Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes w/- Vanilla Cream"cheese" Frosting

Yes, these are a bit late to be considered a Halloween post but personally I don't need an excuse to try my hand at baking pumpkin pie. It's moist, sweet and pumpkiny! You can't freakin' loose!

Wasn't sure how a vegan version of this recipe would go. In fact, I spent hours scouring through pumpkin pie recipes trying to figure it out. Sure there were plenty of vegan pumpkin cupcake recipes but I wanted something with the soft velvety texture of real pie! I decided to use some silken tofu to replace the eggs only to discover I had bought mango flavoured silken tofu because they had put the sale sticker over the word mango! Crap!

Then it hit me, pumpkin puree is a natural binder...why even use an egg replacement! I'm slow, but I get there eventually.


Now, these aren't baked in shells so obviously they needed a little more hold to them than the really creamy texture of the traditional pumpkin pie I've been lucky enough to try (which by the way is only once as here in Australia no-one seems to have cottoned on to the wonders of this dessert). I ended up deciding that some flour would have to be added. This resulted in a cakey outer layer and a gooey middle and I can't think of anything better than having your cake and eating pie too.

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes w/- Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting (makes 12-14)

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup soy milk
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, cardamom, all spice)
• 1 425g can pumpkin puree (I found mine at a specialty candy store as it's not readily available here in Australia)
• 1/3 cup canola oil
  
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla
  

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease or line tray with silicone cupcake papers.
2. In a medium bowl mix together soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Place aside to curdle.
3. In another medium bowl sift together plain flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice.
4. To the soy mixture add pumpkin puree, canola oil, white sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Whisk until mixed thoroughly.
5. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until no large lumps remain.
6. Fill each paper about 3/4 full.
7. Bake for 20-22 mins or until tops are a golden brown and a few cracks are forming.
8. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10mins then remove from pan to completely cool.
9. Chill in refrigerator.
   

One small thing to note is that these will sink a little in the middle which is due to the soft centre so don't worry they aren't undercooked!

Vanilla Cream"cheese" Frosting

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
• 1/4 cup margarine
• 2-3 cups icing sugar
• scraping from 1 vanilla bean pod or 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Whisk together cream cheese and margarine.
2. Add icing sugar 1 cup at a time until it is a stiff enough consistency that it holds it's form and is at desired sweetness.
3. Add vanilla bean scraping or vanilla essence and whisk until fully incorporated.
4. Pipe onto chilled cup-pies and enjoy!

Chocolate Cupcakes w/- Rosewater Jelly Filling & Chocolate Ganache Topping

Phew, what a mouthful. I should also note that I topped these with a sprinkling of rosewater flavoured sugar crystals but that was just going to turn into some kind of lengthy title nightmare.


The chocolate cupcakes and ganache are from an older post which you can find here so I will just be posting a recipe for the rosewater jelly and sugar crystals. I admit, I've been going a tad rosewater crazy lately but, in my defence it's been sitting in my cupboard for at least 6 months just waiting to be used and once I started I was hooked. Now since no-one had organised any kind of intervention and a google search of "rosewater rehab" resulted in Olivia Newton-John lyrics it looks like I'll just have to kick the habit myself.

Anyway, along with the rosewater I've also had a few sticks of Agar Agar sitting in my pantry looking pretty lonely so I figured why not let the two meet? This resulted in some kind of turkish delight style cupcake which, had they not been so incredibly rich I would have happily eaten the whole batch.

Rosewater Jelly

Ingredients

• 1 bar of Spiral Foods agar agar-product code is 01590 (I bought mine from Flannery's)
  
• 5-6 tbsp icing sugar
• 3 tbsp rosewater
• 3 cups water
• Couple of drops of vegan red food colouring
  

Method

1. Soak bar in 3 cups of water until soft.
2. Boil slowly for 15mins.
3. Add sugar, rosewater and colouring.
4. Place into a tray and chill until firm.

Agar Agar Bar and Rosewater Jelly Cubes

Now, I should point out that this is just the method for the agar agar I used. There are different brands and you can also buy it in powder or flake form from most asian grocers and health food stores. You will need to follow the instructions on the packet and adjust the amount of rosewater and icing sugar used accordingly compared to how much water is used. Just be sure not to buy a pre-flavoured agar agar powder.

To fill you cupcakes you will need to remove a cone shaped section from the centre of your cupcake by cutting a circular shape from the top angling your knife inwards.

Wells Cut Into Cupcakes

Fill your holes with jelly (I didn't keep them in the pretty cube form, you'll have to break it into small chunks) and replace the top of the cupcake. (This is just the top section of each cone you remove from the cupcakes.)

Rosewater Sugar Crystals

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1-2 tbsp rosewater
• 1 tsp margarine

Method

1. Place white sugar and rosewater in a small saucepan over a med-high heat and stir until bubbly.
2. Take off heat and stir in margarine.
3. Pour and spread over a sheet of baking paper and leave for a few minutes until cool enough to touch but not completely solid.
4. Break apart into a crumble.
5. Sprinkle over iced cupcakes.

That's it! Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to eat a big bowl of cereal covered in rosewater!

Lemon Pistachio Cupcakes w/- Rosewater Pistacio Brittle

Apparently my best efforts yet according to official cupcake taster and all round sweet tooth Murdoch. I'm not sure if that's because he helped me make them and just wants to blow smoke up his own arse but I'm going to take the compliment and run with it anyway.


This is the first time I've been successful making brittle that was actually, well brittle. Granted I've only tried a couple of times before but I've managed to make a soft, runny toffee-esque version and a burnt mass of ass. Turns out it's really not so hard to make, I'm just not the kitchen master I thought I was.

Anyway, point being if I can do it you can too, so whip out your apron and mixer and get to cooking. You only live once and sugar is king!

Lemon Pistachio Cupcakes w/- Rosewater Pistachio Brittle (makes 12 cupcakes)

Ingredients

• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups plain flour
• 1/8 cup cornflour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp lemon extract
• zest of 1 lemon
• 30-40 whole pistachio nuts, shelled.
  

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius and line tray with papers.
2. In a medium bowl mix together soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Place aside to curdle.
3. In another medium bowl sift together plain flour, cornflour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. To the soy milk mixture add the canola oil, sugar, vanilla extract and lemon extract. Beat until foamy.
5. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until no large lumps remain.
6. Add lime zest and pistachios and mix until combined.
7. Fill papers to about 2/3 full. Take note that each cupcake is getting a few of the nuts.
8. Place in oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched with a finger.
9. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10mins then remove from pan to completely cool.

Lemon "Butter"cream

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup copha
• 1/4 cup margarine
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 1/8 cup lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean scraped

Method

1. Cream together copha and margarine.
2. Add 1/2 cup of icing sugar, beating the whole time and then a splash of lemon juice. Do this until all the icing sugar and juice is gone.
3. Add vanilla extract and beat for a further 3 or so minutes.

Rosewater Pistachio Brittle

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 2 tbsp rosewater
• 1 tbsp margarine
• couple of handfuls of coarsely chopped pistachios (really doesn't matter how many you use, depends how you like your brittle)

Method

1. Place sugar in a medium heavy bottom saucepan and cook over a medium heat for about 5 mins or until sugar dissolves and is a nice golden brown colour.
2. Add rosewater, stir through and remove from heat.
3. Add margarine and pistachios and stir to coat.
   
4. Pour and spread over a baking tray to cool. (You can line it with some baking paper but I found the margarine made it really non-stick so I'm not even sure it's necessary.)
5. Leave for about 20mins to cool and harden then break into shards.
6. Eat half the brittle before it even makes it onto a cupcake.

Pipe your icing onto cool cupcakes and top with a few shards of brittle. I sprinkled a heap of lavender coloured sugar over my brittle while it was still cooling and it ended up looking really pretty also.


**Note** Liquid sugar is beyond hot and sticky as all f***. If you get it on yourself it will mean a serious burn so make sure when preparing the brittle it has your complete and utter attention. Now, I have the awareness of a small child full of pixie sticks, whiz fizz and cordial but even I managed not to scald myself so turn off the TV, stop yelling at the kids and for Lucifer's sake put on some pants! Everyone knows genitals hate molten lava sugar!

Terrific Twos

This is a tad belated but my little man turned 2 about a month ago and I thought I would post some pictures. I'll use any excuse to bake cute things and a childs (especially your own) birthday is pretty much the best one you can get.

First up I made him some little cakes for his party at childcare. I was so glad I managed to get out of work early so I could join in. They are based on the same idea as the last post. That is, baked in little ice-cream cones. However, these are just a basic vegan chocolate cake with vanilla icing. One of the kids is allergic to gluten so I made a gluten free batch of vanilla cupcakes which I sadly couldn't put into ice-cream cones because they are made of wheat.

I made the icing nice and green to look like grass, sprinkled on some flower shaped sprinkles and placed a little toy dinosaur on top of each of them which caused all the kids to roar at each other. It pretty much made my year. So freakin' adorable!

Unfortunately I didn't think to take a photo of these before I took them in and there aren't really any good ones of them that don't include the other children. I feel a little weird putting photos of people I don't really know on the net without permission so I've just used the best ones I could find that only have my little man in them.

Then of course there was the birthday party and having a kid obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba could mean only one thing. Brobee cake!

This was just a basic vegan chocolate cake with vanilla icing except I used vanilla bean paste in the icing which of course made it about a million times tastier than the cupcakes. I baked two layers so it has icing sandwiching them together in the middle too. To say the very least it was a total sugar overload for the adults let alone the children but hey, it's a party!


Even though it was far from perfect I couldn't have been happier with how it (eventually) turned out. Decorating it drove me totally insane as the grass (in this case fur) tip of my piping set kept blocking up and yes, words were said. Words that should never be used when baking treats full of birthday love.


Of course being a total idiot and never learning from mistakes I didn't take a photo of this either but there was thankfully at least one shot (no thanks to me though, my photo-aholic boyfriend can take credit for that) where you can see it well enough to get the idea.

Also, a big thanks to Joel for buying him the drumkit which he of course loves. Peaceful households are so over-rated anyway and I'm sure that nervous tick I've developed will go away eventually.


**On a side-note the vegan potato salad I made for this BBQ was amazing if I do say so myself so I'll be sure to post the recipe for that soon.

Go coconuts for lice-screams!

I've always wanted to make cupcakes in ice-cream cones and now that I have I feel the fool for not having done it sooner! When I turned vegan I just assumed I'd have to kiss the fantasy goodbye only to discover that had I made the HUGE effort of extending my arm to pick up the box and read the insanely long list of...uh, 5 ingredients I would have known I was just being stupid. Who would have thought that I too would fall victim to the "Oh I'm vegan now, I can't eat anything that comes in a box and is bad for you". Idiot.

Anyway, I'm getting away from myself. Coconut and lime cupcakes in ice-cream cones, all the fun of summer wrapped up in one miniature treat! Hell, it couldn't taste anymore like summer unless you rolled it in sand, stuffed it with zinc and shoved an umbrella in it!*


You may be inclined to think the cones will burn but rest assured they won't. Don't ask me how, or why because the best I can think of is magic...probably something to do with voodoo but even more probable is it's not anything to do with voodoo at all. In fact, if someone can come up with an explanation other than the sacrificing of a goat for my unburnt ice-cream cones could you please let me in on it. Thanks!

But again, I digress. I loved these, the small, loud, sugar hailing child loved these, the hairy, artistic and also sugar hailing man loved these. (The very man behind my awesome header and keeping my sanity in check. If you like that arty stuff check out his blog.) So with a bit of luck, you'll love these!! Onward and upward (or downward as it may seem) to the recipe!

*May cause cupcake to taste gritty and pasty. Umbrella not intended for children under 3.


Coconut and Lime cup-screamers

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups soy milk
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups plain flour
• 1/4 cup cornflour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4-1/2 cup shredded coconut (depends how nuts you are for coc!)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cups white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp coconut extract
• zest of 1 lime
• packet of ice cream cones (with flat bottoms so they stand...like the new taco shells, genius)

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celcius and place cones on a baking tray. (Mine were really small sized ones so I ended up filling about 20 so fill the tray to be safe, you can always remove the ones you don't fill later.)
2. In a medium bowl mix together soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Place aside to curdle.
3. In another medium bowl sift together plain flour, cornflour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. To the soy milk mixture add the canola oil, sugar, vanilla extract and coconut extract. Beat until foamy.
5. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until no large lumps remain.
6. Add lime zest and mix until combined.
7. Fill your ice-cream cones 2/3 to 3/4 full.
8. Place in oven and bake for 18-22 minutes (this will depend on how big your cones are) or until tops spring back when lightly touched with a finger.
9. Remove from oven and leave to cool on tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
   

Lime "Butter"cream

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup copha
• 1/4 cup margarine
• 2 cups icing sugar (or more if you feel it is needed)
• 1/8 cup lime juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Cream together copha and margarine. (Copha can be tricky as it is really solid so I find chopping it up well and then a few seconds...seriously ONLY a few seconds, in the microwave can help. Especially on cold days.)
2. Add 1/2 cup of icing sugar, beating the whole time and then a splash of lime juice. Do this until all the icing sugar and juice is gone.
3. Add vanilla extract and beat for a further 3 or so minutes.

Pipe onto cuppies and salute the coming of summer!

Ugly Lumps

These little babies aren't exactly going to get all the ooo's and ahhh's at first glance one might be searching for when taking a batch of cupcakes to friends but they sure are tasty. They rise a lot more like muffins making them rather uneasy on the eyes but isn't that why the baking gods invented frosting?

I've made quite a lot of peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes in my time but these were a pretty different spin off. The ball of peanut butter in the middle I think needs some margarine to make it a little more runny rather than the "stick to the roof of your mouth" texture usually gained from a mouthful of peanut butter. I've
adjusted the recipe accordingly though. The one last thing I'd probably do is add a tiny pinch of pink salt flakes because I love salty sweet baked goods but this is totally optional.


We also found some vegan peanut brittle at the asian grocer on the way home so I decorated them with a few crushed pieces of that. For something thrown together rather quickly for an afternoon bbq in the park I'm pretty happy.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache (makes 12 cupcakes)

Ingredients

• 75 grams of dark vegan chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/4 cup dutch pressed cocoa
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup canola
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 tsp salt

For the peanut butter middle

• 4 tbsp peanut butter (smooth or crunchy...it's your call)
• 1 tbsp margarine
• 2 or 3 tbsp icing sugar
• pinch of salt flakes (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius and line tray with papers.
2. Half fill a saucepan with water and bring to simmer. Reduce heat so water is steaming but not boiling. Cover with a bowl making sure it has a lip that comes over the edge of the saucepan.
3. Add dark chocolate and stir gently with a rubber spatula* until fully melted.
4. In a medium bowl mix together soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Put aside to curdle.
5. In another medium bowl sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cornflour and salt.
6. To the soy milk mixture add dark brown sugar, canola oil and vanilla essence. Beat until foamy.
7. Add dry ingredients to wet and beat until no large lumps remain.
   
8. Add melted dark chocolate and beat until combined.
9. For the peanut butter middle combine all ingredients and roll into 12 even balls.
10. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and push peanut butter ball into middle. Use a teaspoon to smooth batter over the top of ball.
11. Place in oven and bake for 18-20 mins or until tops spring back when lightly pressed with finger.
    
12. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10mins then remove from pan to completely cool.

Vegan Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup soy milk
• 110 grams vegan dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 3 tbsp maple syrup

Method

1. In a small saucepan bring soy milk to light boil
2. Remove from heat and add chocolate and syrup.
3. Mix with rubber spatula* and continue until chocolate is melted and icing is smooth and shiny.
4. Remove from heat and leave to cool a little as this will make it easier to spread.
   

Top your cupcakes with the Ganache and either a few peanuts or like me, some peanut brittle. Enjoy!


*IMPORTANT - Chocolate is not your friend and dark organic vegan chocolate is not cheap. It is imperative to use a rubber spatula (or if you don't have one a metal spoon) in these instances. The tiniest drop of water will cause it to seize rendering it completely useless. Do not use a wooden spoon as they soak up moisture and make sure there is no way steam can enter chocolate when melting over a water bath.

>TIP - Dutch cocoa IS your friend...although sometimes on the slightly expensive side you will notice a huge difference in any of your chocolate cakes if you make the switch. Come on people...it's only a few extra dollars!!

I have the powder!

Matcha powder that is...

Been meaning to make some form of green tea (matcha) cupcake for awhile. Finally bit the bullet and ordered it online as every asian grocer I've been to either doesn't have it or is just hiding is very well.

Pretty happy with how these turned out. The green tea flavor is really subtle against the acidic lemony icing. Plus, they're picky eating child approved. I see no reason why you couldn't add more matcha powder to the cake and less lemon juice to the icing if this suits your fancy. However, if you want a truly awesome cupcake I'd stick to the recipe. I am pretty rad after all.

Vegan Matcha Lemon Cupcakes (makes 12 cupcakes)

Ingredients

• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups plain flour
• 2 tsp cornflour
  
• 1 tbsp matcha powder
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp lemon zest

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius and line tray with papers.
   
2. In a large bowl whisk together soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside to curdle.
3. In a medium bowl sift together flour, cornflour, matcha powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Add canola oil, sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest to the curdled soy mixture and beat until mixed.
5. Add dry mixture to wet and beat until no large lumps are left.
6. Fill cupcake liners to 2/3 full and bake for 20-22 mins or until tops spring back when lightly pressed with finger.
7. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10mins and then remove from pan to cool completely.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup margarine (I use nuttlex)
• 1/4 cup vegan cream cheese, room temp (nothing beats toffuti cream cheese!)
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Cream together nuttlex and cream cheese.
2. Add icing sugar in 1/2 cup batches. Mix until smooth and creamy.
3. Add lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
   
   

Pipe on to cupcakes, decorate as desired and enjoy!