Vegan Peanut Butter Cupcakes w/ Peanut Butter Frosting & Chocolate Ganache

The title is a damn mouthfull!

Incidentally, so are these cupcakes.

I baked them for the RSPCA Cupcake Day, which we got well into at work. We ended up with about 20 varieties of treats and several hundred dollars of funds for the cause (cause being homeless puppies, kitties and the like).

I'm not vegan, but I often bake as if I were. Vegan treats are fluffier and better - 'nuff said.

So I'll give you the vegan version alongside the non-vegan version and leave it up to you to decide. To warn you, though, I've never made them non-vegan so don't call me mean names if you go that route and they're craptastic!

Peanut Butter Cupcakes:
Ingredients:
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
2 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups soy milk + 1 tablespoon & 1 teaspoon white vinegar (or, 1 1/4 cup buttermilk for non-vegan)
2 1/2 teaspoons bicarb soda
3 eggs worth No-Egg - instructions on box (or 3 eggs for non-vegan)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup Nuttelex or an equally kick ass and creamy vegan butter sub (or 1/2 cup butter for non-vegan)
3/4 cup brown sugar
89/100 cup caster sugar (yeah, stupid.. it's my fault... it's like 3/4 cup + 1/8 cup... ish)

To Make:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
2. Beat Nuttelex (or whatever), peanut butter, brown sugar and caster sugar until extra creamy
3. Add egg substitute or eggs and vanilla and keep beating until very fluffy
4. Beat the soy milk and white vinegar concoction in the bowl of creaminess
5. Mix up the flour, bicarb soda and salt real quick in a separate bowl
6. Add as much as you can at a time, beating after each addition, and stop when the last bit of flour is well-combined
7. Spoon the batter into lined cupcake trays, filling them about 2/3
8. Bake them for 10-15 minutes and make sure you poke a little thingy into them to make sure it comes out clean before you declare them done (you don't want them brown - they should still be white-ish)
9. Right before you take them out of the oven, make some sugar syrup to brush on them. Just boil 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup white sugar until the sugar dissolves completely.
10. Brush the sugar syrup onto the tops of the cupcakes

***Luckily, mine sunk down a bit, allowing a little hallow for the chocolate ganache. If this doesn't happen to yours (it may not in some ovens), that's cool. Just shmear the chocolate ganache all over the tops***

Chocolate Ganache:
Ingredients:
200grams dark, dairy-free, vegan chocolate (or, any dark chocolate for non-vegan)
4 tablespoons thick soy milk (or, 1 cup pure cream for non-vegan)

To Make:
1. Break the chocolate into pieces and either melt it in the microwave or on stovetop
2. When it's totally, completely melted, add the soy milk (or cream) and stir it VIGOROUSLY
3. Spoon into the hallows of your cupcakes (if they have hallows) or smear it all over the top

Peanut Butter Frosting:
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups Nuttelex (or, butter for non-vegan)
1 1/4 cups smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons soy milk (or regular milk for non-vegan)
4 - 5 cups icing sugar

To Make:
1. Beat the butter, peanut butter, milk and vanilla together at high speed until it's extremely light and fluffy
2. Add 2 cups of icing sugar and beat at high speed until they're completely mixed
3. Add the next 2 - 3 cups of icing sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing seriously well after each addition. I only used 4 cups, but it's a matter of preference. Just keep tasting it until it tastes how you like it!

***This makes a crapload of icing! I'd suggest halving it or at least making 3/4 of the amount - although that would be some hard math right there***

The last step in the process is to frost the cupcakes! Conceal that creamy ganache with oodles of fluffy peanut butter frosting. I piped it on, but you can spread it if you like. Do whatever.

Just enjoy!

Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Frosting (for Australia Day!)

Yesterday was Australia Day! Before the drinking and barbecuing began, I churned out some special Aussie cupcakes. I ate a fair few in order to pad my stomach for the afternoon's heavy alcohol consumption-- so I can happily report that the verdict is... nummy!

The cupcakes are my usual vanilla cupcake recipe, which is here. And guess what flavor the frosting is! GUESS GUESS GUESS! It's LEMON! Ohmigoodness.

Everything went fairly smoothly. I put too much lemon juice in the frosting, so I had to add more butter and sugar-- but stick to what the recipe calls for and you'll be fine. If you want them extra-lemony, add extra zest, not juice.

At one point, I felt like a fraud when I called a mini cupcake a 'little shit' (it kept falling over, but in retrospect, that was probably my fault for making it so top-heavy with all that frosting). But immediately felt remorseful and said, 'No you're not a little shit, you're lemony and perfect.'

Lemon Buttercream Frosting
(from Cupcakes by Martha Swift and Lisa Thomas)
1/2 cup butter, soft
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Zest from 2 lemons
2 cups icing sugar

1. Beat butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, and half the icing sugar
2. Gradually add remaining icing sugar, and beat well

I think maybe double the recipe. Or halve my cupcake recipe. Cause I know you don't want to have to be stingy with the frosting.

Aussie flag, coat of arms, and silhouette.


HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!

Mini Birthday Cake

Last weekend we celebrated my friend Hannah's birthday! I've never been in the country for her birthday, so I felt I ought to make something real special for her ('I've never been in the country for her birthday'-- that makes me sound so cool).

I decorated it in such a hurry, my kitchen was left looking like the aftermath of a party hurricane.

The cake is a vegan recipe I got from one of my favourite blogs, Bread and Honey. However, Hannah's tumtum doesn't agree with wheat, so I substituted brown rice flour for this particular cake. I've used this recipe many times, and both flours work a charm. I also double it, because the original recipe is for a mini vegan cake, and I usually want a full size 8-incher. So, this is the recipe, doubled.

Vegan Chocolate Cake
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup cold water
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C)
2. Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl
3. Grease an 8 inch cake pan
4. Pour da batta in
5. Bake 25-30 minutes
6. If you want to make a three-tiered cake like Hannah's birthday cake, after the cake has cooled COMPLETELY, cut three circles out of it, each slightly smaller than the last. My base circle was probably about 3 1/2 inches across, 4 tops.

The frosting I made is very yummy, but cream cheese/whipped cream frostings are a pain because they're just not especially firm and they don't like to be out of the fridge for long. I made a very small batch because the cake is teensy. Also, note that the frosting isn't vegan.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 a package cream cheese
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup heavy whipping cream

1. Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl
2. Add cream and continue to beat beat beat until it forms firm peaks

So, stack the three cake circles, using the frosting as an adhesive between each one. I stuck a wood skewer (which I later put a little H-flag on) right through the whole cake to prevent slippage. Now, frost the whole darn thing and decorate with sugar and spice and everything nice-- that's what birthday girls are made of!

White Cupcakes + Sensational Chocolate Frosting

One evening I announced to my housemates and husband (heehee, I've only written husband like twice since getting hitched) that I was going to bake for them the best cupcakes in the entire world!

I combined a few recipes I found online with a recipe I had scribbled in one of my many Official Recipe Notebooks.

For some reason, I feel uneasy about my first recipe post. Anyone could stumble upon this here blog; it could fall into the wrong hands!What if someone uses it against me? Hopefully, no one reads it but you. I know I can trust you. Enjoy!

Vanilla Cupcakes
2 cups self-raising flour
3/4 caster sugar
3/4 cup milk (I've always used soy, but no doubt the real thing will be even better)
125 g butter, melted then cooled
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 200C (390F-- but my oven tends to be crapola, so maybe try 175C/350F if your oven isn't a P.O.S.
2. Combine flour and caster sugar in mixing bowl and make a nest in the center
3. Add milk, butter, eggs, and vanilla
4. Stir gently to combine
5. Spoon into cupcake pans
6. Bake 10-12 minutes, or thereabouts (again, my oven is an oven unlike others)
7. Remove from pan, and when fully cool, pile on the:

Rich Chocolate Frosting
1/2 cup butter (or substitute), softened
2 1/4 cup confectioner sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4-1/2 cup milk

1. Cream butter
2. Gradually beat in confectioner sugar, cocoa, and vanilla
3. Add milk until frosting reaches spreading consistency
4. Spread!

This is the batch I originally made, halved. However, sometimes I make the full batch so that the cupcake:frosting ratio is something like 1:1. In other words, I LOVE THIS FROSTING AND IT DOESN'T MATTER IF IT EVEN MAKES IT TO THE CUPCAKES BECAUSE EATING ALL OF THE FROSTING RIGHT OUTTA THE BOWL IS A VIABLE OPTION.

The cupcakes themselves, the frosting, and the mixing bowl from whence it came in the background.

One special one for me to eat...



...while I do this post.