Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

I realized I've never done a vegan cupcake, and I had all the ingredients, so I gave it a shot!  The frosting is what really makes this cupcake yummy, and will definitely satisfy any chocolate cravings you may have.

The recipe calls for sunflower oil, the one ingredient I did not have, so I substituted canola oil.  That was the only change I made!

Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from Cupcake Heaven by Susannah Blake
Makes 12 cupcakes

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons sunflower oil (or vegetable oil)
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee, dissolved in 2 teaspoons boiling water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

For the frosting

• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil (or vegetable oil)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee, dissolved in 2 tablespoons boiling water
• 1 cup powdered sugar

~Preheat oven to 350°F.  Prepare muffin tins with cupcake liners.

~In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, and sugar.  Make a well in the center of your flour mixture and pour in 1/2 cup of water, the oil, coffee, and the vinegar.  Mix just until incorporated.

~Divide the batter evenly between the 12 cupcake, and bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (These will rise a lot, so don't worry!  Mine were only about half full when placed in the oven, and were done after 13 minutes.)

~Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely.

~For the frosting, put the oil, cocoa powder, and coffee in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water.  (A double boiler would work of course.) Make sure the water is not touching the bowl.  Stir until mixed, and then add the powdered sugar in small batches while continuing to stir.  Continue stirring for roughly 2 minutes, or until thick and glossy.  Add about 1/2 teaspoon of water, and stir until incorporated.

~Once your cupcakes have cooled completely, and your frosting has cooled slightly, you can spoon the frosting over the cupcakes.  If either are too hot, the frosting may drip off of the sides, so try and be patient!  Either that or just eat them immediately, haha, enjoy!

Quickie Chocolate Mint Cupcakes, Alice In Wonderland theme

Once again, a "Quickie" recipe means this calls for boxed cake mix and canned frosting.

I got asked to fill in for a Disney Princess themed shoot as Alice, and I of course said yes!  Please take a moment and check out C.TA Glam Couture: http://www.ctaglamcouture.com/

Designer/photographer/super woman Chelsea Tavis was nice enough to provide all of us with food, so I thought bringing some cupcakes was in order.  Didn't have a lot of time, so I went with a quickie recipe.  This one is an adaption on the Quickie Double Devil's Food Cupcakes I posted previously.  Rather than using chocolate chips, I used some chopped up Andes Mints as well.

I knew one of the accessories she had designed was an adorable "Eat Me" necklace, so at the last second I decided to go with an Alice In Wonderland theme rather than normal piping.  If you've never seen the movie, go watch it! haha, but here's the necklace and other accessories, as well as a scene from the movie:

I will definitely be doing these again when I have more time to fool around with the decorating!

Quickie Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

• 1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix, plus ingredients needed for mix (24 cupcakes size, normally you need eggs and vegetable oil)
• 1 can chocolate frosting (2 if piping frosting)
• 1 1/2 cups roughly chopped Andes Mints (feel free to have extra for toppings)
• 2 cups of strong coffee at room temperature, separated (you may not need it all)

~Follow the directions on the mix for preheating and mixing instructions, substituting the coffee for the amount of water the recipe calls for.  Fold the chopped Andes Mints into the batter right before scooping the batter into your muffin tins.  Fold just until incorporated.  (I like larger cupcakes so I got around 22, and as always I checked 2 minutes before the earliest recommended baking time)

~You should have some coffee left over, as the mix I used only used 1 1/3 cups of coffee.  Mix 1 tablespoon of your extra coffee into your frosting.  If this makes the frosting too liquidy for you, pop it in the fridge while the cupcakes are baking and cooling, and it should firm up.  (Worse comes to worst, add in powdered sugar a teaspoon at a time until it reaches the consistency that you want)

~After the cupcakes are fully cooled and frosted, you can start decorating!  If doing traditional piping, I would recommend toping with some extra Andes Mint pieces.  Enjoy!

For the Alice Touches:

~I needed a very smooth surface to pipe the phrases on, so I added a little extra coffee to the frosting.  This allowed me to dip the cupcake tops rather than attempting to smooth the frosting myself. Add the coffee just a little at a time, as you don't want the frosting to become so liquidy that it will drip and run down the sides of the cupcakes.

~I added some violet food dye to a white buttercream frosting for the piped phrases, and used some sugar pearls for fun.

Quickie Double Devil's Food Cupcakes

If you missed my last "Quickie" recipe, all that means is that this cupcake is from a mix rather than from scratch.  Still super tasty!

These are Double Devil's Food Cupcakes because there are also chocolate chips mixed in!  Sounds horrible, right? haha  If you want, you can even dust some cocoa powder over the top of them like I did.  (Could have called these "Triple" for that reason, but I like alliterations. ;] )

The only things you will need for this recipe that are not listed right on the box are some semi-sweet chocolate chips, and strong coffee.  If you want to dust them, you will also need some cocoa powder.

If you're thinking, "What is coffee doing in my chocolate cupcakes?" I stole that concept from the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten.  In at least one of her chocolate cake recipes she uses coffee to enhance the chocolate flavor, and I think it works wonderfully.  I also added some to the frosting.

Quickie Double Devil's Food Cupcakes

• 1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix, plus ingredients needed for mix (24 cupcakes size, normally you need eggs and vegetable oil)
• 1 can chocolate frosting (2 if piping frosting)
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups of strong coffee at room temperature, separated (you may not need it all)

If you want dusting:

• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder, roughly

~Follow the directions on the mix for preheating and mixing instructions, substituting the coffee for the amount of water the recipe calls for.  Fold the chocolate chips into the batter right before scooping the batter into your muffin tins.  Fold just until incorporated.  (I like larger cupcakes so I got around 22, and as always I checked 2 minutes before the earliest recommended baking time)

~You should have some coffee left over, as the mix I used only used 1 1/3 cups of coffee.  Mix 1 tablespoon of your extra coffee into your frosting.  If this makes the frosting too liquidy for you, pop it in the fridge while the cupcakes are baking and cooling, and it should firm up.  (Worse comes to worst, add in powdered sugar a teaspoon at a time until it reaches the consistency that you want)

~After the cupcakes are fully cooled and frosted, you can use a sifter to dust some cocoa powder on top if you like.  Enjoy!

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Banana Muffins

The original recipe called solely for chocolate chips, but I had some peanut butter chips lying around and I couldn't resist!  Bananas and peanut butter go together so well.

I enjoyed these, as they were not too dense and relatively easy to make.

I only had nonfat greek yogurt in the fridge, so that's what I used, and they turned out fine.

The best thing about muffins is that you don't have to wait for them to cool! haha

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Banana Muffins
Adapted from Lois Gordon's Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
allrecipes.com
Makes 15-17 muffins

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (took me 2 large bananas)
• heaping 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• heaping 1/3 cup peanut butter baking chips

~Preheat oven to 350 °F.  Prepare muffin tins with liners.

~In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

~In a large bowl whisk together the sugar, egg, vegetable oil, yogurt, and vanilla extract.  Add flour mixture, and whisk just until incorporated.

~Fold in the mashed bananas, chocolate chips, and peanut butter chips.  

~Fill your liners about two-thirds full and bake for 20 to 24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (21 minutes was spot on for me, and I had 15 good sized muffins)

~Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, and then remove muffins to a wire cooling rack.  I recommend trying some while still warm, enjoy!