Category Archives: cupcakes

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes filled with Strawberry Pudding

chocolate cupcakes filled with strawberry pudding

chocolate cupcakes filled with strawberry pudding

Ah, Valentine’s Day. The time of love and chocolate, and sometimes strawberries. To honor this holiday, I like to combine chocolate and strawberries (with love) in a decadent dessert.

There are several vegan chocolate cupcake recipes in my repertoire, so I pulled one up and searched for a strawberry aspect. Simply Delish Instant Strawberry Pudding is quick and vegan, so I knew it would make the perfect match for my chocolate cupcakes.

To give the cupcakes extra love, they were decorated with hearts. I used decorative sugar crystals by Color Garden, rainbow softies sprinkles by Supernatural, and some red sparkly stuff without a label that I found with my decorating supplies. Yeah, it got crazy in the kitchen.

Until next time, happy baking!

chocolate cupcakes filled with strawberry pudding
Print Recipe

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes filled with Strawberry Pudding

Ah, Valentine’s Day. The time of love and chocolate, and sometimes strawberries. To honor this holiday, I like to combine chocolate and strawberries (with love) in a decadent dessert.
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Vegan
Keyword: Baking, Chocolate, Cupcake, High Altitude, Valentines Day
Servings: 6
Author: The Decadent Vegan Baker

Equipment

  • 1 Stand Mixer
  • 1 Pastry Bag
  • 1 Muffin Tin

Ingredients

for the cupcakes

  • 1/2 cup soy milk
  • 1.5 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
  • 3/8 cup natural cocoa powder not Dutch process
  • 1/4 cup boiling water
  • 1/4 cup canola oil
  • 3 tablespoons aquafaba
  • 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup + 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 3/4 cup vegan granulated sugar

for the filling

  • 1 box instant strawberry pudding (I used Simply Delish)
  • 1.25 cups plant-based creamer

for the frosting

  • 6 tablespoons cold vegan butter
  • 2 tablespoons vegan shortening
  • 3 cups vegan powdered sugar sifted
  • 3 teaspoons non-dairy milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350F with a rack in the middle of the oven. Line a standard muffin tin with paper cups and set aside. Place soy milk in a jar and add the apple cider vinegar. Place the lid on the jar and shake gently to combine. Let sit for 15 minutes to curdle.
  • Put cocoa powder in a large heatproof bowl. Add boiling water and whisk until a smooth paste forms. Whisk in curdled milk, oil, aquafaba, and 3/4 tsp vanilla until combined. In a medium bowl, sift flour with baking soda, baking powder, salt, and granulated sugar. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and stir to combine.
  • Spoon the batter into the muffin cups until they are half full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out with just a few crumbs. Let cupcakes cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
  • Meanwhile, make the filling. Empty the packet of pudding into a mixing bowl with the creamer. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat on slow for 3-5 minutes until light and creamy. Spoon the filling into a pastry bag with the tip cut off. (No pastry tip needed). Set aside.
  • Next, make the frosting. Place the vegan butter and shortening in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until smooth. Add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, alternating with the non-dairy milk and 1/2 tsp vanilla, until it is smooth and creamy. Set aside.
  • When the cupcakes have cooled, use a small knife or a cupcake corer to make a small well in the center of each cupcake. (Remove the cupcake bits to snack on). Using the pastry bag with the pudding filling, pipe the filling into the well to be level with the top of each cupcake.
  • Spoon a dollop of frosting on top of each cupcake, thus covering the filling. Smooth the frosting with a regular or offset spatula. Decorate as desired with whatever you have on hand.
  • Store frosted cupcakes in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Notes

You will have leftover pudding and frosting. This is not a bad thing. They are great sandwiched between two cookies.

Misguided High Altitude Guidelines

measuring glass with flour in a kitchen

Some of my readers share that they have trouble baking at high altitude, whether they are vegan or not. High altitude baking is a challenge for any eater, and I am glad that I can offer tips and recipes for those looking to overcome the inherent problems at higher altitudes.

Throughout my early research I uncovered a multitude of baking suggestions, and I was overjoyed to get hints on how to make my baked goods successful. I was willing to try anything that was relevant to vegan baking, and in doing so I discovered that not all high altitude “rules” were actually correct. Let me discuss those rules now so you don’t have to waste time with misguided information.

Raise your oven temperature by 25 degrees F. I tried this on many types of baked goods and didn’t see a positive effect. At first I thought it could be that my oven temperature wasn’t accurate, so I got an oven thermometer and had the oven adjusted accordingly. My resulting cakes had dry crusty exteriors, although cookies didn’t fare as badly. My guess is that the longer an item is in the oven, the more likely this method will have bad results.

No changes are needed when baking cookies. Speaking of cookies, here is a suggestion that I’ve learned to adapt. Some cookies turn out perfectly without alteration, but many cookies spread too much. In Pie in the Sky, Susan Purdy explains that “the more they spread, the thinner and crisper (or tougher) they get … (To) reduce spreading, strengthen the batter by reducing the sugar, leavening, and very occasionally, fat; sometimes you can also add a little flour.” I have also found that by placing the cookie dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes can give it the strength it needs to form proper cookies.

Reduce oven temperature when using glass baking dishes. Interestingly enough, this seems to contradict the tip for raising the temperature. One of the first recipes I tried to adapt was brownies, and at that time I was baking them in a Pyrex dish. After reading these two opposing suggestions, I decided to disregard them both because they seemed incorrect. Now I no longer bake in glass dishes, so it may be a moot point.

Bake in larger pans to avoid overflowing batter. My test for this was a disaster. The cake baked horribly uneven and the edges burned. My suggestion is to use the pan size listed in the recipe but make sure that the pans are not overfilled. If a sea-level muffin recipe says to fill the muffin cups to 2/3 full, it’s better to make them closer to 1/2 full. Any more and they are likely to rise quickly and spill out of the cups. The same concept holds true for quick breads and cakes.

The high altitude suggestions I follow on a regular basis are mentioned in my post It’s All in the Math. By reducing leaveners and sugars, while increasing liquid, I have been assured of greater success with my baking at altitudes up to 7,000 feet. Admittedly, I haven’t used an oven over that altitude. I have friends who live up at 10,000 feet, and after listening to their baking trials and setbacks I must say that they have far surpassed my efforts. My hat is off to them.

Until next time, happy baking!

photo credit: morgane perraud on unsplash

Sweet Heart Chocolate Cupcakes for My Sweetheart

sweet heart chocolate cupcakes with strawberry filling
sweet heart chocolate cupcakes with strawberry filling

Ah, Valentine’s Day … a time when everything is made into the shape of a heart. I couldn’t resist the trend after watching a trick for making heart-shaped cupcakes without a special pan. All that is required is a muffin tin, paper liners, and a bit of foil.

Prepare your cupcake batter, such as the version of my favorite chocolate cupcakes below. Before you portion the batter into the lined muffin tin, take strips of foil and form them into small balls. Take one foil ball, place it in a cavity on the outside of a liner, then crease the liner against it to form a heart shape. Repeat to make 12 cute heart-shaped cupcakes!

My heart cupcakes were made using my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe, although this time I tried a new plant milk from sesame seeds. Because the milk is a bit thicker, it made a more dense batter that I easily remedied by adding more liquid. On the upside, the thicker milk did make the frosting creamy and more luxurious.

To make a Valentine-themed cupcake, I added strawberry jam to the filling because chocolate loves strawberry. Next I accented the heart shape with pink frosting then gave the sweet heart to my sweetheart.

Sweet Heart Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Filling

For the cupcakes
1 cup + 4 teaspoons Hope & Sesame Organic Sesamemilk
1.5 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup organic sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/3 cup Dutch-process cacao powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
for the frosting
1/4 cup vegan shortening
3/4 cup Miyoko’s Creamery Cultured Vegan Butter, salted
3 1/2 cups organic powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 cup Hope & Sesame Organic Sesamemilk
for the filling
2 tablespoons strawberry preserves
decorations (optional)
red food coloring
red decorative sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12 muffin pan with paper liners and set aside. Whisk together the 1 cup + 4 teaspoons milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add sugar, oil, and 3/4 teaspoon vanilla to the milk mixture and beat until foamy.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to the wet ingredients and beat just until no large lumps remain. Place foil balls (described in post above) into the muffin pan alongside the paper liners. Pour batter into the liners, filling three-quarters of the way.

sweet heart cupcakes with foil in tin
baked sweet heart cupcakes with foil in muffin pan

Bake for 18-19 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes, then tip the cupcakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cupcakes cool, make the frosting and filling. Place the shortening and vegan butter in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle blade. Beat until just combined. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla to the bowl and beat again. Add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, adding the milk when the mixture get too dry. Once all frosting ingredients have been added, let the stand mixer run for several minutes until the frosting is light and creamy.

For the filling, place 1 cup of frosting in a bowl and mix it with the strawberry preserves. Using a knife or cupcake corer, remove a small portion of the center of each cooled cupcake. Using a spoon, add the filling to the holes. Don’t worry if it’s slightly messy as you will be frosting the tops of the cupcakes.

Divide the rest of the frosting as you wish, tinting some of it with red food coloring or leaving it all white. Decorate the tops of the frosted cupcakes with red sugar, if desired.

Until next time, happy Valentine’s Day and happy baking!

Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cake Bites

vanilla chocolate chip cake bites
vanilla chocolate chip cake bites

It’s been one snowstorm after another where I live. With the cold, blustery days I just want to cozy up to a hot cup of tea and a sweet snack. The thing is I’m a little burnt out on cookies (see all of the cookie posts I did last month).

Making a cake seems like too much effort, and a bigger treat that I have in mind. What I need is a two-bite snack. Perhaps a cake bite?

My recipe search uncovered an easy, smaller cake that I could convert into mini cakes without much effort. I have a pan that makes individual brownies, which is a life-saver for high altitude bakers, and I realized it was ideal for my cakelets. So, I had the basics covered.

To adapt the recipe for high altitude, I decreased the baking powder and completely omitted the baking soda. The original recipe was for a cake and smaller versions often need quite a bit less leavening. I also added a smidge more liquid to account for dryness at altitude, and reduced baking time for the smaller pastries.

The final change was to add brown sugar. Seeing as I was no longer making a cake but veering into blondie territory, this ingredient was added for a slightly chewier texture. The result was a moist, delectable, and perfectly-sized nibble to chase away winter’s chill.

Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cake Bites inspired by Vegan Choc Chip Loaded Cake

1 cup non-dairy milk (I used Take Two Original Barley Milk)
1 tablespoon applesauce
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup canola oil
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1.25 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease the cups of a brownie pan. Alternatively, use a cupcake pan with paper liners.

Place the non-dairy milk, applesauce, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, oil, and vanilla in a large bowl. Whisk to combine. Place the flour, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar in a medium bowl and whisk together. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Portion the batter into the sections of the prepared brownie pan (or into muffin liners). Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a cake bite comes out clean. Note: It will take a few more minutes to bake cupcakes.

Move the baking pan to a wire rack and allow the bites to cool completely. Remove cake bites from the pan. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. Makes 12 cake bites.

Until next time, happy baking!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting

pumpkin spice cupcakes with espresso cream cheese frosting
pumpkin spice cupcakes with espresso frosting

With Thanksgiving only a few days away, ovens are being heated up across the United States. Cooks and bakers are frantically creating dishes that can be made ahead so the Big Meal is a little less stressful. But they’ll need breakfast (or a snack) that day too, and this tasty treat should still echo the flavors of the holiday. Iconic Pumpkin Spice can make an appearance long before the feast is at its end in the form of a pick-me-up cupcake for a harried chef to nibble on.

To come up with a snack or breakfast item that contains fall flavors, I modified a cake recipe to become a cupcake recipe. For high altitude I adjusted the amounts of baking soda and flour. To make the baked good more suitable for breakfast, its nutrition was elevated by using a combination of whole wheat and all purpose flour. I also topped it with a frosting rich in espresso flavor for a caffeinated morning boost. You may think a cupcake is too decadent for breakfast, but I see it as a reward for getting up so early to prepare the festive meal.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting adapted from Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cake and Banana Cake with Coffee Cream Cheese Frosting

for the cupcakes
1.5 cups non-dairy milk
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1.75 cups + 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1.75 cups vegan granulated sugar
1.5 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
for the frosting
1/2 cup (112 grams) vegan butter (not margarine), slightly softened
8 ounces vegan cream cheese (the firmest you can find)
2.5 to 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1.5 to 2 tablespoons espresso powder (depending on how strong you want the flavor)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Fill 21 cups of two muffin tins with paper liners. Combine the non-dairy milk and apple cider vinegar and set aside to curdle.

In a large bowl, sift together the flours, granulated sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the curdled milk, pumpkin puree, oil, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix just until combined.

Use an ice cream scoop to divide the batter into the 21 cups, filling them 2/3 full. Bake for 27-29 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Set the muffin tins on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. After that, tip the cupcakes out onto the rack to cool completely.

While the cupcakes cool, make the frosting. Cut the butter into pieces and add to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle blade. Beat on low to medium speed until softened. Add the cream cheese and continue beating at low to medium speed until blended.

In a small bowl, add the espresso powder and 1 teaspoon vanilla and stir to combine. Add this liquid to the bowl of the stand mixer and briefly beat to combine. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating on low to medium speed until fully blended. Use all 3 cups if the frosting is too soft to pipe onto the cupcakes.

When the frosting is blended and fluffy, spoon it into a piping bag fitted with a star tip and frost the cooled cupcakes. Cover and store frosted cupcakes in the refrigerator for up to 5 days so you have them for Thanksgiving.

Until next time, Happy Thanksgiving and happy baking!

A Look at Vegan Butter

a look at vegan butter
a look at vegan butter

When I first started adapting recipes to be vegan, there was only one option for substituting butter — margarine. Not being a margarine fan, I was disappointed because it can make baked goods greasy and oily tasting. These days more and more companies are introducing their versions of vegan butter, and some of them are absolutely amazing. Miyoko’s Creamery stepped into the limelight first with a “butter” so grand it could be eaten plain, on toast, without any complaints about it being vegan. Although I still have a great fondness for Miyoko’s dazzling array of vegan dairy products, I’ve looked into other choices.

One selection I have shared in recent recipes is Flora Plant Butter. This butter comes in salted and unsalted versions, like Miyoko’s. It works beautifully in baked goods, making tender cupcakes and delightfully chewy cookies, and it is moderately priced. It’s not as phenomenal on toast, as Miyoko’s is, but I often prefer the results it produces in baked goods.

Milkadamia is a brand of non-dairy milk I enjoy, but I have not sampled their Buttery Spread. An article on vegan butter from Veg News has piqued my curiosity and Milkadamia’s offering may soon be up for experimentation in my kitchen. The post goes through a run-down of 11 butter substitutes, with Miyoko’s and Earth Balance topping the list. Also mentioned are Melt Organic, Country Crock, Forager, I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter, The Cultured Kitchen Better Buttah, Califia Farms, New Barn Organics, and Kite Hill. I hope to explore these new “butters” one day.

While I don’t have the means or opportunity to try all of the vegan butters out there, I have baked with a few. King Arthur Baking also tested a couple of substitutes, and compared them to the same goods baked with butter (a test I won’t be doing). When using Land O Lakes butter as a control in recipes for biscuits, crust, cookies, cake, puff pastry, and frosting, they concluded:

“Miyoko’s European-Style Cultured Vegan Butter and Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks are both highly recommended substitutes for dairy butter. In recipes where they’re the only vegan substitute, both vegan butters will produce baked goods with texture similar to that of dairy butter, with flavor being the main difference.”

So, I go in search of new butters in an effort to make extraordinary decadent treats. And, no, I don’t work for any of these food companies. I just wish I did.

Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting

strawberry lemon cupcakes with raspberry frosting
strawberry lemon cupcakes with raspberry frosting

A friend’s birthday is coming up and I want to make a dessert that’s easy to share at a celebration. Cupcakes come to mind, but I need to bake some that are a little extra special. Fruity flavors are enjoyable in the summer, with strawberries and lemon reminding one of a cool drink, so they are perfect in my cupcakes. All these cupcakes need are a sumptuous fruity frosting to put them in the realm of ‘special enough for a birthday.’

I found a vegan cupcake recipe that included my combo of lemon and strawberry. To prepare at high altitude, I added extra liquid and flour while reducing the baking powder. I also used dry sweetener instead of wet to help keep the cupcakes light and fluffy. Next I switched to a deeply fruit-flavored frosting to embrace summery tastes. Tasters raved about the cupcakes noting how airy they were, and the mix of fruity flavors were a welcome surprise.

Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting adapted from One Green Planet and Food Network

for the cupcakes
1/2 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1.5 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup organic sugar
generous 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup pureed strawberries (fresh or frozen)
1 tablespoon lemon zest
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
for the frosting
6 tablespoons vegan butter, cold
2 tablespoons vegan shortening
3 cups organic powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons soy milk, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons raspberry fruit spread

Preheat oven to 325 F and line muffin tins with 14 paper cups. Whisk soy milk and apple cider vinegar together in a bowl or container. Let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes to curdle.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into a bowl. Place pureed strawberries, lemon zest, lemon juice, oil, and vanilla in a large bowl. Add curdled milk and stir ingredients together. Add dry ingredients and stir just until the batter is smooth. Scoop batter into lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.

Bake for 23-25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through cooking time. The cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out with a few tiny crumbs. Let the tins sit on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing the cupcakes to a wire rack to fully cool.

While the cupcakes are cooling, begin the frosting by beating the butter and shortening together in a stand mixer. Add the powdered sugar, a cup at a time, beating after each addition. Add the milk and vanilla and beat until creamy. Add the fruit spread and beat until smooth. Put the frosting in a piping bag with a star tip and frost the cooled cupcakes.

Until next time, happy baking!

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling

dark chocolate cupcakes with raspberry filling
dark chocolate cupcakes with raspberry filling

It’s a long holiday weekend in the U.S., and that calls for a special dessert. Special doesn’t mean complicated, but maybe more than a plate of cookies. That got me thinking … hmmm, cupcakes are still easy … but, FILLED cupcakes are easy and noteworthy. Now, to decide on the flavors … raspberry and chocolate are always a hit. Armed with my choices, I came up with a delicious dark chocolate cupcake and then an easy-but-tasty raspberry frosting.

Admittedly, I had a lot of changes to make. To veganize the cupcakes, I made buttermilk from soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Then I replaced the butter with canola oil, and the eggs with aquafaba. For high altitude, I reduced the total amount of leaveners and increased the flour. The frosting was easier, as I swapped out dairy items with their non-dairy counterparts. Although I may not have needed to make the frosting. As fantastic as these were filled, my hubby loved them without frosting. That’s okay; more raspberry frosting for me!

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling adapted from Food & Wine and Food Network

for the cupcakes
1/2 cup soy milk
1.5 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/8 cup natural cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
1/4 cup boiling water
1/4 cup canola oil
3 TBS aquafaba
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 TBS all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
3/4 cup vegan granulated sugar
for the filling / frosting
6 TBS cold vegan butter
2 TBS vegan shortening
3 cups vegan powdered sugar, sifted
2 tsp non-dairy milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 heaping TBS raspberry fruit spread

Preheat oven to 350F with a rack in the middle of the oven. Line a standard muffin tin with paper cups and set aside. Place soy milk in a jar and add the apple cider vinegar. Place the lid on the jar and shake gently to combine. Let sit for 15 minutes to curdle.

Put cocoa powder in a large heatproof bowl. Add boiling water and whisk until a smooth paste forms. Whisk in curdled milk, oil, aquafaba, and 3/4 tsp vanilla until combined. In a medium bowl, sift flour with baking soda, baking powder, salt, and granulated sugar. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and stir to combine.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups until they are half full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out with just a few crumbs. Let cupcakes cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the filling. Place the vegan butter and shortening in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until smooth. Add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, alternating with the non-dairy milk and 1/2 tsp vanilla, until it is smooth and creamy. Add the raspberry fruit spread and beat until creamy.

Spoon the filling into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Holding a cupcake in your hand, plunge the tip into the top of the cake, pushing it halfway in. Gently squeeze the pastry bag to fill the cupcake, withdrawing it slowly as you squeeze. Repeat until all cupcakes are filled. Use the remaining filling to pipe tiny rosettes on the tops of the cupcakes. Store frosted cupcakes in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Until next time, happy baking!

Peppermint Chocolate Holiday Cupcakes

Peppermint Chocolate Holiday Cupcakes

Peppermint Chocolate Holiday Cupcakes

Holiday dessert flavors to me will always be chocolate and peppermint, perhaps because I love candy canes and believe all desserts should have chocolate. Hot chocolate benefits from a bit of peppermint syrup, and a peppermint-filled chocolate bar is always welcome in my house. So, to get my go-to chocolate cupcake into the holiday spirit, I filled and topped them with peppermint.

To my veganized, high-altitude chocolate cupcake recipe, I had to inject some peppermint flair. I added peppermint extract to the frosting, which I then piped into the cupcake with a round tip and swirled on top with a star tip. To make things even more festive, I crushed a bit of candy cane and added the bits to the frosted cupcake. Happy holidays, and happy eating!

Peppermint Chocolate Holiday Cupcakes

cupcakes
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup chocolate almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup organic sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 TBS all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
generous 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

frosting
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated shortening
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine
3 1/2 cups organic powdered sugar, sifted if clumpy
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1/4 cup almond milk

decoration
crushed candy cane bits

For the Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350F and line a 12-cupcake pan with paper liners. Whisk together the milks and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, and vanilla to the milk mixture and beat until foamy.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat just until no large lumps remain. Pour evenly into the liners, filling three-quarters of the way. Bake 18-19 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.

For the Frosting: Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and beat for 3 more minutes. Add the extracts and milk and beat for another 5-7 minutes until fluffy. Frost each cupcake and place crushed candy cane bits on top.

Until next time, happy baking!

Carrot Cupcakes for Easter or Earth Day

Carrot Cupcakes for Easter or Earth Day

Carrot Cupcakes for Easter or Earth Day

Are you wondering if you stumbled on a gardening blog? Well, you haven’t, but I couldn’t resist tying my cupcakes in with Earth Day by potting them. I slipped them into little terra cotta pots and stuck carrot greens into the little cakes. It makes a wonderful presentation for both Easter and Earth Day, both of which are happening now. To serve them, just take them out of the pots, remove the greenery, and slather with frosting. Now, on to the recipe so we can get to eating these cute and tasty cakes.

Before I share the cupcake directions, I need to let you in on some of the changes that occurred before they could take shape. The original vegan recipe was for a cake, so I chose to go with regular whole wheat flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour. Pastry flour will give the delicate crumb you look for in a cake, but I wanted more hand-held sturdiness for cupcakes. I also scaled back on both the baking soda and baking powder because the smaller size didn’t need that much oomph, especially in high altitude baking.

Normally I add moisture at high altitude, but this cake had loads more moisture than the other carrot cake recipes that I found. I knew that it would be great at high altitude, which is what led me to base my cupcake creations on the original recipe. Also, many recipes used carrot juice, which can be a difficult to obtain, but this one used orange juice which is readily available. And, I’m not one who likes raisins in her carrot cake so instead I used raw walnuts and lightly toasted them to bring out their nutty flavor. The combination was a winner. My taster and I polished off three cupcakes before I even had a chance to make the frosting!

Carrot Cupcakes for Easter or Earth Day inspired by 24 Karrot Cake

1/2 cup raw walnuts, chopped
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1.25 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup vanilla soymilk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 TBS orange juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups peeled, shredded carrots, loosely packed (optional: save carrot greens for decoration)

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 F. Lightly oil the top of a 12-muffin tin, then line with paper cups. Set aside. Spread the walnuts on a small baking sheet. When the oven is ready, lightly toast the walnuts until they become fragrant.

Meanwhile, sift together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger into a medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk the oil, maple syrup, soymilk, apple cider vinegar, orange juice, and vanilla until well blended. Pour wet mixture into the dry and stir with a whisk until the batter is smooth. Stir grated carrots into the batter with a rubber spatula.

carrots with their decorative greenery

carrots with their decorative greenery

Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Cool the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Gently run a thin knife between the cupcake tops and the pan. Remove cupcakes and cool completely. When cooled, drizzle with the frosting below.

Cream Cheese Frosting adapted from The Joy of Vegan Baking

8 oz vegan cream cheese, cold
2 tsp vanilla extract
1.25 cups powdered sugar

Combine all ingredients in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Keep chilled.

Until next time, happy baking!