Soc-a-roos Soc-Soc-a-roos

Sono italo-australiana.

Australia has not been in the World Cup (in my life time), and so, I've always cheered on the Azzurris.

This year, and whaddaya know-
Australia qualifies, makes it out of the first pool, and meets Italy at the quarter-final entry game.

And so, I baked cupcakes.

Blue for the Azzurris, and green & gold for the Socceroos.

My cupcake prediction was right on the money.

I made an even amount of batter, yet the Azzurri batter, yielded just one more cupcake than the Socceroos.

1:0

The Azzurri cupcakes used a sicilian cake recipe I found, and altered.

They were orange & almond cupcakes with orange buttercream frosting.

I basically followed VWaV's "Lemon Gems" cake recipe-

Substituting orange juice & rind, for lemon.

I also substituted some of the plain flour, with almond meal, and added some almond essence.

The canola oil was halved and compensated for, by the addition of apple sauce, and the sugar was substituted with apple juice concentrate & maple syrup.

I also added one egg into the mix (while VWaV recipes never use eggs).

The Australian Socceroos cupcakes were virtually the same, except they adhered to the lemony rules of the "Lemon Gems", and were finished with lemon buttercream frosting.

Their lemony-ness AND Australian-ness was heightened by the addition, of the Australian native herb- Lemon myrtle.

Last night, at 1am, while watching the game live, I appropriately ate 1/2 an Azzuri, and 1/2 a Socceroo.

They were deliciously light and fluffy, and infact the perfect midnight snack, as they weren't too flavourful, heavy or sweet- just right!

As fate would have it, it was my closet-crush of days gone by, scored the winning goal- Mr Francesco Totti..

A win for me either way, but still, I can't help wishing the Socceroos had won..

Carrot, Macadamia & Coconut Cupcakes

I wanted something a little different this week, as I pondered my cupcake options.

Maybe it's not true, but sometimes it feels like everything is only ever, a variation of chocolate or vanilla cake.

So, I went again, to "Vegan with a Vengeance", and pulled out Isas' Carrot, Macadamia, Ginger & Coconut Cake recipe.

I was excited to use the preserved ginger gummy bears (yes gummy bears!!) I was given, but was very sad to discover, they contained gelatine :(

So, out went the ginger, the sugar (hello apple juice concentrate), and some of the canola oil (hello applesauce)..

I still had a small amount of delicious Hawaiian macadamia nuts left, and happily used them..

For the frosting, I made the usual buttercream frosting, adding some vanilla & coconut essence.

The cupcakes once frosted, were topped with some dessicated coconut.

These were DELICIOUS..

I seem to say that a lot. But really, they were.

Ever since I nixed the sugar, my husbands sweet glee has lessened..

He grew up, in the good ol' sweet tooth American way, and he likes his sugar.

Now he eats 1 or 2 cupcakes, before it was as many as I baked.

That aside, he said he liked these.

My Mum gave them 4 stars, and my therapist said they were "dee-lish-ous" (yes I eat cupcakes with my therapist)..

So, I think these will become one of my staples.

I think I'll stick to making them, sans ginger though.

YUM YUM YUM

Coconut Cupcakes with Rosewater Frosting

This past Wednesday, it was my Mum's birthday.

As well as cooking the birthday dinner, I was asked to bake cupcakes.

She wanted something yummy & pink.

Considering she was a big fan of the almond meal cupcakes w/ rosewater frosting, and she has a love of coconut, I decided to make:

Coconut Cupcakes with Rosewater Frosting

I'm also eagre of course to try out ever more recipes from VWAV..

So, for the base, I made the coconut cake, substituting apple juice concentrate for the sugar, and apple sauce for a small portion of the canola oil.

I made my usual 'buttercream' frosting, using partially hydrogenated margarine and confectioners sugar, but used coconut milk instead of soy milk.

I flavoured the frosting with rosewater, and used beet juice to colour it.

I made a regular batch, and it yielded 11 cupcakes- oh how I should have made more! (or maybe not..)

At the party, the ladies and I quickly consumed one.. and then another.. and probably would another, except there wasn't enough, and it was already about midnight..

These were truly delicious, and I will definitely make them again-

Perhaps with a different frosting to mix it up a bit..

Vegan Fauxtess Cupcakes

I was so excited to find a copy of "Vegan with a Vengence" in one of my favourite book stores, 2nd hand section, last week..

Of course, I bought it right away!

I have long been eyeing off other net goers photos, of VWA's take on the American classic- Hostess Cupcakes..

Although it's going to be a big cupcake week, it's been so long since I last baked cupcakes, and I just couldn't wait any longer..

To cut down on the fat, I replaced the vast majority of canola oil, with prune puree.

I also subsituted the small amount of sugar, with apple juice concentrate.

Sadly the cakes came out rather rubbery, and lacking any real flavour or body :(

(I blame the least loveable ingredient- prune puree)

The fluffy white vanilla filling though (definitely not low fat), made with vegetable shortening, and margarine, was delicious.

I decided to make really big filling holes in the cupcakes, to try to balance out the blandness of the cakes.

The cupcakes were then dipped in a dark chocolate and soy milk ganache.

The traditional topping, is a squiggle of royal icing, however I didn't have soy milk powder, so my icing came out an unappetizing beige.

I decided to forgo the signature squiggle, and top with yet more fluffy white filling!

I just sampled 1/2 a complete and cooled cupcake-

Can you say: YUM!