Adventures in . . . Vegan Graham Cracker Cupcakes

It's another recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World! Although I think it might be one of my last. While these recipes are reliable and easy, I'm just not crazy about the texture and consistency of the vegan cake. The vegan buttercream frosting, though, that was something. Yet, even the frosting is problematic, because it's made with vegan shortening that just sort of weirds me out. I think I'm going to leave the vegan confections to Sam, the vegan-cookie guy.

So on to this Graham Cracker Cupcake. They were a bit disappointing. They were pretty oily, and, like the other vegan cupcakes, lacked structural integrity. The cake itself is made with graham cracker crumbs, but in the end, it didn't really taste like graham cracker; it tasted more like molasses (there are molasses in it). Plus, these were supposed to be S'mores cupcakes, but the chocolate bar I bought to shave on top had milk fat in it. Plus it turns out that honey (as in, Honey Maid Graham Crackers) isn't vegan! I guess theoretically I could have figured that out (It comes from bees; bees are animals), but for some reason I didn't until Sam, the aforementioned vegan-cookie guy, told me. So I guess you have to find special vegan graham crackers and special milkfat-less chocolate. See what I mean? I'm done with the vegan cupcakes.

Here's the recipe:

S'mores Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World
Makes 12 regular + 8 mini-minis

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tin.

Make graham cracker crumbs by putting about 6 whole graham crackers into the food processor. Measure out 1/2 C.

Mix in a large bowl:
3/4 C brown sugar
1/2 C canola oil
2 T molasses
1/4 C soy yogurt
1 1/4 C soy milk
1 t vanilla extract

Sift in a separate bowl:
1 C flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t salt
Add 1/2 C graham cracker crumbs, and mix it up.

Add dry ingredients to the wet in three batches, mixing well after each addition.
Fill cupcake liners almost full. Bake for 22-25 min (I baked for 22 probably).

Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting (totally the best part, although not really s'more-like)

Beat until well combined and fluffy:
½ C nonhydrogenated shortening
½ C nonhydrogenated margarine

Add 3 ½ C confectioners' sugar, sifted if clumpy, and beat for about 3 more minutes.

Add 1 ½ t vanilla and ¼ C plain soy milk and beat for another 5-7 minutes until fluffy.

Adventures in . . . Sweet Mandy B's Chocolate Cupcakes

Wow. For opening night of the Motley Coffeehouse, I made a chocolate cupcake recipe that comes from Sweet Mandy B's, a bakery in Chicago. The best part, by far, was the frosting. It was the most amazing chocolate frosting I've ever had. I think this has something to do with the fact that I used Scharffen Berger Cocoa Powder (unsweetened), and you could really taste the bright, tangy bite of Scharffen Berger's chocolate. The cake part itself was a bit fussy, and none of the cupcakes really rose that well, and a fair number of them sank. My guess is that they were a little undercooked (I'm not complaining, though.), and that I probably shouldn't have piled so many in the oven at one time. Here's the recipe:

Sweet Mandy B's Chocolate Cupcakes With Chocolate Frosting
Makes 24 + a handful of minis.

Preheat oven to 325. Line muffin tins.

Sift into big bowl:
1 ½ C flour
1 C unsweetened cocoa
1 ¼ t b.s.
1 ¼ t b.p.
1 t salt
2 C sugar

Turn mixer on low and add, in order:
¾ C hot water
¾ C milk
2 eggs
½ C vegetable oil
1 ½ t vanilla extract

Scrape down sides of bowl and beat on medium, briefly, to achieve a smooth batter.

Scoop into muffin tins. Fill tins about ½ full. Bake for 30 min. Chocolate Frosting
Cream:
1 C (2 sticks) butter

Beat in:
3 T dark corn syrup
1 t vanilla
pinch salt

With machine off, sift in 2/3 C unsweetened cocoa. Carefully turn the mixer on low and avoid inhaling (these were the instructions that I found--is this for real that it's dangerous to inhale cocoa powder?). Then turn off and sift in 1 lb confectioners' sugar, in three parts (I put in 2 C confectioners' sugar, all at once). Last, add ½ C whipping cream, and beat until fluffy.

Adventures in . . . Chocolate "Friands"

My new cookbook obsession is "Tartine," from the unbelievable bakery of same name in San Francisco. In the past few days I've made apple-pear galettes and chocolate croissants from it, but by far the best--and easiest--thing I've made has been these mini chocolate cupcakes. They are as easy to make as vegan cupcakes--it's amazing how much time you save when you don't have to cream butter and eggs--and they are as rich and intense as a flourless chocolate cake. I made them in very mini size, and I don't think that one could handle much more than that.


Here's the recipe for the mini cake:

Tartine Chocolate Friands (makes 24 very mini muffins--this is 1/2 of their recipe, which they claimed made 24, but those must be 24 medium-sized muffins)

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 mini-muffin-cup tins, or butter and flour baking sheets.

Chop 3 oz bittersweet chocolate, and place in medium mixing bowl. (I put it in a giant measuring cup, so that I could pour straight from the cup. If you do this, they become pretty much one-bowl cupcakes, which is sort of fantastic.)

In a small saucepan, melt 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter over medium heat.

While it's melting, combine in a medium bowl:
3/4 C + 1 1/2 t sugar
1/4 C + 1/8 C flour
1 T cornstarch
1/8 t salt

Pour butter over chocolate, and whisk until smooth. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture in 3 batches, whisking well after each addition. Add 1 egg and whisk until combined. Then add 1 more egg and whisk just until incorporated.

Fill cups 3/4 full. Bake until cakes start to crack on top--I baked them about 12-13 minutes.


Now, for half of the cupcakes, I just left them as they were and sifted some powdered sugar on top, and they were terrific. I highly recommend this option.

For the other half, I tried to make them look like the ones in the book, and topped them with a chocolate ganache. Then I REALLY tried to make them look like the ones in the book, which had a light brown stripe on them.

I was very annoyed that the book didn't explain what was used to make that stripe, but I experimented by pouring some boiling cream over some heath-bar chunks, and then sticking them in the microwave to melt some more. This didn't really melt the heath bar, but it melted it enough that I could put it in a makeshift pastry bag and squeeze enough out to make the pretty decoration. Anyway, I think this was overkill, and that the plain ones with powdered sugar were perfect as they were. But here's the recipe for that:

Place 2 oz bittersweet chocolate in one bowl, and 2 oz heath bar chunks in another. Bring a little more than a 1/3 C of heavy cream almost to a boil, and pour most of it over the bittersweet chocolate, and some over the heath bar. Whisk the chocolate to form a ganache. Then put the heath bar in the microwave for 30-second increments, stirring or whisking at each interval. Scoop it into a ziplock and trim a teeny hole in one corner, and pipe it in a thin line on the side of a cupcake. Honestly, I don't think it's worth it, but I'm just letting you all know how I did it.