CUPCAKES FOR 3 LITTLE GIRLS

 
My son Tim and his family with my three little grandaughters, came for lunch yesterday, along with my stepson Sean and a lovely young visitor from Scotland, Jen. I was in the mood for cupcakes, but I don’t like to make them when it’s only the two of us, or we eat them all! But little girls love cupcakes, so, I thought this was a good opportunity to try the combination of pumpkin batter with lemon “buttercream” and pecans, which I love. I used a pumpkin cake batter that I had devised for my newsletter, The Vegan Feast, 2 years ago for a Thanksgiving dessert— mild in spiciness, and nicely moist and fluffy. I had some Lemon “Buttercream” in the refrigerator, which is what gave me the idea in the first place. I didn’t have quite enough icing to make the cupcakes look really beautiful, so they didn't look pretty, but were pretty darn good to eat!

Printable Recipe

BRYANNA’S VEGAN PUMPKIN-PECAN CUPCAKES WITH LEMON “BUTTERCREAM”
makes 18 cupcakes
© Bryanna Clark Grogan 2006

DRY MIX: (NOTE: Be sure to use pastry flour!)
1 and 1/2 cups sifted white pastry flour
1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (stir well before measuring)
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. powdered ginger
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves or allspice

PUMPKIN MIX:
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup nondairy milk

SUGAR MIX:
1 cup light unbleached granulated organic sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegan buttery spread, softened a bit (try my homemade palm oil-free "Buttah") OR 6 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup nondairy milk
1 Tbs. Ener-G egg replacer powder or Orgran No-Egg
1 tsp. vanilla


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare 18 muffin cups (I use one full [12 cup] muffin pan and one half [6 cup]) by spraying with oil from a pump sprayer, greasing with my homemade vegan "cake release", or by lining with parchment cupcake liners (or silicone ones), or use a silicone muffin pan (12 cup-- this one is on a frame, so they don't sag; 6 cup-- this one has the silicone molds inside of a metal pan.)

Whisk together the Dry Mix ingredients into a medium bowl and stir them together well.

In a measuring pitcher, whisk together the pumpkin and nondairy milk; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the Sugar Mix ingredients with an electric mixer at high speed for about 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber scraper now and then.

At low speed, beat in the Dry Mix, alternately with the pumpkin mixture, starting and ending with the Dry Mix. (Don’t worry if it looks a bit curdled at certain points.) Then beat for 1 minute more.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners. Bake until the cupcakes are golden and spring back when gently pressed with your finger, 18-20 minutes. Place the pans on racks to cool for 5 minutes, then run a table knife carefully around the edge of the cupcake liner and gently lift the cupcakes out and onto the rack to cool.

When they are thoroughly cool, ice with the Lemon “Buttercream” and dip the tops into the pecans to coat the tops.

BRYANNA’S VEGAN LEMON “BUTTERCREAM” FROSTING
© Bryanna Clark Grogan 2006
This is a creamy vegan “buttercream” with a lower percentage of fat than most “buttercreams”.

1/2 cup vegan buttery spread (try my homemade palm oil-free Buttah")
about 2 cups+2 Tbs. organic powdered sugar (such as Hains, Wholesome Foods or Florida Crystals), sifted (have a bit more on hand in case the icing needs thickening-up)
1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
5 tsp. water
1 1/2 Tbs. grated organic lemon zest
1/2 tsp. vanilla

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the buttery spread until smooth. Add 1 c. of the sugar, the lemon juice and water, the lemon zest, and vanilla. Beat until creamy. It may look curdled— don’t worry! Add the remaining sugar, a little at a time, as you beat it, until it holds it shape well and you can see “trails” in it from the beaters. Refrigerate, covered, until it’s time to ice the cake.

Enjoy!