Showing posts with label cupcakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cupcakes. Show all posts
Thursday, January 24, 2013
NATIONAL PEANUT BUTTER DAY! VEGAN TRIPLE-THREAT CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH PEANUT BUTTER FILLING & KAHLUA GANACHE ICING
Printable Recipe
BRYANNA'S TRIPLE
THREAT CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH PEANUT BUTTER FILLING (or use other Nut Butter)
(For GF, I'm sure an all-purpose GF flour mix would work in the batter.)
Makes 24 cupcakes
A delightful treat containing two of my favorite things—chocolate
and peanut butter. I kept the fat as low
as I could, while still producing a moist, triple-chocolaty, peanuty-rich
treat. My guests and granddaughters gobbled
them up. PS: They are not as complicated
as they look! The Filling and Ganache can be made ahead of time. You may have
to bring the Ganache to room temperature to spread properly if it is quite cold.
PEANUT BUTTER FILLING
1/2 cup natural smooth peanut butter (or use another
favorite nut butter, if you prefer)
1/2 cup (1/3 of a 12.3 oz. box) extra-firm SILKEN tofu,
crumbled
1/3 cup soft brown sugar
2 Tbs maple syrup
2 Tbs nondairy milk
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
GANACHE ICING
4 oz (preferably organic fair trade) dairy-free semisweet chocolate chips or chocolate,
chopped
1/3 cup nondairy milk (preferably rich full-fat soymilk, nut
milk, or non-dairy creamer)
1/4 cup extra-firm SILKEN tofu, crumbled
1 Tbs chocolate liqueur (Kahlua), or chocolate flavored syrup
for fancy coffees or Italian sodas
CUPCAKE BATTER
Mixture A (Cocoa Mix):
3/4 cup (preferably organic fair trade) unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
3/4 cup boiling water
1/2 cup nondairy "buttermilk" (scant 1/2 cup soy milk or nut milk with 1/2 T. lemon juice added)
Mixture B (Dry Mix):
1 3/4 cups sifted wholewheat pastry flour (measured AFTER the coarse bran is sifted
out)
1/3 cup white unbleached flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 oz (preferably organic fair trade) dairy-free semisweet chocolate chips
Mixture C ("Butter" Mix):
6 Tbs vegan butter (try
my palm oil-free Buttah)
6 Tbs unsweetened, smooth applesauce
1 1/2 cups soft brown sugar
1/2 cup plain soy or other vegan yogurt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Making the Peanut
Butter Filling:
Process all of the ingredients together in a food processor
until very smooth. Scoop into a bowl and
refrigerate until time to use.
Making the Ganache:
Process the chocolate finely in a DRY food processor. Leave the chocolate in the processor.
Whip the soymilk and silken tofu together in the blender or
with a hand blender until VERY smooth.
Heat it in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until almost
to the boiling point. OR microwave
it in a microwave-save bowl for about 1 minute at 50 percent power, or until
very hot, but not boiling. (If the
mixture seems to curdle at all, blend it again until smooth.)
With the motor running, pour the hot soy creme in through the
feed tube. Process until the mixture is
smooth. Add the liqueur and process
briefly. Scoop into a bowl, cover and
cool.
Making the Cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350°F and place 2 racks in the lower and
middle third of the oven. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with parchment or silicone
cupcake liners.
Mixture A (Cocoa Mix):
Place the cocoa powder in a medium heatproof bowl. Add the
boiling water and whisk until a smooth paste forms. Whisk in the
"buttermilk" until well-combined. Set aside.
Mixture B (Dry Mix):
In another medium bowl, whisk the flours with the baking
soda, baking powder and salt. Stir in
the 4 oz. chocolate chips. Set aside.
Mixture C (“Butter” Mix):
In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the
vegan butter and applesauce with the sugar until it's light and fluffy, about
3 minutes. Beat in the soy yogurt and and vanilla.
Mixing: To Mixture C (“Butter”
Mix), add 1/2 of Mixture B (Dry Mix), stirring with a wooden spoon; then add half
of Mixture A (Cocoa Mix), stirring again with a wooden spoon. Repeat this procedure once again with the
last halves of Mixture B and Mixture A.
Do not overbeat—blend just until the mixtures are blended (like muffin
batter).
Carefully spoon 1/2 cupcake batter into the lined muffin
cups. Scoop about 1 Tbs. of the Peanut
Butter Filling into the center of each muffin cup of batter, pressing it gently
down into the batter a bit.
When you
have filled all the muffin cups, spoon the remaining batter evenly over each
mound of Peanut Butter Filling-topped chocolate batter, completely hiding the
filling.
Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the cupcakes are springy
and test done when a cake tester is inserted into the side of one. (They may have sunk a little in the center,
but that's okay!) Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then
transfer them to wire racks to cool completely. When the cupcakes are cool, ice
them with the Ganache (you may have to bring it to room temperature to spread
properly if it is quite cold).
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per
cupcake): 225.9 calories; 33% calories from fat; 9.1g total fat; 0.0mg
cholesterol; 154.7mg sodium; 211.3mg potassium; 35.4g carbohydrates; 3.0g
fiber; 18.6g sugar; 4.5g protein; 4.7 points.
Enjoy!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
SWEET VEGAN TREATS-- JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!
Mocha Devastation Cake, cake and photo by Hannah Kaminsky
Not my treats this time, but delectable vegan desserts presented in a new book called My Sweet Vegan by Hannah Kaminsky of the bittersweet blog. I was privileged to see a copy of the proofs before it was published and to write a "blurb" for the cover. Unfortunately, my piece was not there in time for the printing, but it's on the book's webpage, and here's what I wrote (and I meant every word of it!):
"This is going to be the book vegans reach for on special occasions, or when company comes, or just for those times when your sweet tooth gets the better of you! There is an amazing variety of goodies, from simple to sublime, even some gluten-free and diabetic-friendly! Hannah pays attention to detail and I especially like her well-written instructions, and notes on ingredients and equipment, important for new vegan cooks and bakers. Most of the recipes call very easily-accessible ingredients, and even in the odd recipe where she uses ingredients in an unusual way, they should not be difficult to find. And a plus-- the fat content in most of the recipes is not excessive. This book will be happily splattered and dog-eared by use in no time!"
~ Bryanna Clark Grogan, author of 'Nonna's Italian Kitchen' and 8 other vegan cookbooks, and The Vegan Feast Newsletter
Hannah Kaminsky at work
I'm sure that Hannah must be sorely tired of hearing this, but it is quite amazing that she is only 18 years old and not only has she created a huge repertoire of fabulous vegan desserts, but she has written such a professional book! There is even a food-allergy index in the back of the book (gluten-free, wheat-free, peanut-free, tree nut free, and soy-free). And, in addition, she also created all of the beautiful photos in the book! Congratulations are definitely in order!
The first recipe that I tried from the book was the Plum-Good Crumb Cake, with little plums from a tree in our yard. Fantastic! Here's a photo of it from Hannah's book:
photo by Hannah Kaminsky
Buy some copies of this book for holiday gifts-- especially one for yourself! It is available from various outlets-- this page has a list of links. NOTE FOR CANADIANS: There is some difficulty with amazon.ca at the moment-- the book is not appearing as it should. However, it is actually less expensive for Canadians to purchase the book from amazon.com right now due to the exchange. The Canadian shipping is very inexpensive right now. So, you don't have to hold out for amazon.ca. Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe also has it on sale, and they ship internationally without a problem.
Here are photos of just a few of the recipes in My Sweet Vegan, all courtesy of Hannah and Fleming Ink:
Not-Nog Cupcakes, photo by Hannah Kaminsky
Peanut-Plus Cookies (gluten-free, with a surprise ingredient!, photo by Hannah Kaminsky)
Silken Chocolate Mousse Cake, photo by Hannah Kaminsky
Poppy Seed Cupcakes with Lemon Curd Filling, photo by Hannah Kaminsky
Mexican Chocolate Torte, photo by Hannah Kaminsky
Brilliant Berry Parfaits, photo by Hannah Kaminsky
Enjoy!
Monday, March 20, 2006
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 flou
r (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-Egg1 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!
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