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.


Chai Coconut Coffee Cupcakes:

1 cup chai soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tsp coconut extract

To make the chai soy milk, you can put the soy milk in a saucepan on low heat. Put 3-4 chai tea bags in the saucepan and let sit for 5 minutes. Take off the heat, and let cool. Squeeze all of the extra liquid from the teabags before you dispose of them.

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

Coffee Coconut Butter Cream Frosting:

1/2 cup earth balance
1/2 cup shortening
3 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup really strong coffee
2 tsp coconut extract

I use instant coffee for the frosting. I put about 3 tbsp of the instant coffee in a bowl and add 5-6 tbsp of really hot water so it dissolves. Just measure it out and add it to the frosting.

You could even put coconut on the cupcake itself instead of adding the extract to the frosting if you wanted to decorate them!

German Chocolate Cake Cupcakes:


1 cup soy
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
1/3 cup cocoa powder

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

For the frosting, or topping I should say..it's basically coconut in caramel sauce with chopped pecans. Vegan caramel sauce isn't a very easy recipe. It's a lot thinner than your average caramel sauce and it can be hard to work with.

Caramel Sauce:

note: I got this recipe from the back of my confectioners sugar bag

3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup soy milk
dash of salt


Directions:

In a small heavy saucepan, combine the brown sugar, butter, milk and salt. Cook and stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved.
Increase heat to medium and boil sauce for 3-6 minutes.
Set aside to cool. (it will thicken once it's cooled down)

Once it's cooled down, add about 2 cups of flaked coconut to the saucepan and fold the caramel sauce in with the coconut.

Chop about 1/2 cup of sugared pecans(or however much you want) and also add it to the coconut and caramel sauce. Fold together until they look well mixed in.

It's easier to put the topping on with a fork, So put about 1 fork fulls on each cupcake.

Happy Baking!!

Oreo, Confetti with Strawberry Frosting & PB&J

I baked my friend Brendan these cupcakes for his birthday. They all came out good. Blah Blah Blah. I'm slacking on updating this blog.

Chocolate Raspberry & Caramel Mocha Cinnamon Cupcakes

Banana Creme Pie & Oreo Cupcakes(again)

Posting recipes later

Tiramisu & Chocolate Coconut Cupcake

I'm really slacking with this blog. I always forget about it without meaning to but I'm going to try staying on top of it now. I have two other cupcakes to post about after these, which I baked about a month ago and I'm just posting about now. I baked Tiramisu and Chocolate Coconut cupcakes, and both came out good. I don't have excellent coconut extract, and I didn't use coconut milk for them or else they would've came out much better tasting. Someone eating the Tiramisu cupcake said "Holy Shit" after taking a bite out of it (in a good way). Here are the recipes:

Tiramisu 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
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tbsp of very very strong coffee (cooled)
(for the strong coffee, I have instant coffee grounds. I put 3 tbsp in a cup and 5 tbsp water)
1 tbsp of cocoa powder

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

Tiramisu Butter Cream 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
2 tbsp strong coffee (cooled)
2 tbsp tofutti cream cheese

Pipe frosting on cupcakes. Then with a sifter, sift cocoa powder over the tops. Don't completely cover the cupcake with the powder though. Garnish with a chocolate covered espresso bean.

Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes:

1 cup coconut milk
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
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp good coconut extract

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

Coconut Cream Cheese 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
1/4 cup tofutti cream cheese
1 tsp coconut extract

Put a thick layer of the frosting on each cupcake with a frosting knife. Cover the tops with shredded sweetened coconut.

Happy Baking!

Sprinkles

Sprinkles is a cupcake shop/bakery out of Beverly Hills, CA. They are some of the best cupcakes I've had (they aren't vegan though, unfortunately!). My sister went to California last month and had a layover in Arizona (where my best friend lives). He picked her up from the airport, brought her to lunch, and also brought her to Sprinkles. I was extremely happy when I picked my sister up from Boston and she had cupcakes for me (pumpkin cupcake featured above). They were delicious. I think they are putting a Sprinkles in somewhere in Boston. Anyway, thanks a bunch to Justin for buying me cupcakes!

Peanut Butter Chocolate & Uh-Oh Oreo

I've made regular Oreo cupcakes before, and a friend of mine loves Uh-oh Oreo's so I have him to thank for the idea. The Peanut Butter Chocolate cupcake was kind of a pain to do, only because you had to make two different cupcake batters for it. Overall I heard they both came out great.

Uh-Oh Oreo 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
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Take out, let cool.
Uh-Oh Oreo 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
1/3 cup cocoa powder

You're also going to need one package of Uh-Oh Oreo's for this. Finely crush up about 12 cookies in a zip lock bag. Mix the crushed cookies in with your chocolate frosting. (It can be difficult to frost your cupcakes if the cookie chunks are too big.) After frosting the cupcakes, i always cut extra Oreo's in half and put one on the top to make it look cute.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcake:

Chocolate Batter:

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
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup of cocoa powder

Peanut Butter Batter:

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
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3-1/2 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)

After putting the paper liners in your cupcake tin, put one tablespoon of the chocolate and peanut butter batter in each. Take a few toothpicks and kind of mix the batter around. Make sure not to completely mix then together. Just give it a marble effect.
Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Take out, let cool.
You will have a lot of extra batter, you would be able to make another dozen of these cupcakes with the extras. You might want to only do this recipe if you're planning on making 24, or if you want to put aside the extras and bake them shortly after.

Chocolate Peanut Butter 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
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter

You can do this recipe with either plain chocolate frosting or chocolate peanut butter frosting. Frost your cupcakes with a piping bag, then sprinkle the tops with crushed peanuts.

Happy Baking!