VEGAN Chocolate Cupcakes

I am no vegan but appreciate and admire its cause. The reason I made these cupcakes was not due to environmental reasons or animal rights, although those are HUGE pluses, I made them because they were easy. When it's 9PM, I'm laying on the couch watching the fifth Sopranos episode in a row (and possibly a few glasses of champagne deep) one of the last things I want to do is bake (and also clean up the inevitable giant mess I will create....due to champagne consumption). So I glanced through the Martha Stewart "Cupcakes" book and spotted these babies. Another huge reason I made these was because I was out of milk and whipping cream. So that means no frosting. Nearly every recipe contains milk or buttermilk, and inevitably has some sort of cream-related frosting recipe. When I happened upon a recipe with neither frosting nor milk involved in the cakes that's all I needed to whip them up. And the fact that they took like 5 minutes to prepare. I realized half way through (champagne) that the recipe only makes 12, so I had to go back and make another batch. Wasn't a problem though because it didn't require that much of any one ingredient. Thank God I had enough of everything because I was not about to go up to the store and I think I've used up all my favors long ago with Collin running that errand for me.

The batter was incredibly thin and I questioned whether they were going to turn out, but since they were chocolate I figured my lab-mates couldn't complain too much. Also, I decided to omit the vegan part until they had all consumed at least half before dropping that on them, figuring if they knew before hand they would say "oh yea, I know what you mean, they are dry" or "yea, butter would have really been nice here" or "where the hell is the frosting?". But instead of any of these comments, they were quite pleased they were vegan and requested more in the future. I was surprised but also agreed with them entirely. They were delicious cupcakes and certainly take no backseat to any dairy-ridden treat. I confess, I did use a tiiiiiny bit of butter in the ganache on top. What? It's ganache what am I supposed to do? I was confounded by the veganess and broke down and used some butter. In the book they have you dust cocoa powder on top which is a lovely version. So if you really want to be strictly vegan, use the cocoa powder or just have them plain. I promise they are good enough without any extras. 

I'm happy to add this to my repetoir and my fear of offering a vegan treat has subsided a bit. I no longer fear that the people will rebel if they don't get their weekly rations of butter and frosting from me and are perfectly happy with a sweet non-dairy alternative. We can all feel a little better about ourselves for it. Which reminds me....

A wonderful charity that I donate too frequently is the Human Farming Association which rescues animals from industrial farms in this country. Please check it out. They do great work for such a worthy cause. If you can, please buy your dairy products from a local/organic farm. They are usually much smaller farms (non-industrial) and treat the animals humanely. Happy cows = good milk and butter (happy body). Yum. 

In the case of these cupcakes at least, you will not miss the dairy. Promise. 

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes (makes 12)

From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self rising, sifted)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups water

confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C). Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners. Sift together cake flour, granulated sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, mix together oil, vinegar, vanilla, and the water until well combined. Add flour mixture and mix until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed (batter will be very thin).
3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tin halfway through, until a cake tester inserted into centers comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Turn out cupcakes onto a wire rack and let cool completely.
4. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 1 month, in airtight containers. Dust cupcakes with cocoa and confectioners' sugar just before serving.

Photos by ME this time (new camera). 

New Year's Pink Champagne Cake

Does anything sound more appropriate than the above name? Champagne and New Years clearly go together (or if you're me, any day of the week, and preferably every day, go with champagne) Combine champagne and cake and the color pink and you have a glorious, indulgent, and dare I say, perfect, New Year's treat. Or hell, for any day. God knows I could add cake to my daily list as well the champagne!

For Christmas, my cousin Nici may have received the best gift ever from a friend: a book called Booze Cakes. I could stop right there and I know most of you are sold already. I was. We flipped through the book, found the Pink Champagne Cake, and immediately decided to make it for New Years.

Since it was going to be four of us for our New Year's celebration, I cut the recipe in half and used my super cute 6" cake rounds to make a mini cake.

There wasn't anything too difficult about this cake, but for the frosting, I had to add two more cups of powdered sugar to get it thickened enough to frost. Either there was something lost when I halved the  recipe or the recipe was wrong (either by my hand-most likely, or the publisher-let's blame it on them shall we?). In terms of mishaps, having it happen with the frosting is probably the best possible option. It was completely liquid when I was finished, so I just kept adding more sugar (a good rule of thumb!) until it thickened to the desired consistency. It was a bit (a lot!) on the sweet side though, not surprisingly. I had a photocopied page of the recipe so I may have misread the frosting recipe. At any rate however, it was a delicious cake and some how had amaretto flavor. Strange and surprising, but not unwelcome. Not sure how, but the champagne must've given it this flavor by some reaction with the rest of the ingredients or when it was baked. Seemed to fit very well with the style of the cake though. Like a pettifor.

I've since purchased the book. Not only because it has great cake recipes but because it kills two birds with one stone. The other stone being booze.

Recipe:


Cake:
3C flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1C unsalted butter
2C suga
1 tsp. vanilla
6 egg whites
few drops red food coloring
2C champagne

Frosting:
3/4C unsalted butter
4C powdered sugar
1/2C champagne
3/4C whole milk
1 Tbs. vanilla
few drops red food coloring

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans (or two 6-inch rounds and cut the recipe in half).
2. In a bowl combine flour baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a mixing bowl beat butter and sugar 3-5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and beat in egg whites one at a time.
3. Mix in food coloring. Beat in flour mixture and champagne in three alternating additions, starting and ending with flour to prevent curdling. Pour batter in pans and bake 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
4. For the frosting, in a mixing bowl, beat butter 1 minutes. Gradually add powdered sugar, champagne, milk, vanilla, and food coloring; beat until smooth and creamy.
5. Once the cake has cooled completely, place bottom layer on a cake plate and spread half the frosting overtop. Add top layer and cover with frosting.


Photos by Collin Monda

Halloween Cookies (2 months later)

Ok, now this is embarrassing. How have I fallen so far behind that I couldn't be troubled to post a simple blog about Halloween cookies? I'm ashamed. Sorry.

I followed my mom's trusted butter cookie recipe as well as use her antique (at least to me) cookie cutters and a simple royal icing recipe (from martha stewart, gasp). The cookies are so simple to make it's ridiculous. Like a pie crust. Now, like the pie crust, the mixing of the ingredients is a breeze, that is, if you have a food processor, the molding/rolling/cutting of the mixture is not on the other hand. As I've said many times before, I have little to really no patience during most moments of my life, so decorating cookies is rather a hardship for me. I struggle with giving up, but what happens most times, is that I "decorate" the cookies as fast as I possibly can by slapping on a glob of frosting that if it all doesn't run off the cookies, remains an amorphous blob in the center (these cookies not shown, due to pride). So, if I'm making cookies I make something stress-free and patience saving, like snickerdoodles, or say sugar cookies (unfrosted). The key to decorating 50-100 halloween cookies? Employ help (for free) in the form of boyfriends, friends, and family. Luckily I had some help which not only saved me, but more than likely the cookies as well. It also adds some variety to the cookies, instead of each one looking like a perfect carbon copy of the one previous.............

The cookies cutters included a cat shape which naturally we turned into Penny....

and Murphy. Note the mustache.

Most cookies not shown due to either drinking too much or glob/patience issues. These were the survivors. Cookies aren't for me. Plus, they're meant to be eaten no? Who cares.

Photos and Cookie Assistance by Collin Monda

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting

This is almost embarrassing, but I can hardly remember when I baked these cupcakes. It must have been sometime in October, perhaps even early November. What I do remember however, was how tasty they were. I made these before in the form of a cake and nothing was lost in translation I assure you. I switched up the frosting a bit and made it with cream cheese and cinnamon instead of maple syrup. Both ways go wonderfully with pumpkin so you can't go wrong. All of it was a cinch to make and really had a great pay off. Perfect Autumnal treat. Except now, oh god, it's nearly January. Sorry. Well if you love pumpkin and don't care that the month isn't September, October, or November then make these. I promise you will wish it was Autumn. Or at least it will feel like it. I loved all the photos Collin took of these so I'm posting nearly all of them. Enjoy.

Photos by Collin Monda

Annual Apple Pie and Triumphant Return

How has it taken me this long to post?! Even though I have failed to blog, I promise you I never stopped baking. The problem is that I need a camera, a decent one, and I need to start taking my own photos. My usual lovely photographer has a full time job now and for some reason doesn't want to fill up all his free time not only taking the photos (which he always does) but editing them (making them beautiful) and then sending them me. The whole "job" thing has really gummed up the works here on the blog. But now, I am the one to blame, for I have had several photo sessions sitting in my inbox all week and have not done anything with them. I hope this dry spell will end today. Now I just need to get that camera and not go completely broke buying it. Stay tuned.

Since my last post on October 5th, I went into full holiday/fall/then-winter-mode and baked all things festive. To start out, I made my typical whisky apple pie. The people (labmates) spoke, and they clamored for the apple pie, so how could I refuse them? I whipped up one normal size (not nearly enough for 16 people I realized later) and two tart-sized ones for Collin (payment) and his office-mate. They turned out wonderfully and even though I will never be a "pie person" I thoroughly enjoy this pie. Probably because I make it with honeycrisp apples which are the best apples, hands down. They bring such a brightness and subtle tartness to the pie. The honeycrisps are truly irreplaceable.

This reminds me, if you are going to make an apple pie, you really must consider the type of apple you want in it. Not all (actually most) apples work well in a pie. They get overly mushy and sometimes tasteless and even off-putting. A pie apple must be firm and if you like it, just a bit sweet, but not overly (you add a fair amount of sugar to pies usually and a sweet apple is not required). It's nice to have a bit of sourness too for contrast. I find granny smiths to be delicious but just a bit too tart. I am a honeycrisp gal through and through and I can't imagine using anything else. If you can, or there is a sale, go for the organic honeycrisps. They taste better, are better for you, and are better for the Earth. Also, the organic honeycrisps at my local grocery store are gigantic. They dwarf the pesticide-ladden apples. Way to show 'em organics!

You can find the apple pie recipe here.

Happy extremely late Halloween and Thanksgiving!

Photos by Collin Monda

Four Layer Coconut, Raspberry, Lemon Cake

A few weeks ago for Collin's cousin Alison's bridal shower I made a four layer lemon cake with raspberry filling and lemon meringue buttercream with a coconut coating. I have to say, I think this was my finest work to date. Just in terms of sheer scale and impressiveness. I haven't ever attempted anything quite so large. It temporarily satisfied my desire to make a huge and ornate wedding cake that probably wouldn't have ended so well since I've never done anything close to that...until now that is. It was really fun to make and no problems occurred which was surprising and very reassuring. I got the recipe here and although it was delicious and certainly grand, I would change a thing or two next time. I didn't want to veer from the recipe too much since I didn't want to tempt fate, but I was a little disappointed that the cake wasn't coconut, nor that the frosting wasn't coconut either...I'm a little obsessed with coconut. The lemon frosting tasted great, but the meringue texture was a unsettling. Like grocery store cake frosting. Maybe this is what they use? It wasn't cloyingly sweet which was a relief because the cake itself was, so they balanced each other out nicely and with such a large slice, no one could have handled anything sweeter. 

Originally, I was going to make two of these cakes, and as it turns out, I did. But I combined them together to make one big cake. I figured why not go big or go home? I actually said this out-loud and it convinced me to just go for it. Why not right? Who wants two stubby cakes when they can have one elegantly tall cake? I was supposed to cut each of the two layers in two so you would have a total of 4, but since I doubled the recipe, I had four layers anyways and didn't have to any dividing which is always troublesome and a bit difficult. I ended up having to level them though because with a cake this tall, one uneven spot can throw the whole cake off. The pictures seem to exaggerate this but it wasn't nearly so lopsided in person. Also, the layers slide a lot with the raspberry filling when frosted and is hard to muscle them back in to place after. You have to let go of perfection...

After it was frosted, I dusted the whole thing with a fine shredded coconut that I tossed in some powdered sugar to sweeten it. There were 20 or so guests, so I had Collin mock up a circle cut in to 24 even slices and used that to figure out how to cut the towering, thin slices. They were pretty with four layers but slightly too tall. We almost needed dinner plates to put them on. Never the less, for a bridal shower it didn't seem out of place. 

What shall I strive for next? May have to trick someone in to having me make them a wedding cake. 

Photos by Collin Monda

Pumpkin Spice Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

My mom, her best friend Liz, and my aunt Sandi came up to visit Seattle/drink/eat a couple weekends ago and to celebrate Sandi's birthday as well as the arrival of Fall, I made a pumpkin spice cake with maple cream cheese frosting. Since there were only 5 of us celebrating, I made a small cake. A two layer, 6 inch cake. I actually really enjoy making tiny cakes. They are some how more impressive when they're small. Kind of like when you go shoe shopping and the size 6 is always cuter than the size 9 you require. Plus, when a small cake is more practical, why not? You can simply cut the recipe in half or, like I did, just make thicker layers but of a smaller diameter. Taller cakes, no matter the size always stand out more. The recipe was simple and delicious. A standard pumpkin spice cake, similar to a pumpkin pie. Here is the recipe.

The maple cream cheese frosting was a nice touch as well and added a hint of an extra flavor that usually isn't involved (maple). The maple really stood out and tasted great with the pumpkin cake. A fun way of changing up the usual pumpkin recipe.

I have also made this recipe into cupcakes and mini cupcakes and they are fantastic. Just make sure to not over bake them. This cake is best when it is really moist and soft.

To add a bit of decoration, I added some toasted, chopped pecans to the top. Normally, I detest nuts in desserts but the cake seemed to be made for them. Couldn't deny it that simple pleasure.

Photos by Collin Monda

Coconut Cupcakes

At the request for something coconutty from my lab mates, and not wanting to think about it too hard I went straight to the good of standby and made coconut cupcakes. The recipe comes from my previous lamingtons to cupcakes post, here but with coconut buttercream. As usual, the coconut cupcake/cake/lamington recipe turned out wonderful. Exceptionally moist and just the right amount of coconut flavor (coming mainly from the coconut milk).

The buttercream on the other hand was ungodly sweet. I'm not sure how it happened but I think I've outgrown my sweet tooth a bit, at least with the intensely/extremely sweet items. With my own stuff at least, I just can't seem to handle it. Perhaps I'm being a bit too critical, but my usual buttercream is just a bit too sweet, even for me. Weird I know. The thing is, I'm not exactly sure how to make it less sweet, since all that's in it is butter, sugar, and cream. hmmmm. The other types of frosting I make seems to be less sweet and much more pleasant and although buttercream still is the reigning king of frostings as far as I'm concerned, mine needs to be taken down a notch or too. But perhaps there are still those of you out there that don't bat an eye at a mouthful of sugar. Maybe I'll get my insatiable sweet tooth back. Don't get me wrong, I still love the sweets, just not quite as sweet. At any rate, this cake recipe is wonderful and in some ways, perfect. I just have to work on the frosting if I don't want to put myself and my patrons in a diabetic coma. Self-imposed of course. They know what there getting themselves in to.

Photos by Collin Monda

Latest Round of Mini Doughnuts

After re-reading my last doughnut post, which was curiously duplicated by another blogger, I discovered that I had intended on my next round of doughnuts to add sprinkles to mine, which was added in the blog mentioned previously. So, I did my own and was pleased with the results. Who could possibly turn down a mini, chocolate, sprinkled doughnut? Rainbow sprinkles at that? I highly recommend making them for any occasion requiring a dessert and also to give as gifts. I borrowed a glaze from another blog which may or may not be the same one I mentioned above. You can see it here. Perhaps my arrogance is getting in the way. You can check the dates for yourselves from my previous post here. At any rate, these doughnuts are wonderful and the tin is cheap. You wont regret that purchase, I promise. This coming from someone who suffers from crippling buyer's remorse.

Also, I will gladly take full credit for my advice on piping in the dough, as seen here: (5.21.10)

Boosh.

Photos by Collin Monda

Honey Mascarpone Berry Tarte

The usual berry tart I make but remixed slightly to a 9-inch version with raspberries and blackberries. Delicious. See previous post here and here.

I love this tart because it is so versatile. The pastry cream made with honey and mascarpone cheese goes with every fruit imaginable. So delicious and has very little sugar.