quickly and were well received by all. I recently made a ton of these for my partner's office and got rave reviews, he's bringing more tomorrow and I've got people asking me if they can get cupcakes this weekend. Good thing I have plenty of hazelnuts.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2009-09-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

Summer has been far to hot for baking. Now that things are cooling down in the Pacific Northwest I'm able to whip up plenty of vegan delights that will keep me working out for a lifetime.

A friend of mine recently had a housewarming party and she requested chocolate cupcakes and a red velvet cupcake. My first attempt for a vegan red velvet cupcake was a disaster, so I was eager to try again. I use the recipe from 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World' and paid close attention to everything as last time my cupcakes collapsed in on themselves. This time I had success, and I was quite satisfied with the final product. I also used Isa's old fashion frosting recipe which worked well for the cupcake, but the texture was a little grainy for my taste.

The cupcakes were eaten by unsuspecting omnivores who couldn't believe the cupcakes were vegan. The chocolate cupcakes I brought along with the red velvet were topped with a tasty whiskey butter cream.

More to come, I've been trying out a few recipes on my own and I'm looking forward to posting them.

Superb Vanilla Cupcakes

2009-06-16T21:09:00.000-07:00

I've been working on creating a great vanilla cupcake for some time now. I've nailed chocolate but have had a lot of trouble getting a vanilla cupcake that wasn't sub-par. Finally (with help) I made a batch of perfect vanilla cupcakes. I do say that this is by far my favorite cupcake for summer. Its versatile and easy to make. For this first batch I made a delicious blueberry cream cheese frosting that was thick and creamy, contrasting the light airy cupcake. I also topped the cupcake with a few blueberry's as a garnish.

The cupcake is really simple and frankly pretty amazing.

Oven at 375

- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1/3 cup almond meal
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1 cup cold water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract

Mix all ingredients well

add;

- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Mix again and bake for 22 minutes!

I usually rave about most of the cupcakes I make because cupcakes are a kind of crack for me, but these cakes are truly fantastic, especially with the blueberry.

Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes

2009-05-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

These were an experimental batch that turned out really well. I used this killer chocolate cake recipe that I've used a few times in the past. I substituted half the water for coconut milk to add a little extra depth to the cupcakes. The cupcakes turned out pretty good, I left them in the oven for an extra few minutes and a few of them developed that hard cupcake top.

The frosting was a simple coconut butter cream frosting that I topped off with some toasted coconut.

Happy Birthday Dan! (Belated...)

2009-05-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

I made these cupcakes almost a month ago for a friends birthday. Tres bien!

Cinco de Mayo Margarita Cupcakes (belated)

2009-05-09T11:16:00.000-07:00

prinkling of sugar on top.

We stayed home on Cinco De Mayo, but I made these cupcakes the following Saturday for a belated Cinco de Mayo party. I utilized 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World' as a base and updated the recipe for my liking. Lime plus tequila equals yum. The frosting is the same as the whiskey butter cream substituting the whiskey for tequila with a light sprinkling of blue sugar on top.

Employed

2009-04-30T10:23:00.001-07:00

Now that I'll be re-entering the workforce I sadly will have little time to bake and blog. I'll shoot for at least one post a week.

Birthday Order

2009-04-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine ordered a bunch of cupcakes for his big 45th! I made a combination of chocolate, vanilla, peanut butter and lemon. The vanilla cake was an experiment and I think it came out really well, I used a chocolate cake recipe in the last post but substituted the cocoa powder for almond flour.

Chocolate Cake with Whiskey Buttercream Frosting

2009-04-23T09:41:00.000-07:00

James found this great vegan chocolate cake recipe on the internet and I decided to go with it for a friend's birthday cake. I was amazed to see how simple this recipe is, and its delicious! I made two 9in cakes and assembled them with a whiskey buttercream frosting, truly one of the best frosting's EVER! I have to say the cake pretty much KILLED at the potluck. Hurray.

My only critique is that I don't know how to decorate a cake well. I think I'm getting better, but its still a little on the sloppy side. Next time will be better.

Tangerine Zest and Oreo® Cookie Cupcakes

2009-04-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

I had an order last weekend for a few Tangerine and Oreo® Cupcakes, they turned out really well. I took the leftovers to a family event. I got good reviews from everyone.

Vanilla Blueberry Gluten Free Cupcakes

2009-04-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

I got a special request from a friend to make gluten free cupcakes for an party, we decided on doing a vanilla cupcake with blueberry frosting. Thankfully the frosting was already gluten free. For this cake I used the standard gluten free recipe that you can find in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, this book has a lot of good base recipes that you can build off of. For the frosting I used a standard buttercream recipe;

1/2 cup margerine
1/2 cup shortening
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 of freshly blended blueberries

You can substitute 1/4 of blueberries for soy milk, juice, booze or whatever to get your frosting to compliment your cake flavor.

I really liked this combination, the blueberries were delicious and the cake was even better.

Order

2009-04-15T10:06:00.000-07:00

Last week I made two dozen cupcakes for an order, I thought they turned out pretty...

Green Tea Reckoning

2009-04-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

Baking again after a brief stint in Vancouver B.C. We walked into a few cupcake stores while wandering the city, not impressed. There's a local chain up there that has sub-par cakes that sit out all day long. Gross. I didn't see much in the way of vegan options in Vancouver, but I was only there for a few days.

I adore green tea, I think it works great in so many things, like cupcakes. I had my first green tea cupcake in Boston a year and a half ago, it was fantastic! The recipe came from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World (yes I'm still linking to Amazon® I'm not convinced that they purposely rigged their site to censor poof-oriented things) which is a fantastic book that everyone should own. And I do recommend finding it in a local bookstore, given the economy local is the way to go. I've made the book version several times and I wanted to put my own twist on the recipe.

Matcha (ground green tea) is notoriously expensive, especially the pure stuff. Always make sure that the ingredients read as green tea ONLY, a lot of company's out there mix in sugar and filler junk. You can Google it and find online companies or just go down to your local Asian Market, it tends to be cheaper there.

I use about 4 teaspoons of matcha per batch of cupcakes and they always turn out with a good green tea flavor. For my experimental batch I switched it up and used my favorite base of coconut milk and flax seed and modified a few other recipe aspects and came out with a very moist and delicious cupcake. I topped with a Green Tea Glaze that you can find in 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World'.

I'm working on a recipe for Green Tea Biscotti, hopefully I'll get it made and posted shortly.

Blood Orange Cupcakes With a Blood Orange Glaze

2009-04-01T11:28:00.000-07:00

I saw some Blood Oranges at Wholefoods® and thought "I bet those would make great cupcakes". Turns out I was right, the Blood Orange flavor was amazing. I've never had Blood Oranges before this recipe, since then I've bought them twice. Apparently Blood Oranges are fairly new to North America which might be why I've never had one (most places don't carry them). The folks over at O'Biolla have this to say about Blood Oranges;

Blood oranges are known for their high vitamin C, potassium, carotene and dietary fiber contents, all of which have extensive health benefits. It has been well documented in the nutritional press that consuming several daily servings of fruits and vegetables, combined with three servings of low-fat dairy products, are effective in lowering blood pressure and other heart-related disease risks, while contributing to overall general good health and disease resistance.

I tried something new with these cupcakes and cut a hole out of them to fill with chocolate, then topped with a Blood Orange glaze and orange zest. Overall the cupcake turned out really well, but I think in the future I'll hold off on adding the chocolate inside, it distracted from the orange flavor. Or I'll fill the cupcakes with glaze and top with a orange butter cream.

Chai Cardamom Cupcakes with Cashew Buttercream

2009-03-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

The poll winning cupcake! And as it turns out one of my all time favorites, but then again a lot of these are my favorites. I knew off the bat that I would extract the chai flavor black tea, I decided to use coconut milk heated up a little on the stove and then steeped four tea bags for 5-6 minutes. Soy milk would work better for this, but I really love to richness that coconut milk brings to a cupcake. After I let the coconut milk cool a little I added a tablespoon of flax seed and allowed the tea mixture to sit for about ten minutes before proceeding with adding the rest of the wet ingredients. While I wait for this process I get the dry goods shifted and ready to add.

Once the cupcakes were finished I ran into a little bit of an internal debate on what to top them with... A spicy chai buttercream, a cardamom buttercream, a powdersugar glaze or somthing else... I settled on cashews. I mixed cashew butter with a vegan buttercream frosting and it turned out awesome. It looked dense but turned out to be light a delicious. I topped them with broken cashews, next time I'll grind them down into finer pieces.

Pineapple Coconut Cupcakes

2009-03-25T10:34:00.000-07:00

We had some left over pineapple juice from a curry we made the other day, so I decided to use the excess in a spring cupcake. This is more of a fruit cupcake (ha ha...), the coconut is very subdued. I used coconut milk and a 1/3 cup coconut flour for the coconut flavor. I used a 1/2 a cup of pineapple juice which seems like a lot, but the cupcakes had a great texture to them and were eaten up by James and I. I love using juices in cupcakes, the sugars from the juice seem to crystalize a little on the top of the cake making a thin hard/crunchy layer of cupcake goodness.

For the topping I made a simple pineapple butter cream frosting and attempted to make flowers on the tops of the cakes. Practice makes perfect.

Stout Cupcakes 2.0

2009-03-23T17:20:00.000-07:00

I made these on a whim after I tried the first stout cupcakes, and they turned out wonderful. I used coconut milk as the base because cupcakes with coconut milk are KILLER. That's not to imply that the previous posting was a bad cupcake, they were good, the second batch was just better. I left out chocolate because I felt it took away to much from the stout flavor, I replaced it with almond meal because almond meal is one of the best things you can use in baking. I used a 1/4 of stout for the beer flavor which was perfect after the cupcakes were fully baked.

For St. Patrick's Day I added a little festive green coloring.

I used the whiskey butter cream frosting on these cakes as well, terrific! I need to use that frosting for more cupcakes.

Vegan Stout Cupcakes

Set oven to 350

3/4 cup of coconut milk
1 tablespoon flax seed
Whisk flax seed and coconut milk together and let sit for 8-10 minutes. While waiting, in a separate bowl mix the dry goods together.

1 cup plus 2-3 tablesppons pastry flour
1/3 almond meal
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
Set dry goods aside and add remaining wet goods to coconut-flax mixture.

1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 stout
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mix all wet goods well and slowly add dry goods into wet goods bowl in two or three batches. Once mixed add mixture to baking liners and place the cupcake tray in oven for 20-23 minutes.

Stout Cupcakes 1.0 (Chocolate)

2009-03-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

I couldn't help but get sucked into the St. Patrick's Day Holiday especially since I'm unemployed and need to occupy my time with something. I found a cool little shop in North Seattle that sells a lot of cheesy cake decorations (note the shamrock sprinkles). I took this recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World and they turned out really well. My only critique was that the chocolate covered up some of the beer flavor. My one addition to these cakes was the whiskey butter cream frosting which is the best icing EVER.

Recipe:
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup shortening
2 -2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup whiskey

Cream margarine and shortening together and then slowly add sugar until consistency looks like large crumbs. Slowly add the whiskey and beat for 5-7 minutes or until frosting is thick and creamy.

Rich Chocolate Cabernet Cupcakes

2009-03-15T19:12:00.000-07:00

The combination of chocolate and wine are awesome in wine tastings, so why not cupcake the two? I'm officially making a petition to allow for the verb usage of the word "cupcake" FYI. I don't think I'm the first person to combine chocolate and wine into a cupcake maybe not even the first vegan. I decided on a whim to try these out last week and I'm told they were my best cupcake to date... Maybe I can get a few testimonials in the comments section for those who were lucky enough to nibble on these.

For these cupcakes I didn't want to fall into standard "flavor the icing" mentality and keep the cupcake really simple, which is always a success don't get me wrong, but I waned to make something truly ass-kicking. I opted for a rich chocolate cupcake and added a cheap cabernet sauvignon to the mix, on top of a really killer cupcake I added thin layer of a rich chocolate ganache over the tops and finished the cupcake with a vegan butter cream frosting with cabernet sauvignon added instead of soy milk.

I'm taking away one lesson from these cupcakes 'WATCH THE BAKING POWDER'! Thankfully my mistake didn't ruin the flavor or the cupcake itself. You might be able to tell from the photos that the cupcakes are a little sunken. I didn't take into the account that I'd have to up the baking powder with the addition of the cabernet. The mistake made the addition of the chocolate ganache a lot easier, I was originally planning on breaking a hole in the center and filling it with the ganache. All's well that ends well.

Coconut Creme Cupcakes

2009-03-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to do a recipe with tons of coconut for a while but I was never sure how I was going to go about it. I read a dozen different coconut cake recipes most of which just included coconut shreds in the recipe which isn't enough for me. I found a decent recipe and modified it to include coconut milk, oil, shreds, and flour. The only coconut item I didn't include was coconut extract which i though was unnecessary since I had so much of the real thing already in the recipe. The recipe I used (Top Secret) made a really dense and thick batter and I was slightly worried and then I tasted one. These were so good I made another batch the next day to take with us to a vegan outing.

For the frosting I used a standard butter cream recipe but substituted coconut milk for soy milk.

1/4 cup margerine
1/4 cup shortening
(Mixed really well with a fork)
2 cups powdered sugar
2-4 tablespoons coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

After I frosted the cake I then toasted a small amount of coconut in a sauce pan until browned. When the toasted coconut cooled I sprinkled it around the edges of the cupcake.

The cupcakes were moist and dense and the added creamy coconut butter cream frosting made a huge impression on all my friends I shared these with.

Très bon

Chocolate Espresso Gluten Free Cupcakes

2009-03-06T18:21:00.000-08:00

I made these for a friend the other day, I used the basic gluten free cupcake formula but again added coconut milk, espresso and some coffee extract. For the vegan butter cream frosting I added a little coffee extract to ensure a decent amount of coffee flavor with every bite.

I think I can now claim success with gluten free and will eventually be making different kinds of gluten free cupcakes for friends. My recipe follows;

Set oven to 350

Wet Goods
1/2 cup of soy milk
1/2 cup of coconut milk
1/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup vegan sugar
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds

mix the soy, coconut milk and flax seed together and let sit for a few minutes. Mix in the rest of the wet goods. Slowly add;

1/4 cup tapioca flour

Mix really well 5-7 minutes until smooth, slowly add the dry goods;

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup coconut or quinoa flour (I love the taste of coconut flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Continue mixing until all ingredients are well combined and fill cupcake liners 3/4(ish) full and bake for 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

2009-03-04T17:22:00.001-08:00

If you like peanut butter these are the cupcakes for you! Moist and fluffy and yet these cupcakes maintain a high dose of peanut butter bliss. This recipe is taken from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and is perfect as is. I'm planning on translating this one into a gluten free cupcake eventually. I think the recipe could also be good substituting peanuts for cashews, that's only if you're a cashew addict like myself.

I paired this cupcake up with a rich chocolate ganache because its almost impossible to beat a combination of peanut butter and chocolate. If you're feeling really indulgent pair with decent soy ice cream and serve warm. Better yet serve with more chocolate ganache.

Chocolate Mint Gluten Free Cupcakes

2009-02-27T18:05:00.000-08:00

I recently received feedback that I wasn't showing anything gluten free on the blog so I thought I'd try my had at a few vegan gluten free cupcakes. I did a little research on exactly how I could eliminate all the gluten without sacrificing too much vegan goodness. I didn't want to be one of those people who just throws in a bunch of garbanzo bean flour and sugar and calls it good. In fact I refuse to use garbanzo bean flour in any baking, I don't want my cupcakes tasting like hummus. I used the same ingredients that I usually use minus the flour, in substitution I used a combination of Tapioca Flour, White Rice Flour and Quinoa Flour (which is a super protein). I can't take credit for this combo my holy bible of cupcake books, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Terry Hope Romero, always saves me in rough cupcake situations. There are a few other flours out there that I'd like to play around with and see how they mesh in gluten free cupcakes (i.e. coconut flour).

I started with the base laid out in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World tried a bactch of gluten free chocolate lavender that turned out amazing; dense, tasty and it didn't taste like hummus. For my next batch I started to substitue ingredients, playing around with coconut milk instead of soy milk and coconut oil instead of canola and adding a few "missing" ingredients and then throwing in some mint extract to see how well it played with all the other ingredients. The cupcakes turned out really fantastic, all parties agreed.

I'll be playing around with more gluten free recipes in the very near future, and posting some recipes as well.

Never-Eggs

2009-02-27T14:44:00.000-08:00

If you're a vegan, one of the most annoying questions you get (besides "where do you get your protein?") is "what do you do about eggs?" A year ago I would have said a good egg replacement is 1 tablespoon ground flax seed, 1/2 cup of soy yogurt, or a cup of soy milk with 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. That still holds true, but the more and more I bake and see what everyone else is going I realized there's dozens of ways to replace an egg.

1/4 cup applesauce
1 cup soy milk mixed with 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 - 1/2 cup mashed banana
1/4 cup of silken tofu
1/2 cup soy yogurt
1 tablespoon flax seeds plus 3 Tablespoons water
1/4 cup of pumpkin puree
1 cup coconut milk mixed with 1 tablespoon ground flax
1 cup soy milk mixed with 1/4 cup tapioca flour and 1 tablespoon flax seed
1/2 - 3/4 cup of coconut yogurt
1 cup of water
1/4 cup prune puree

Not quite "dozens" but I was going for a subtle Arrested Development reference. I specifically didn't mention the pre-made egg replacements because they cost too much and incorporate a lot of different ingredients which are completely unnecessary. Keep it simple is my baking mantra.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes 101

2009-02-25T16:16:00.000-08:00

One of the best recipes you can mast is the standard chocolate cupcake. Once you have this one down you can modify it any which way to create some really spectacular cupcakes. Pictured above are standard chocolate cupcakes with a rich chocolate ganache and and variation of that recipe Oreo® Cookie Cupcakes made with a standard chocolate cupcake recipe but with mashed cookies and then topped with a vegan butter cream frosting with more mashed cookies. I'm providing three basic chocolate cupcake recipes, each one has a different binding base starting from least to most dense.

Basic Vegan Chocolate Cupcake 1.0
INGREDIENTS

WET GOODS
1 cup of soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup vegan sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup pastry flour

DRY GOODS
1/3 cup cocoa powder (or 3oz melted chocolate)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Whisk together the soy milk and apple cider vinegar and let sit long enough for the soy milk to curdle and then mix in the rest of the wet goods. In a separate bowl mix the dry goods together well using a fork, then slowly add the dry goods to the wet goods. Bake at 350º for 18-24 minutes or until inserting a toothpick in the center come out clean.

Basic Vegan Chocolate Cupcake 1.1
INGREDIENTS

WET GOODS
1/2 cup of soy yogurt
2/3 cup of soy/rice milk
3/4 cup vegan sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup pastry flour

DRY GOODS
1/3 cup cocoa powder (or 3oz melted chocolate)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Whisk together the wet goods mixing well. In a separate bowl mix the dry goods together well using a fork, then slowly add the dry goods to the wet goods. Bake at 350º for 18-24 minutes or until inserting a toothpick in the center come out clean.

Basic Vegan Chocolate Cupcake 1.2
INGREDIENTS

WET GOODS
1 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon ground flax seed
3/4 cup vegan sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup pastry flour

DRY GOODS
1/3 cup cocoa powder (or 3oz melted chocolate)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Whist the ground flax seeds with the coconut milk and let sit for about 10-12 minutes then whisk in the remaining wet goods. In a separate bowl mix the dry goods and slowly fold the wet goods with the dry goods. The batter will be thick, scooping the batter into cupcake pan is the easiest way to transfer it. Bake at 350º for 18-24 minutes or until inserting a toothpick in the center come out clean.

Lemon Lavender Cupcakes

2009-02-24T21:22:00.000-08:00

These were my first attempt at blending lavender with another flavor and I have to say it wasn't a huge success. These cupcakes were awesome, the lemon covered up the lavender which is I'm OK with since it didn't ruin the cupcakes. Next time I'll leave the lavender out of the cake and top the cupcakes with a lavender glaze. The people over at eHow have this to say about baking with lavender;

Lavender is a plant with edible flowers. The dried buds are infused into teas that many people use for medicinal purposes. Lavender can also be used in baking to impart a delicate floral flavor and color to various confections.

I'm going to try and make a chocolate lavender cupcake for James, he insists that it was his favorite cupcake at a local shop until he developed a dairy allergy.

I used the same butter cream frosting for the Lemon Lavender as I used for the Tangerine Zest, and it rocked!

Tangerine Zest Cupcakes

2009-02-23T12:00:00.000-08:00

I've always been very fond of tangerines, I loved getting the canned version during visits at my Grandmother's house. Now I would never touch those things considering all the artificial shit they pump in. James and I were at Wholefoods® the other day and we had to grab tangerines for this tangerine baked tofu recipe we were preparing from our bible Veganomicon. I instantly thought of a making tangerine cupcakes, because that's all this unemployed queen can think about right now.

The recipe I came up with was a tangerine overload, these cupcakes were so amazing I almost wanted to hide them and develop another eating disorder. The cake itself has tangerine juice and zest, and i topped the cupcake with a tangerine butter cream frosting also with a little juice and a lot of zest. I think these are in my top ten best cupcakes thus far. I'll be taking what's left to a vegan outing tonight, I think they'll all love them or hopefully just lie and tell me they love them.

I'm a cake man, I have a strong distaste for lots of frosting a little is great if its used to highlight the cupcake and not cover up a mediocre cake. Many of the "in vogue" cupcake places (most of which do not carry vegan anything) pile on the frosting so much so that all you see is a wad of frosting. Gross. Lately I've been experimenting with vegan butter cream frosting with a lot of success with citrusy frostings. Starting with a standard butter cream frosting recipe of;

1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup margarine
2 cups of powdered sugar

Once you've creamed the margarine and shortening together slowly add in the powdered sugar adding splashes of citrus juice until well mixed. Then simply add in 2-3 teaspoons of zest and you've got a killer frosting.

Minty Chocolaty Cupcakes

2009-02-20T17:22:00.000-08:00

These cupcakes KILLED at a vegan gathering several months ago. By far one of my all-time favorite recipes. I went a little over board on the mint, James said it was too much when he tasted the batter, thankfully some of the minty flavor was lost when I baked these.

When it comes to mixing flavors it doesn't get much better than mint and chocolate (my words). These cupcakes are really easy too, just take your basic chocolate cupcake recipe (vegan or not) and substitute most of the vanilla extract ( I usually add about 1/4 teaspoon) with about 2- 2 1/2 teaspoons of mint extract.

I like topping these with a pure chocolate ganache;

1/4 cup soy milk
2-3 tablespoons of agave nectar
4-6 oz of chocolate chips

heat soy milk over low heat, when the milk is nearly boiling add agave nectar and remove from heat. Slowly add in the chocolate chips until thick and creamy.

For a little extra gay factor I added a few mint leaves to each cupcake.

Rooibos Tea Cupcakes

2009-02-19T11:13:00.000-08:00

I've been on a red tea (rooibos) binge ever since I found this product Red Espresso™ at a tea shop in Boston. The product is essential ground rooibos at an inflated price. We've found it a lot cheaper at local tea shops, WholeFoods® and local Co-ops for a lot less you just have to toss it in a spice grinder for a little extra grinding.

I've been tinkering with the idea of making cupcakes with rooibos since I got laid off last week (insert sobs). My first attempt was a slight failure, I made the mistake of brewing the tea in soy milk to extract the flavor. The second time around I decided to grind the tea really fine (break out the mortar and pestle if needed)

These Cupcakes have a light rooibos flavor that I complimented with a rose water glaze and an added bonus of vegan butter cream frosting.

Ingredients
Wet Goods;
1/2 cup coconut yogurt (soy yogurt works fine too)
2/3 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup canola oil
Dry Goods;
1 1/4 cups pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegan sugar
4-5 teaspoons of ground rooibos tea

Set the Oven to 350 add cupcake liners to the cupcake pan.
Whisk the wet goods goods together and slowly sift in the dry goods mixing well.
Pour the batter into the cupcake pan and bake for 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

I added a pink dye to the rose water glaze for that little extra "gay factor", they look fabulous!

Wasabi Chocolate Cupcakes

2009-02-18T11:38:00.000-08:00

I found this recipe in a book (My Sweet Vegan) my friend Aimee got for me at Christmas. The flavors are awesome chocolate on chocolate with a smack of wasabi. I recommend a few taste tests before baking, my first attempt didn't have nearly enough wasabi to satisfy the heat mongers that eat my cupcakes.

I've always like the idea of combining non-traditional flavors with staple recipes. This recipe is a good example of non-traditional meets traditional done well. I've been meaning to try adding wasabi to a soy hot chocolate or using a sweet wasabi glaze on cookies and bars. Anything I try (that's successful) will make its way here.

Ghost Chile Chocolate Cupcakes

2009-02-17T20:41:00.001-08:00

The Ghost Chile Chocolate Cupcakes are thus far the most intense cupcake I've ever attempted. My boyfriend picked some of these up at World Spice by Pike Place Market. We both liked the idea of adding this chile to a cupcake, so I began devising a way to "safely" add them to a batch.

According to World Spice:

The ghost chile, bhut jolokia, is a naturally occurring hybrid from the Assam region of NE India and move over red savina, it’s now officially the hottest chile on record and Guiness is willing to back us up on that. Not only does it pack a wallop of heat, (up to twice that of habanero), it has a rich flavor profile to go along with it. Hints of tomato and fruit will come through if it is USED IN MODERATION. So far we’ve made ghost chile chili, sweet potato pie and brownies with cream cheese swirl and all got rave reviews.

I made two versions of these cupcakes with huge success on the second batch. The heat was very intense, I couldn't eat more then one.