Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (13 page)

 

 

INGREDIENTS

2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
¼ cup soy yogurt
½ cup black cherry preserves
½ cup soy milk
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons bourbon, or any whiskey
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose
flour
¼ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
Chopped walnuts, for garnish

For the Chocolate Brownie Frosting:

2 tablespoons melted margarine
¼ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3 tablespoons soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups confectioners’ sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners and spray each liner with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Melt the chocolate either in a double boiler (if you’re lucky enough to have one), the microwave (again,
lucky), or a small pan over very low heat.

3. Mix the yogurt, preserves, soy milk, sugar, oil, vanilla, almond extract, and bourbon in a large bowl. The preserves should be mixed in very well and there should be no large clumps.

4. Sift in the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix thoroughly—if using a handheld mixer, mix for about 3 minutes on medium speed. Incorporate the melted chocolate.

5. Fill the liners full with batter. Bake for 24 to 26 minutes. The tops may come out looking shiny, soft, and undone but that is okay; they should look that way. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.

TO MAKE THE CHOCOLATE BROWNIE FROSTING:

1. Beat together the margarine, cocoa, soy milk, and vanilla. Add the sugar in cupfuls until incorporated. You can use immediately or refrigerate until ready to use it. If refrigerated, bring frosting back to room temperature or it won’t spread correctly.

TO ASSEMBLE:

1. Spread a layer of frosting onto each cupcake and sprinkle with chopped walnuts. Keep brownies in a cool place until ready to serve.

Banana Split Cupcakes and “The Elvis” variation

LOADS OF FLUFFY
white icing, a ribbon of fruity preserves, and chocolate, nuts, ganache, and sprinkles give these an unmistakably scrumptious cupcake profile. One tester described the contrasting flavors and textures in this cupcake as a “party in your mouth,” and we can attest that cleaning up after this party beats picking up beer bottles off the living room floor any day. Pureeing the mashed banana gives these cupcakes a delicate crumb and light texture that sets them apart from other banana baked goods.

This is also a great basic banana cupcake. It’s just begging to be to topped or stuffed with VEGAN FLUFFY BUTTERCREAM FROSTING and cocoa, COCONUT PECAN FUDGE FROSTING (page 147), a thin glaze of RICH CHOCOLATE GANACHE TOPPING (page 143), or see below for the always popular “Elvis” cupcake.

 

 

INGREDIENTS

½ cup pineapple preserves
½ cup very ripe banana, mashed well
(the darker and browner the banana
the better!)
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
2/3 cup rice milk
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
¼ cup finely chopped dark chocolate
VEGAN FLUFFY BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
(page 142)
AUICK MELTY GANACHE
(page 160)
¼ cup finely chopped walnuts
Chocolate or rainbow sprinkles
6 candied cherries, cut in half, optional

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin pan with paper liners.

2. Stir pineapple preserves in a small saucepan over low heat till melted and they pour easily when scooped
up with a spoon. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Push the mashed bananas through a sieve or blend for a few seconds with an immersion or regular blender to get rid of any remaining lumps. It should be fairly smooth.

4. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl and mix. In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the oil, rice milk, vanilla, almond extract, and mashed banana. Create a well in the dry ingredients and fold in wet ingredients, mixing to just combine—don’t over-mix (very small lumps are okay).

5. Fill liners two-thirds full. Top the batter of each cupcake with 1 teaspoon melted preserves and 1 teaspoon chopped chocolate. With a small knife, carefully stir each cupcake two or three times to swirl in preserves and chocolate. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes till knife inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

TO ASSEMBLE:

1. Top cooled cupcakes with VEGAN
FLUFFY BUTTERCREAM FROSTING;
this looks best when piled high with a pastry bag fitted with a large star nozzle. Drizzle
QUICK MELTY GANACHE
over frosting, sprinkle with nuts and sprinkles, then top with a cherry, if desired.

Variations:

“THE ELVIS”
: Make plain banana cupcake following the recipe above, omitting preserves and chocolate from batter. Prepare a double batch of
PEANUT BUTTERCREAM
(page 151). Fill cupcakes with frosting (using the method described for
BROOKLYN VS. BOSTON CREAM PIE CAKES
on page 65) and top with remaining frosting. Top with chopped roasted peanuts (plain or salted), and decorate with either fresh banana slices or banana chips.

 

TROPICAL PARADISE:
Either frost plain banana cupcakes with
COCONUT GLAZE
(page 122) or top with
PINEAPPLE TOPPING
(page 70) and thin slices of fresh kiwi.

THESE CUPCAKES ARE
not unlike the marble cakes that adorn the windows of the Jewish bakeries around our parts. We top these with single dollops of VEGAN FLUFFY BUTTERCREAM FROSTING (page 142) so that you can see the pretty, swirly marble patterns underneath, so you only need half a batch of the frosting. Pipe’em out with the biggest star tube you’ve got and be prepared to get a little messy when making these.

 

 

INGREDIENTS

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup soy milk
½ cup margarine, softened
% cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated
sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon cocoa
powder (Dutch-processed is best
because it is darkest)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.

2. Add the vinegar to soy milk in a liquid measuring cup and set aside to curdle.

3. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a separate bowl.

4. In a separate medium bowl, cream the margarine for a minute or so. Add the sugar and cream for 3 to 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla. almond extract, and cornstarch and mix to combine. Alternately add some of the milk mixture, then some of the flour mixture, and mix with a hand
blender for about 15 seconds, incorporating the ingredients well after each addition. It should take about three batches of each to combine everything. Mix until the batter is smooth.

5. Fill a saucepan with 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Put the cocoa powder in yet another mixing bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of the boiled water to the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Take 1 cup of the batter and add it to the cocoa. Mix together until the batter is chocolatey.

6. This is where things get messy. For the best marbled pattern, take two separate small measuring cups and fill one with vanilla batter and one with chocolate batter. Add both to the cupcake liner at the same time, side by side. Some people may not have the hand-eye coordination to do this (as easy as it sounds) so if this is the case, just alternately drop in a spoonful of vanilla to one side and spoonful of chocolate to the other as best you can. Continue until there is no more batter left—you will end up with a spoonful of vanilla on top because there is more vanilla batter. The liners should be full.

7. Use a toothpick or a butter knife to swirl in marble patterns. My best tip for this is to go in a clockwise direction around the edge of the liner, then switch to a counterclockwise direction and spiral toward the center.

8. Bake for 24 to 26 minutes, until a knife or a toothpick inserted through the center of one comes out clean.

9. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.

FANCY CUPCAKES

I
NGREDIENTS LIKE GREEN tea, fresh lime, stout, rosewater, and more make these cupcakes sometimes exotic, sometimes unusual, but always delightful. We don’t mean to suggest the following recipes are too fancy for everyday use or any more difficult to prepare than traditional favorites. On the contrary, many of these recipes are simple to make, but result in wildly different and delicious cupcakes. Only a few recipes are a bit trickier or have a few more steps than most, but are worth your precious time and effort.

Toasted Coconut Cupakes with Coffee Buttercream Frosting

MAKES 12 CUPCAKES

THESE ARE FOR
our friend Jimbles; he loves the coconut, chocolate, coffee combination and wanted us to call them ChoCofCos. We declined the title but obliged with these little bites of heaven. This batter is a little thicker than most cake batters so don’t panic and think you did something wrong.

 

 

INGREDIENTS

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup coconut oil
1 cup coconut milk
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon coconut extract
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
TOASTED COCONUT
(recipe below)
COFFEE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
(recipe
below)
Chocolate-covered coffee beans,
optional

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F, line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.

3. Melt the coconut oil in a small saucepan over very low heat. Once melted, turn the heat off but leave it in the pan on the stove so that it stays warm and does not solidify.

4. In a separate medium bowl mix together coconut milk, sugar, vanilla, and coconut extract. Stir in the melted coconut oil. Add the flour mixture in batches, beating well after each addition. Mix until smooth, then fold in the shredded coconut.

5. Fill cupcake liners two-thirds full. Bake for 24 to 26 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

TO ASSEMBLE:

1. Spread a generous amount of Coffee Buttercream Frosting on cooled cupcakes. Roll the frosted cupcake along its rim in the Toasted Coconut to create a ring around the circumference.