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.
#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.
