Vegan Cherry Bourbon Brownie Cupcakes

Last weekend I made vegan brownies, or what I thought where going to be vegan brownies. It turned out to be more like a loaf of chocolate bread. ... Pretty disappointing.

A week later, after gathering all of the ingredients I was finally ready to make Isa and Terry's Brooklyn Brownie cupcakes, hoping to get my vegan brownie.  But first I had to pick up black cherry preserves, whiskey (a bit unusual I was out of this one) and soy yogurt (harder to find in my area of SF then I thought).

I wish you could smell this! (Melted Ghirardelli chocolate, cherry bourbon wet ingredients and chocolatey dry ingredients)

The batter tasted kind of like whiskey :)

The cupcakes were moist and sweet and the hints of cherry and whiskey were a flavorful surprise nestled in the middle of the cupcake. But still not at resembling the amazing cakey/fudgy texture of my uber chocolatey brownies. The next challenge is to take my recipe and turn it vegan while trying to keep the brownie's texture- Can it be done?!

Vegan Banana Bread

I just turned my mom's banana bread recipe vegan! It didn't rise as much as the regular recipe but the flavor and texture are on point.

iPhone 3G :/

Vegan Banana Bread

 
Preheat oven to 350. Margarine and flour a 9 x 5 x 3 inch pan.

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 salt

1/4 cup margarine (earth balance is good)
1/2 cup sugar

3 very ripe bananas, pureed
8 tsp unsweetened, plain soy milk

Sift the flour with the baking soda and salt.

Cream the margarine and gradually add the sugar. Add the bananas and blend thouroughly.

Slowely and alternetly fold in the flour mixture and milk mixture, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Blend well after each addition. Pour into pan and bake for about an hour until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Bagels

I spent Sunday afternoon in La Victoria Bakery's industrial kitchen! La Victoria Bakery has been a staple in the Mission for 60 years and makes amazing pan dulces.

They also let other bakers use their amazing kitchen. This is how I ended up making bagels with my baking class partner, Sonja, through a Sour Flour class.

The art of bagel making can be elusive. Though it only has three ingredients, getting the right consistency is...tough. Over the past year I have been working more with pastry dough and gentle kneading is required. Not so with bagel dough. You need seriously strong hands.  Here is some of the low-down I got from Danny, Founder of Sour Flour.

Bagels are made from starter (a piece of dough in which yeast continually grows by adding flour and water to it daily), high gluten flour, and salt- That's it. It's best to measure with a scale but Danny says, "If not, a cup of flour is usually around 125g, water 225g."

Six bagels can be made from 500g of dough. "The trick is to divide your ingredients by the total dough percentage." Flour is marked at 100%, hydration (water) at 54%, and salt at 2%. So the total for the flour is 1.562. (Wow, this not me talking math, it's Danny via email.)

500g/1.562=320g of flour

320g x .54=173g of water

320g x .022=7g of salt
and 5g of starter

(You will also need baking soda to put in the boiling water)

I was going to send you to a link now that explains, simply, how to make bagel dough, but apparently there is nothing out there...So, just go take Danny's class or try to figure it out in your kitchen and don't be fooled by other recipes that call for other ingredients!

This bagel dough kind of went to hell & back before being boiled & baked...

Vegan Chocolate Vanilla Marble Cupcakes

Second vegan cupcakes of the week! (from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World) This time I made the Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Cupcakes with vegan buttercream frosting and they were killer!

I discovered that vegan buttercream frosting is more delicious than regular buttercream frosting, hands down.

 

 

Going Vegan

(I'm not really going vegan.) But, vegan baking has always been something I wanted to get into. So I finally bought Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (check out their website!)  and dove in. Vegan baked goods can still have terrific flavor and the only noticeable difference is slight, and it is in the texture- usually a tiny bit denser/chewier.

Baking vegan means you need to replace the eggs and butter with some type of fat and liquid. Often for the fat canola oil is used. Canola is a healthier oil and has a neutral flavor, but Sunflower, safflower or vegetable oil can work too. Margarine and/or shortening are often used too. The liquid used is usually soy milk (or rice milk).

Substituting ingredients in vegan recipes, actually makes the process much simpler. You don't have to worry about having enough eggs or your butter getting to soft. And for the most part, the ingredients you use are common and may already be laying around your kitchen.

I am drawn to cupcake recipes that call for beer, because beer is delicious, but also adds a  complexity to the flavor that makes a chocolate cupcake just that much better. The first recipe I tried out of the book was Chocolate Stout Cupcakes made with a crumb topping.

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

Ingredients for crumb coating:

1/4 C flour
1/4 C Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/4 C granulated sugar
2 tbsp canola oil

In a small bowl, mix together the cocoa, sugar and flour.  Slowly drizzle the oil in, constantly tossing the mixture with a fork. Crumbs will start to form. Continue to toss and stir the crumbs with your fingers for about 30 seconds. You should end up with mostly big crumbs (1/4" diameter) and maybe some loose flour too.

Ingredients for cupcakes:

3/4 C soy milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 C + 2 tbsp flour

1/3 C Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1.4 C stout

3/4 C sugar

1/3 C canola oil

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract/paste

Preheat oven to 350 and line cupcake tins with paper liners.

Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl. In a separate bowl sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add stout, sugar, oil, and vanilla to soy milk mixture and beat until foamy. Add dry ingredients to wet in two batches and beat for about 2 minutes.

Pour batter into lined cupcake tins, filled 3/4 full. Sprinkle the tops with the crumb topping. make sure the crumbs rest on top of the batter and don't sink in. 

Bake 20-22 minutes. The authors recommend going to veganconnection/com/veganbeer.htm if you're concerned your stout isn't vegan.

Sorry no pictures, they were eaten to fast...What vegan recipe should I try next?