OMG Cupcakes

Today's post is short and sweet... but not too sweet. Not too raw either.

Last week, Amanda and I made the best baked cupcakes ever. They were chocolate banana with peanut butter frosting with pretzels on top. We adapted it from this recipe. I made a ton of these and thought I'd have too many left over. They were gone within 2 days. I advise you to make them ASAP and prove to skeptics how incredible vegan baked goods are. Or ya know... just eat them all yourself.

Chocolate Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting: 

makes about 12 cupcakes with extra frosting

 

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup raw sugar
• 5 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup non-dairy milk

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. In large sized bowl, stir together sugar, coconut oil, vanilla, and mashed bananas. In medium sized bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. A little at a time, stir in flour mixture and almond milk into the sugar mixture until smooth. Place batter evenly into lined cupcake pan, and bake for 12-15 minutes.
 

Peanut Butter Frosting

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup agave/honey/maple syrup
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 tablespoons almond milk
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Simply whisk it all together! Feel free to add more or less of anything to get desired consistency and taste. Frost the cupcakes and top with pretzel pieces. WOOT.

water fast: day 1 & cupcakes for st. pattie's!

Wow. I slept for about 15 hours. I am a sleep-o-holic anyway, but I could have easily slept more. The only reason I actually got up was to say hi to my friends who came over, and give them some of these:

They're Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Maple Whiskey Vanilla Frosting. Everyone is saying they're delicious so I advise you to make them TODAY. It is Saint Patrick's Day =)

Obviously I didn't eat any today, but I did have one yesterday and can tell you they're awesome. Super moist,  chocolaty with just a HINT of excellent beer. Guinness is a family favourite here.

I've seen this recipe a lot for St. Pattie's, but never a vegan one. So here ya go! Enjoy.

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Whiskey Frosting: makes about 20 cupcakes 


Cupcakes:
1 bottle of Guinness Extra Stout (other kinds are NOT vegan)
2 sticks vegan butter
3/4 cup cocoa 
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups raw sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 tsp instant coffee powder
1 tsp salt
2 Tb ground flax mixed with 4 Tb water 
1/2 cup vegan yogurt (or use non-dairy milk)


Frosting:
1/2 package tofu
1/2 cup vegan butter
1/2 cup raw powdered sugar
1 cup non-dairy milk
Vanilla seeds from 1 pod
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup agave/honey/maple syrup (if desired)
1/4 cup whiskey 


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift all dry ingredients together, set aside. Melt butter and beer together, then stir in the rest of the wet ingredients. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together until just combined and pour into cupcakes molds, or a cupcake pan lined with papers/vegetable oil. Bake for about 20 minutes. 


While they're baking, make the frosting: blend all ingredients together in blender until smooth and thick. I fiddled with mine a lot and so ended up with a lot extra. If your frosting is too thick - add more whiskey, non-dairy milk, or liquid sweetener. If it's too thick, add more powdered sugar, tofu or vegan butter. Keep in fridge until the cupcakes are ready to decorate. 


Pipe the frosting onto each cupcake and decorate with green sparkles for St. Pattie's! =)

Now, you probably care a lot more about Chocolate Beer Cupcakes than hearing about my water fast; but I'll talk more anyway. Today is good so far, it's the first day so nothing much happens in terms of detox. I feel a bit hungry but not uncomfortably so. I've dranken a quart of water, I'll probably drink another before I go to sleep. Actually, now that I'm typing this, I realize I'm thirsty!
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vanilla cupcakes with peanut butter frosting (baked)

My friend Amanda was at my house the other night, and we were planning on going to a party... but it was raining, we were tired, and we just didn't feel like going out anymore. So we were left with some free time, what to do? Amanda declared she wanted to bake "something crazy-awesome with swirls".

We ended up with a tray of Vanilla Cupcakes and Peanut Butter Frosting. Not too shabby.

We found this recipe. I modified it a bit: used oat flour instead of all-purpose, used more tofu, added some agave and left out some sugar, used real vanilla, and made up my own icing. They were REALLY moist, and not too sweet. The combination was a delight. These cupcakes were gone in a day.

Vanilla Cupcakes: makes about 12

1 ½ cups oat flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

4 oz. tofu
3/4 cup sugar
½ cup soy milk/water
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Seeds from half a vanilla pod
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, whisk together the first 3 ingredients. In a blender, combine the remaining ingredients; blend until smooth. Stir the wet ingredients into the flour mixture; and pour all the batter into muffin tins (lined with paper).

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until  a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack. 

Peanut Butter Frosting: makes 4 or so cups, you'll have extra

4 oz. tofu

1/2 cup agave

1/2 cup melted earth balance

Pinch of salt

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 peanut butter 

Mix all ingredients until smooth. Yum.

raw fudge cupcakes with vanilla bean frosting

These are totally delicious! Everyone in my family agrees, even Greg (my big brother) who has the pickiest palate of all. If you want to make a cute, sweet and tasty dessert for a party, or for no reason at all - make these!

I'm basically saying whatever your situation: go make these. now. 

As with most raw desserts, they're mostly nuts, seeds and dates... hur-RAW!
I made them specifically to post on the blog, actually. I feel bad because lately I've just been eating tons of salad, and a bit of fruit... wonderful for me, but not that exciting for you. We all know what a banana looks like, and how amazing salad is.

So I hope you like them! I like things sweet, so feel free to take out some of the agave in the frosting. And with all raw recipes, you can pretty much do/change whatever you want and they'll still turn out great.
The recipe does make a little extra frosting... but I'm sure this won't be a problem for you =)

Raw Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla-Cashew Frosting: makes about 15-20, with extra frosting

frosting:

1 cup raw cashews

2-4 Tb agave 

Seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod

1 t vanilla extract

Pinch sea salt

2 Tb melted coconut oil 

Water, only if needed

cupcakes:

1 cup raw nuts (ex. walnuts, almonds, pecans, etc.)

1/2 cup dates

2 Tb agave

1 t vanilla extract

Pinch sea salt

1/2 t cinnamon
4 Tb cacao 

1/4 cup coconut flakes

1/4 cup hemp seeds

To make frosting: blend raw cashews into cashew butter in a high-speed blender (Vita-Mix). Make sure to keep pushing the cashews down so they get blended and you don't burn out your motor.  It doesn't need to be super creamy, but make sure it's past the floury stage. It'll probably be really thick.

Then mix the cashew butter and all other ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Put in piping bag and set in fridge. 

To make cupcakes: Pulse nuts in food processor until very fine, add dates until they're broken down. Then add all other ingredients and pulse until it sticks together, but doesn't stick to your hand (rough dough). Use a cookie cutter to form the "dough" into shapes; I just used a circle. Pipe frosting onto the top of the cupcakes and refrigerate for a bit if you want. Then enjoy!

This is a crowd-pleaser for sure. It's fun when you get to tell people they're healthy.