Pumpkin-Stout Bread (or Cupcakes)

While the desired weather of Autumn may still be of an ebb and flow nature here in Houston, the feeling of soups, roasted vegetables, and spiced baked goods is in full effect. It’s a moon day today, so I get the day off from my Ashtanga yoga practice, my teaching practice, and as much of my work as possible. On moon days, I like to visit with the sprouting fall veggies in the garden, snuggle with Marley, and bake.

On this moon day, I present to you Pumpkin-Stout Muffins. You can also make this in a 9-inch loaf, if that pleases you. I made mini-muffins (just shy of 4 doz minis) for easier sharing at the yoga studio tomorrow, but I think a loaf or full size muffins would behoove the bread or non-frosted teacake experience. Enjoy!

Pumpkin-Stout Bread

Mini cupcake liners [or coconut oil for greasing the pan if making a loaf]

1 3/4 C all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Pinch ground nutmeg

Pinch ground allspice

3 TBSP vegan butter

1 C pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling)

1 C brown sugar

1 TBSP Ener-G Egg Replacer [Mixed in 4 TBSP warm water]

1 C stout beer*

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line mini muffin pans (or grease 9-inch loaf pan). Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice in a large bowl.

2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Remove from the heat. Stir in the pumpkin and brown sugar, then stir in the egg replacer mixture. Finally, stir in the stout*. Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Transfer the batter to the lined mini muffin pan or greased loaf pan.

3. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, 14 minutes for mini muffins (about 1 hour for loaf). Cool thoroughly before serving.

Leftover pumpkin bread can be wrapped in foil or plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to a few days.

*If choosing not to use beer, any vegan milk will suffice. I suspect black tea or earl grey might also be a nice experience.

Option: Pumpkin-Stout Cupcakes

Add a dollop of cinnamon-ginger frosting (or pumpkin spice frosting, if that tickles your fancy). I made a buttercream frosting with Glenlivet & Pumpkin Pie Spice blend to top these bite-size beauties.

1 C Earth Balance Vegan Butter

2 C sifted powdered sugar

3-4 tsp Glenlivet

2 tsp vanilla extract

2-3 pinches of Pumpkin Pie Spice blend

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Double (or Triple)-dipped Chocolate Cupcakes

“Did you just double-dip that cupcake?”

I did, Timmy.. I dipped, then I dipped AGAIN! I made the Redux: Red Velvet Cake cuppies (mini-sized), and then dipped into a chocolate glaze. When making the cuppies, fill the cups a little more than normal so they have a little peak over the edge of the cup. I let the cuppies and single dip chill in the fridge for about 10 min..then I dipped again! 🙂

Chocolate Glaze:
scant 1/3 C So Delicious Coconut Milk Beverage or other milk alternative
heaping 1/3 C chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet, but I bet a dark chip would also be nice. You could also chop up your favorite chocolate bar into 1/3 C.)

Heat milk over medium heat until steaming, but not simmering or boiling. Pour over chocolate and let sit a few moments (I hand-washed the pot that I steamed the milk in, then went to whisk). Whisk to create a glossy emulsion. Let chocolate cool on the counter about 10 min. If you’re in a colder ambient temperature location, it may not take as long. Once both cuppies and chocolate are cooled, dip cuppies in the chocolate gloss. Let chill in the fridge about 10 min, then dip again.. feel free to dip as many times as you like, letting them chill in the fridge between each dip. This recipe will make more than is needed for the cupcake recipe, so you can double the cupcake recipe..say for a potluck or party situation. And I’ve never heard of anyone complaining because there is extra chocolate glaze.. glaze pancakes, scones, or sundaes the next morning, or skip the middleman and just glaze your tongue. 😉

Happy Baking!

Confectioner’s note: If you want a sturdier chocolate – i.e. one that doesn’t soften at the touch – then simply melt the chocolate in a double-boiler and omit the milk step.

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Redux: Red Velvet Cupcakes

The first time I posted about Red Velvet Cuppies, I did mini’s and the frosting didn’t turn out as well as could be expected, so the post was lacking in standard Primate verve.. So here’s the redux post. This time I made full-size, since I didn’t have enough liners for minis.. and sometimes it doesn’t hurt to go standard-sizing – I’m just a gnome deep down, and love all things mini or gnome-size. 🙂 But who’s really going to turn down a cupcake, regardless of size.. honestly. This recipe makes 12 regulars, or about 24-32 minis. I old-school frosted with standard vegan Buttercream Frosting. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Red Velvet Cuppies:

1 C hemp or almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 C turbinado sugar
1/3 C canola oil
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
1 C oat flour
1/4 C AP flour
1/3 C cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
red food coloring, as needed (or omit for a basic chocolate cupcake)

Buttercream Frosting: [this will make enough for piping the frosting, if frosting old-school style freehand..HALF the recipe]

1 C Earth Balance Vegan Butter, lightly softened
4.5-5 C sifted powdered sugar (I put in 3 C as the original recipe called for, but then added about 1.5-2 C more..didn’t measure it, but added until it was the right consistency)

2 TBSP Coconut Milk Beverage or Almond Milk

1 TBSP vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 12-muffin tin with cupcake liners (or opt for minis). In a large measuring cup, combine milk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside.

2. In a mixing bowl, stir together sugar and oil. Pour into milk mixture. Set aside.

3. In same mixing bowl, sift (or whisk) together flours, cocoa powder, baking soda & powder, and salt. Add liquid mixture. Stir to combine. Add red food coloring to desired color.

4. Allocate around 1/4 C per cupcake for regulars (about 1 TBSP or so for minis). Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes for regulars, 12-15 minutes for minis.

5. Let cool while you make the UnButtercream Frosting in a stand mixer. Frost. Enjoy!

Happy Baking!

On this day in History: New Years Eve @ 1323 Menu

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Chocolate Stout Cuppies with Irish Whiskey Buttercream Frosting

The springtime inspires me to get back into baking.. and of course, who doesn’t love St. Patty’s Day?! Ever since I saw this recipe on my Facebook feed, I knew I had to make them. I actually made the cuppies pretty much verbatim, so I’ll simply include a link with the photos.. I did use olive oil in place of canola (didn’t have any canola on hand), but it worked out nicely! Check it out! Super deliciousness awaits you… 🙂 This recipe made about 5 dozen mini cuppies – and I baked at 350°F for 15 minutes.

Chef Chloe’s recipe – NOM NOM!

I did, however, tweak the frosting recipe a bit..so here’s my frosting recipe:

Ingredients:

1 C Earth Balance Vegan Butter, lightly softened
4.5-5 C sifted powdered sugar (I put in 3 C as the original recipe called for, but then added about 1.5-2 C more..didn’t measure it, but added until it was the right consistency)

4 TBSP Irish Whiskey

2 TBSP Coconut Milk Beverage

1 TBSP vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Dump all ingredients into a mixer. Mix until smooth and delicious – adjusting moisture level as needed.
2. Taste for quality control, and frost cooled cuppies.

Happy Baking!

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Happy Days of October!

Happy World Vegetarian Day! Happy October, and that means Halloween and IDA’s Go Vegan Days (Oct 26-31, and does anyone else think Woody is simply delicious?)! Happy Vegan MoFo 2009!! So many delicious ways to celebrate this month…how are we going to be able to contain ourselves? Not to mention October 16 is World Food Day (UN)! So with all our creative and delicious juices, let’s help save the world one vegan meal at a time! Since this is the first day of October, and the kick-off for Vegan MoFo III….I thought I’d recap some of the delicious treats from last October! Bats and ghosts and spiders, oh my!

Coming up this month will include some Chocolate Heart of Darkness, Black Frosting Roses, Haunted Dollhouse-inspired creations, and Ms. Stewart-inspired Piña Ghouladas. So buckle up kiddies, we’re in for a devilishly delicious time this month!

On This Day In History: Orzo-Almond Salad

Happy Vegan MoFo!!!

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It’s my party, and I’ll nosh if I want to…

Happy Birthday to Me!!! I’ve had a wonderful day thus far. I slept in, executed Operation Cupcake, awaiting Indian food tonight…wait, did you say Operation Cupcake? Oh yeah, baby! For the first time in a long time, I haven’t had to bake my own birthday cake!! Thank you Sticky Fingers!! For those who aren’t aware, Sticky Fingers is a totally vegan (and they have GF stuff too) bakery in DC. I thought about getting a cake, but I decided…how often am I in DC and get to taste the goodness that is a vegan bakery. So I decided upon cupcakes, a dozen in fact. One may say that a dozen is way too many cupcakes for just two people. I say, HA, you can never have too many cupcakes! Plus, this way I get to taste the many flavors of Sticky Fingers. I purchased (starting clockwise at 7ish o’clock) two Strawberry Creme Vanilla Cake, Chocolate Love with Sprinkles (couldn’t resist the sprinkles), Toasted Almond Creme, Peanut Butter Fudge, Cookies-n-Cake, and S’mores. I purchased in two’s so that way Jo and I could both have individual cuppies of each flavor – sometimes, you just don’t want to share. 😉 I hope she likes my selections…

I have this tradition or philosophy (whatever), that no matters whose birthday it is…everyone should celebrate it! So to all Primate readers, I charge you to treat yourself today in honor of my birth! 🙂

Happy Birthday!

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Vegan Pastry Cream

There are few things that are amazing enough to blow my top off these days, but I have to say…this past weekend, I created this pastry cream that got me pretty ecstatic! It’s been a while since I’ve created something that has wowed me as much as this pastry cream did (well, there was another thing this weekend that topped even this pastry cream, but that’ll be a post for a later date…hehe). Normally, I simply love the things I make, but this goes beyond love..beyond excitement… Let’s just say, when I tasted it…I giggled with glee and danced a little jig – yes, a jig while giggling. To an outside observer, I might have looked a bit like I lost a few more marbles. There are other recipes out there for vegan pastry creams, and I’m sure they’re delicious. The major difference with this recipe: this one has absolutely no tofu in it! So all you out there, who detest tofu like we do here at the Primate, you can now have a pastry cream to fill cupcakes, donuts, to use as a thick and creamy “whipped cream” substitute to top ice cream sundaes, or just to fill your mouth straight from the bowl or pastry bag…ah, good times! This recipe makes enough to fill 12 standard cupcakes, plus extra..I bet I could’ve filled at least another half dozen. So let’s say, enough to fill about 18 cupcakes. Because it’s something that I may not be able to describe properly with text, I’m going to give you large pics to help guide you!

Ingredients:

1/2 C coconut milk

1.5 TBSP agar agar flakes

4 tsp cornstarch + 1 TBSP hemp milk

1 stick (4 oz) Earth Balance vegan butter, softened about 10 min at room temperature

1/3 C + 1 TBSP granulated sugar

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 TBSP hemp milk

Directions:

1. Add agar flakes to coconut milk, set aside for 10 minutes. (It’ll be lumpy and kind of gross looking, that’s okay).

2. Pour 1/3 C of the coconut milk/agar mix into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and continue to cook until agar begins to dissolve, about 10 minutes.

3. Whisk cornstarch + 1 TBSP hemp milk into the remaining coconut milk/agar, add to the saucepan, stirring constantly. After about 1 minute, the mixture will thicken intensely (and somewhat grossly). Remove from heat and set aside. (This is the part where it looks really unappealing, but don’t worry…just tell yourself, ‘goop is good’)

4. Cut butter into small cubes and place in a blender or food processor. Add sugar, salt, and cooked cornstarch/agar goop. Blend until creamy. Add 1 TBSP hemp milk and vanilla, scrape down sides, and blend again. Transfer to a covered container and chill to firm up – at least 45 minutes. (I used a blender, but I think next time I’ll go with the food processor simply for ease of getting every last molecule out of it. If you chill overnight, you’ll have to let it sit at room temp for about 5 minutes to let it become more squeezable again).

5. Fill piping bag and fill cupcakes, donuts, etc. I used a chopstick to poke a hole and shimmy out some space inside the cupcake. But beware the overfill…

…Though no big stress if you do overfill…all mistakes can be covered up with a little buttercream frosting! 😉

Happy Baking!

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Orange Cupcakes with Chocolate Glaze

These cupcakes are the quintessential combination of chocolate and orange. They were adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World ‘Orange Pudding Cupcakes’. I attempted the orange pudding, but it was not what I would consider great so we’ll just stick to the parts that were great – the cupcake. This recipe makes about a baker’s dozen, so you’ll have extra to send into the oven as a scout and for batter quality control. 😉

Ingredients:

1/2 C Earth Balance vegan butter, softened (unless you are using a mixer)
3/4 C granulated sugar
3/4 C hemp or almond milk
1/2 C fresh squeezed orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 2/3 AP flour
1/3 C white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 baking soda
1/4 salt
1 TBSP finely grated orange zest
1 C vegan chocolate chips or finely chopped chocolate of choice, such as a bar of Endangered Species (or for a pooch friendly topping, use carob)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush a muffing tin with canola oil, or line with muffin liners.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream together vegan butter and sugar.
3. Mix together milk, juice, and vanilla. Add to butter/sugar blend.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add in 3 batches to the butter/liquid mixture. Fold in the orange zest until well combined.
5. Fill each greased/lined muffin cup 2/3 full and bake for 20-22 minutes.
6. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and allow to cool completely.
7. Drizzle with glaze: In a small saucepan, warm chocolate over medium low heat. Stir to facilitate melting without burning. Fill a pastry bag with the melted chocolate and drizzle across the tops. Alternatively you could dip a fork into the melted chocolate and splatter the chocolate across the tops, but this could prove to be a slightly messier endeavor.

Happy Baking!

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Lemon Gems

Last week, I made a special birthday request cupcake for Stacy. She loves my Lemon Gems recipe that Jo gave me back in the day, so I gladly obliged for such an occasion. And for a healthy take on these..think of all that vitamin C in the fresh lemon juice – I could think of worse ways to fight scurvy 😉  …I even sprinkled them with yellow sugar jimmies for extra sparkle! This recipe makes about a baker’s dozen…

Ingredients:

2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 C canola oil or 6 TBSP vegan butter, softened
2/3 C plus 2 TBSP sugar
1/2+1/8 C milk substitute
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 C lemon juice
1 TBSP lemon zest

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl combine the oil or butter, sugar, hemp milk, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until smooth. Fill each of 12 muffin cup about 2/3 full. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes. Frost with lemon buttercream when cooled.

3. Sprinkle with sugars. Enjoy!

Happy Baking!

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Café Magdalena de la Comida de los Diablos

Devil’s Food Coffee Cupcake topped with espresso bean dark chocolate ganache… ok, so technically ‘Magdalena’ would translate to something like ‘muffin’ but who cares when you have such a cool name for a cupcake as this one? This is my submission to the Iron Cupcake: Earth this month! The flavor is coffee, and a natural pairing with chocolate seems the most logical – why mess with a classic!

Ingredients:

Dark Chocolate Espresso Ganache
3/4 C + 2 TBSP Sugar-free Sweetened MimicCreme
1 3-oz bar of Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Espresso Beans, roughly chopped
1/4 C vegan chocolate chips
4 TBSP cold Earth Balance vegan butter

Devil’s Food Coffee Cupcake
1 TBSP ground flax in 2 TBSP warm water
1.5 C King Arthur Organic white whole wheat flour
6 TBSP ground cocoa
3/4 C vegan granulated sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 TBSP Earth Balance vegan butter, melted
1 TBSP canola oil
1/3 C hemp milk + 1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 C + 2 TBSP black coffee

Directions:

1. Make the ganache: In a medium saucepan, scald the MimicCreme (until steamy) over medium heat. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Let stand a few minutes, then whisk until smooth. Add the cold vegan butter, and whisk until smooth again, set aside leaving at room temperature until ready to use. (*Note: Those aren’t lumps in my ganache, that’s the bits of espresso bean from the chocolate bar).

2. Make the cupcakes: In a small bowl, combine the ground flax with the warm water, set aside. In a measuring cup, combine the hemp milk with the cider vinegar, set aside. Preheat the oven to 375°F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, set aside. In another bowl, combine the flax egg, canola oil, hemp milk combo, melted vegan butter, extract, and coffee. Stir together the dry ingredients into the wet. Fill the cupcake liners 1/2 full – or evenly until all the batter is used up, minus a little for quality control 😉 . Bake the cupcakes 15 minutes. Let cool slightly in the pan, then allow to cool completely on a cooling rack. (*Lovliebutterfly: they came out flat again, and I just used all white whole wheat…I don’t know how I do it…hmm).

3. Frost the cupcakes with the room temperature ganache. I decided to go ‘old-school’ and frost it free-hand instead of with a piping tip. It made me feel like a kid at a birthday party, but with adult beverages 🙂 !Enjoy with a cuppa or cocktail!

Prizes this month are:

• DIANAEVANS – http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5599270
• a pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES – http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6057281.
• CAKESPY – http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382

As an added bonus for February, SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY SUPPLY will be tossing in a variety of cupcaking supplies, http://www.acupcakery.com/index.html.

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com

Happy Baking! And don’t forget to vote come March 1st!

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