mk carroll

Chocolate Mint Cupcake

November 30, 2008 Filed in: assorted musings

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule

I've been baking cupcakes at least once per week for the past several weeks, ever since I picked up the recipe book. The recipes I've tried so far I've briefly reviewed here previously and they've been so good that I've been making them over and over again (Green Tea, Banana (from the Banana Split recipe), and Gingerbread). Since I'd found Frontier Peppermint Extract at a big-chain grocery store recently, I figured it was time to try the Chocolate Mint cupcake recipe. These are gooood. The mint icing is a light accent that contrasts nicely with the dark chocolate ganache, although I made half the recipe amount of the mint icing and I could have used half the recipe amount of the chocolate ganache. I am not a huge fan of heaps of icing, and the recipes in the book tend to lean towards big fluffy mounds of it. I also opted to dunk the tops of the iced cupcakes into the ganache rather than try to drizzle the ganache on, and I think it worked out well. The ganache did not solidify as much as the recipe seems to suggest, but I don't care, it's delicious! Next time I think I will make the mint icing a pale pink, just because.

#1 best reason for me (an omnivore) to keep baking vegan cupcakes: no fears about eating the raw batter! I think I liked this raw batter more than the gingerbread batter.

Frontier Natural Products Co-op carries a wide range of organic and fair-trade herbs, spices, and baking flavorings and extracts, including great Fair Trade certified loose-leaf teas , an alcohol-free Fair Trade certified vanilla flavoring (glycerin base) and vanilla flavoring powder (but only in a 1/2 lb. package). If you are in Honolulu, Kokua Market Natural Foods Co-op (open to the public!) carries Frontier herbs, spices, and a couple of the flavorings (almond and vanilla), and you can special order any Frontier item they don't have in stock. In case you are wondering why no-alcohol and powdered vanilla is desirable, if you are using vanilla in something that isn't going to be cooked (like, say, a mango smoothie), the flavor is, in my opinion, far superior. Quite frankly for baked goods I think even fake vanilla extract does fine, but for frosting/icing, smoothies, drinks, fruit salads, and so on, using for-real vanilla without alcohol can make a big difference. Some of the other flavorings and extracts (including peppermint and lemon) are also no-alcohol.

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World!

November 15, 2008 Filed in: book reviews

I grew up vegan and did a lot of cooking and baking when I was a kid. As a result, I was skeptical about VCTOTW recipes having results that matched the rave reviews, but after trying the Green Tea with Green Tea Glaze, the Gingerbread (with a nutmeg glaze – my own recipe), the Banana Split with Vegan Buttercream, and the Peanut Buttercream, I am sold. And baking a lot of cupcakes.

The Green Tea, so far, have been the lightest and fluffiest. Astounding, especially since one of the ingredients is soy yogurt, which I hate. I find the smell, taste, and texture of every brand I’ve tried to be vile. Fortunately, I don’t smell or taste it at all in the batter or the finished cupcake. These are not too sweet and the flavor is subtle. Lovely!

Gingerbread: just a bit of heat from the big dose of ginger. I might cut the molasses in half and use agave nectar for the other half; the recipe calls for light molasses but I haven’t seen a “light” version in the stores.

Banana Split: I left out the chocolate, because I thought it would be too much, and used minced pineapple cooked in brown sugar instead of pineapple preserves. Next time I think I’m going to do the Elvis variation; I can see how this works if you do the full banana split treatment (topped with lots of buttercream frosting, sliced banana, chocolate syrup, nuts, and a cherry), but without the full treatment I thought the banana got overwhelmed.

The Peanut Buttercream was so good I was wondering if I could fit my head into the bowl.

Chocolate Mint Cupcake

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World!