Updates

Hello Everyone!

Sorry about not updating recently. I moved into the city a few weeks ago and I'm still getting situated and everything. Hopefully I'll be baking in no time.

Other news: This weekend there was a hardcore fest in Boston that I went to. My roommate let a group of friends stay over and I recognized one of them as someone who reads my blog. His name is Kwame, and he's awesome. I was wicked excited to meet someone who regularly reads this. Unfortunately we were not able to bake up a storm together. Next time we run into each other I'm sure we will be to our necks in baked goods.


Hi Kwame!


Keep checking back,
Claire

Lavender Pear, Green Tea & Honey Dew, and Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

These are Lavender Pear, Green Tea & Honey Dew, and Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes. My friend Klint came up with the idea of the Green Tea & Honey Dew cupcakes (thanks Klint!). When baking these I left the lavender cupcakes and the green tea cupcakes in the oven for a bit too long. If I didn't over bake them, they would've come out better. People seemed to like a lot anyways. I was afraid of the lavender cupcakes tasting too much like perfume. For the green tea cupcakes I didn't have matcha green tea powder, which would've helped with the flavor a lot. If you don't have a decent amount of time on your hands to bake these, I wouldn't recommend it. Other than that, these are interesting flavors that you don't hear of on an everyday basis, and they were fun to make. Here are the recipes:

Lavender Pear Cupcakes:

You need to get dried lavender flowers for this recipe. You can ususally find them at Whole Foods or any other natural organic grocery store. If you can't find them yourself, ask someone. You need 2 tbsp of lavender.

Once you have this, put the 2 tbsp in a bowl with 1 tbsp of sugar and 1/4 cup of water. Heat this up over the stove or in a microwave (I used the microwave) for a minute. This will bring all over the flavoring out of the flowers, and into the sugar water. Set this aside to cool.

Once cooled, strain out the flowers (a sifter works good for straining the flowers out). You can throw out the flowers, you just need the sugar water. Put this in a 1 cup measuring cup, put in some soy milk, and fill the rest of it with the syrup/juice from canned pears.

1 cup soy milk/lavender sugar water/pear juice
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
very finely sliced pears (canned)

Although you can't tell in the picture because I over baked these, I made the batter a light lavender color with food coloring.

Bake at 360 for 18-20 minutes. Take out, set to cool.

Pear Buttercream Frosting:

1/2 cup earth balance
1/2 cup shortening
3 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup pear juice/syrup from canned pears
2 tsp vanilla extract
take the pears from the can and cut them up very thin and small
about 1/4 cup of small thin chopped pears

I used a frosting knife to frost these, because the base in the frosting is juice and using a piping bag would've made a huge mess.
I put some purple food coloring in the frosting, and cut little slivers of fresh pear to garnish the tops of each cupcake.

Green Tea & Honey Dew Cupcakes:

These will be best with matcha green tea powder, but unforuntately I couldn't find any so I had to improvise. I had green tea bags, so I put 1 cup of soy milk in a bowl, and added 5 tea bags to the milk. I heated it up on the stove for about 3 minutes on low heat, and set it aside to cool. Before you throw out the teabags, make sure you squeeze the milk from each bag.

1 cup green tea soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

With matcha green tea powder, you wouldn't need to color the cupcake batter because it's a bright green color. Just using tea bags, it doesn't have much of a color at all so I also added green and brown food coloring to this (it should be more green than brown).

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Take out, set to cool.

Honey Dew Buttercream Frosting:

For this I just bought the pre-cut small container of honey dew melon from the store because it was guaranteed to be ripe. When I got home, I cup up the melon into small chunks, and put some sugar over it and set it in the fridge overnight.
I don't have a blender or a food processer, so again I had to improvise. I just mashed up the melon with a potato masher to get all of the juice out, and so it was mostly pureed (it worked better than I thought it would).

1/2 cup earth balance
1/2 cup shortening
3 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup honey dew juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup mashed/pureed honey dew

Once frosted, I garnished with a raspberry.
Thanks again, Klint!

Pinapple Upside Down Cupcakes:

These aren't really upside down, because they are cupcakes and it wouldn't be easy to do with cupcake liners. These are the easiest cupcakes to bake out of them all.

1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup crushed pinapple (in the juice)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Take out, set to cool.

Simple Vanilla Frosting:

1/2 cup earth balance
1/2 cup shortening
3 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup soy milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

To garnish, I sprinkled the tops with cinnamon and added a maraschino cherry.

Happy Baking!

Cat

Yes, that cupcake does say "Cat". Cat (or Catherine) is my sister. When I was out visiting her in California I was also lucky enough to be there for her birthday. She requested that I make her my cupcakes for her birthday, and she got her wish. These are Coconut Creme filled Chocolate Cupcakes. Kind of like a Hostess Cupcake (which I made before a few posts back), only with coconut a.k.a. one of the best combinations ever. Here is the recipe:

Coconut Creme filled Chocolate Cupcake:

1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes
Take out, set to cool.

After the cupcakes are completely cooled off, you want to cut a hole in the top of the cupcake. I have pictures throughout my blog of this. If you follow it, you'll probably know what I'm talking about. Take a sharp knife and cut an upside down "cone" shape in the top of each cupcake. Take that piece out.

The filling for this is just simple vanilla frosting with coconut extract.

Simple Vanilla Frosting:

1/2 cup earth balance
1/2 cup shortening
3 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup soy milk

+ 1 tbsp of coconut extract

On the piece of cupcake you cut out, cut the cone shape off of the end (you can eat that part) so it's just the flat top part. Once you fill the part of cupcake you cut out with your filling, you can put the top back on it.

I topped this cupcake with chocolate ganache

Chocolate Ganache:

1/2 cup soy milk
2 1/2 cups semisweet vegan chocolate chips

Over low to medium heat, combine the soy milk and the chocolate chips in a sauce pan and keep mixing it until they mix together.

Once this is cooled off a bit (but still melty) put about a teaspoon of this over each cupcake and spread it around until it covers most, or all of the top.

With extra coconut frosting, you can put it into a piping bag and make a Hostess-esq design on the top.

I love you Catherine!
Happy Baking.

I'm finally updating!

Sorry about all of the recipes that I failed to post. I've been busy and lazy. I'm finally getting caught up with them. I still have about 6 other posts I need to update. Those will be coming soon. Either tonight, or tomorrow so keep checking back for them!

- Claire

Cupcakes, Muffins & Oatmeal Bars

I baked so many treats this time because I had a bunch of extra fruit left over and I was leaving on vacation the same week. I didn't want to have them go to waste, so I worked with what I had. I made Key Lime cupcakes, Banana Nut muffins, Blackberry muffins, and Plum Raspberry oatmeal bars. They were all fun and pretty easy to make. The oatmeal bars are always a hit. Enjoy!

Key lime Cupcakes:

1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup fresh key lime juice
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tbsp of key lime zest

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Take out, let cool.

Key Lime Frosting:

1/2 cup earth balance
1/2 cup shortening
3 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 half key lime juice, half soy milk
1 tbsp of key lime zest

Banana Nut Muffins:

These are the BEST banana nut muffins I've ever had. Unfortunately I got the recipe from my good friend Gaby. She asked me to keep the recipe a secret. Sorry!

Blackberry Muffins:

2 cups of flour
3 tsp of baking powder
1/2 cup soymilk
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup brown sugar
egg replacer- one egg
(I used about 1 1/4 cups of blackberries
feel free to add less though)
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Take out, let cool.

Raspberry Plum Oatmeal Bars:

This is a great recipe I got from a cook book that I have at home. I'll have to fill this in later.

Happy Baking!

Blackberry Vanilla Bean & Black Forest Cupcakes

These are Blackberry Vanilla Bean and Black Forest Cupcakes. I really liked the outcome of both of them. These are both a little more time consuming and expensive to make, but they are worth it. give yourself at least 30 minutes of prep time for both of them.

Blackberry Vanilla Bean Cupcake:

1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of blackberries

Try smooshing the blackberries before you add them to the mix.. The batter should be purple.
After you have the mix all together, put 1 tbsp of the batter in the cupcake liner (in the pan). Set that aside for a few minutes. Put a handful of blackberries in a bowl and smoosh them together so all of the juice comes out. It may help putting them in the microwave for about 10 seconds first. Take the cupcake pan with the 1/2 filled cups, and with a spoon, drizzle about a teaspoon the blackberry juice over the batter. Once that is done, you can put the other tbsp of the batter over that.

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Take out, let cool.

Vanilla Bean Frosting:

1/2 cup earth balance
1/2 cup shortening
3 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup soy milk
1/2 of the extract from a vanilla bean pod

Once the cupcakes are frosted, you can garnish with a fresh blackberry!

Black Forest Cupcakes:

1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup of maraschino cherry grenadine

about 15 fresh black cherries (use later)

This is close to the same process you go through with the blackberry cupcakes. Once you have your cupcake mix well blended, put 1 tbsp of the batter in the cupcake liner (in the pan). Set that aside for a few minutes.
Then you take the black cherries you set aside, and you slice them. you can usually get 4 slices from each cherry. This part can be a pain because the cherries do have pits inside of them.
Once you have your cherry slices, lay them on top of the batter in the cupcake pan. 3 or 4 slices fit per cup. After this, put one more tbsp of the batter over the cherries.

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Take out, let cool.
Keep in mind that the cherries can be very juicy depending on how ripe they are. You may want to leave them in for a few minutes longer than that.

Once cooled, frost with a simple vanilla frosting.

Simple Vanilla Frosting:

1/2 cup earth balance
1/2 cup shortening
3 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup soy milk

Garnish with a fresh black cherry and chopped pieces of chocolate

Happy Baking!

Chai Coconut Coffee & German Chocolate Cake Cupcakes

Both of these cupcakes came out delicious. I got the idea for the Chai Coconut Coffee cupcake from my friend Klint. As for the German Chocolate Cake cupcake, I have been meaning to make these for a while but i was hesitant because I wasn't sure what the outcome would be. I was actually surprised when they loved them. Anyway, I'll post the recipes for these later.