Graham Cracker Cupcakes take 2...

I'm not sure what happened this week-

I just seemed to end up in the kitchen, and before I knew it, fresh baked 'graham cracker' cupcakes, sat on the counter..

I swear I never decided on baking them..

Coming home last night, from dinner at my Dads, cakes (which I chickened out, on bringing in for dessert) sat on the back seat..

It was past midnight, and I was tired and snacky..

This time I used 1/2 white sugar, and the remaining 1/2 was mostly maple syrup, with a little honey in there too..

I liked the extra body of flavour, this gave the cake.

As it's autumn here, the cakes would be perfect with stewed pears or apples (which are now in abundance)..
And as my Dad passed on some giant organic apples from his farm, I just might do that for dessert tonight..

The rest of the cupcakes are destined for K's work, where they'll be topped with marshmallows and chocolates- for the complete smores experience..

I wanted to send some to my brother & his girlfriend, out of state- marshmallows and chocolates included, for self assembly..

But alas, just to send 2 regulars, & 2 minis is $6.80!

These 'graham cracker' cupcakes are definately a good thing!

Vegan & Sugar Free Chocolate & Vanilla Cupcakes

I used Fran Costigan's great book: "Great, Good Desserts, Naturally!" for inspiration.

I began by adapting her "Chocolate Cake to Live for" recipe..

I wanted a vegan red velvet cake. I know you can buy vegan red food colouring, but I wanted to try an au natural alternative- with the much touted, beet(root) juice..

I substituted 1/2 the soy milk, with beet juice.

The tops of the cupcakes turned a nice raspberry brown colour, but the cake, was plain ol' brown..

For the cake I used barley malt syrup and maple syrup as sweeteners.

The cake was ok, but not the best.

The texture was great, especially for a dairy & egg free cake, but overall it was not chocolatey enough for my liking.

I attempted Frans basic tofu buttercream frosting.

I should have followed it to the letter-

Who the hell did I think I was, experimenting on this front!?

I paid dearly.

The results were interesting, and made me realise I could make my own yummy vegan fruit jello cups now..
But so far as frosting- Not even close..

So to redeem the cakes, I fell back on the usual vanilla buttercream.

The photo is terrible because it was all I could manage, in between being frosted, and whisked off with K, to his work.

No more sugar

I never had much refined sugar in my diet..

Largely because, in Australia, being vegan, heavily restricts your consumption of processed & store bought foods.

So when I started to take this lil' personal challenge of mine, and make a batch of cupcakes every week- who knew the effect it would have..

Headaches, bad skin, lethargy

I thought I was morphing into Dr Sally a little too readily, and perhaps indeed, the changes could be attributed to something altogether.

So some weeks I didn't eat any cupcakes-

The symptoms disappeared, only to reappear again, with cupcake consumption.

Verdict # 2, refined sugar is pure evil!

So- I am making a conscious effort to eliminate the refined and added sugar from my diet.

Cupcakes, being the most logical target, were the first on the chopping block.

Although I've done all natural sweetener baking before, it became a new challenge when I contemplated frosting without sugar!!!

Above are my first results..

Mocha Choca Cupcakes

Before sending off the uber-package to my sister-in-law (birthday cupcake recipe included)-

I thought I should at least test run, the changes I made to the last recipe..

You can read below for the results of that one!

My findings are, that chilli in cupcakes is pure evil.

The new recipe used 1/2 the chilli than the former, and this time, I only used 3/4 of that amount = a lot less chilli!

Taste it less? NO! Less heat? NO!

Go figure.

This time as well, the coffee was really strong in the resulting cake- ???

So with a batch of chocolatey coffee cupcakes on my hands, I decided to change plans, and deviate from the intended mint frosting..

Seeing as St Pat's day is approaching, I thought hmmmn- irish coffee cream cupcake

Into basic buttercream frosting goes a slosh of irish cream..

I frosted a mini, took a bite, uck..

I went to bed, very depressed at the thought of throwing out a whole batch of cupcakes..

This afternoon, thinking I should at least take some nice photos of the minis, prepared to frost them..

Taking the buttercream frosting:

Fresh brewed coffee- slosh..

Taste. This isn't looking too hopeful..

Vanilla extract- slosh..

Taste. A little better, but I'm still not confident.

Frosted said minis, and whaddya know-

Not fantastic, but a remarked improvement from yesterday..

Instead of choc mint cupcakes, these mischievous minis turned into mocha chocas..

They have a mind of their own.

Or is it the leprechauns at play?

The verdict is in (smores update)

Perhaps creating a cupcake for K, was not the most thoughtful gift idea..

He has recently lost a whopping 20+ pounds..

And too, I don't know where my brain was at, when I decided to double the batch, so he could take some extras into work- I baked on Friday!

So over the weekend, there the three of us were:
K, the cupcakes, and I..

Needless to say, now Monday, there are not too many left!

BUT-

It was his un-birthday after all, and he really, really, really loved em'!

I also got the resounding thumbs up, in regard to there smore-ness..

He even had me bring a couple over for his friends, when we went to their house on Saturday night..

SO-

A great success!

K and I agree, the cake would be lovely in a bundt pan or something, as a simple un-adorned tea cake..

Smore Cupcakes

It's my husbands birthday today..

Well, he loathes birthdays, especially his own, so I have started a tradition-

The un-birthday..

This morning I even draped a "Happy Un-Birthday" banner up.

K is American, and never tires of espousing the glories of American food..

We're talking the so sweet your teeth hurt, and so full of fat your thighs wobble just looking at it- kind of food..

Smores are a favourite.

Here in Australia, us deprived people, don't have graham crackers, but being his un-birthday and all, I thought I should attempt the smore cupcake.

And oooh how pretty they turned out! :)

In place of graham crackers, I used Mcvites digestives-

With an added Tbs of honey, and cinnamon sprinkled til fragrant, to the mix to compensate..

For the cake- I replaced 1/2 the ordinary flour with crushed 'graham crackers'..

(I just played with my favourite magnolia vanilla recipe)

I'm a vegan, so won't go near marshmallows or chocolate..

(Yes, I occasionally eat honey)

I did have a plain mini cake however, and it was d e l i c i o u s!

I only had 3 eggs left, the recipe calls for 4-

(And yes, vegan watchers, I eat eggs laid by my Dads 4 very happy chickens)

Although moist and a good texture, the cakes would be even better with the 4..

I passed on one with the whole she-bang (infact the one pictured), to my mum..

She has never had a graham cracker, let alone a smore, but she thought they were t a s t y!

The real test is tonight, when K gets home..

The topping (for this mini) is simply one giant marshmallow, which I set under the broiler..

Topped with 'graham cracker' crumbs, and a drizzling of melted milk chocolate.

Please sir, can I have s'more!

Annie-Mae Cupcakes

This week I was armed with a challenge-

To make a "Summer of the Goddess" * inspired cupcake.

*Summer of the Goddess- U.S summer of 2001, which was largely spent with my SIL: Miss Annie-Mae.

There were Prince concerts, UDF hot-fudge-brownie-sundaes, topless sunbaking, Lions-den visits and lot's, lot's more..

Miss Annie-Mae's Birthday is approaching, and I thought, although I couldn't make the cupcakes for her (as we're thousands of miles apart) I could at least make them here, and send her the recipe.

My agenda transformed along the way, and ended up being about designing a cupcake that epitomised it's namesake: Annie-Mae..

Sweet, surprising, sensual, fun, and a little wicked..

I came up with a chocolate chilli cupcake base, with white-chocolate buttercream frosting..

I wanted to inject a raspberry curd filling too- but raspberries are, exspensive as heck here!

I almost killed myself with an innocent enough looking mini-

Must have had some concentrated chilli- 2 days later and my throat still hurts!!

I couldn't breathe without gasping for about 2 hours!

Straight off their cooling trays, with some warm frosting (yes, I'm vegan, but I am dedicated to my art heh) they were delicious!!!

Minus the chilli, this will be my new chocolate cake recipe- oh the texture!!!!

None of my usual testers like chocolate cake- ok, they detest it, so we had to drop the rest of, at K's work.
When he warned them they were spicey, even though there were many "Yeah right!?"s, I think they were a little scared!

So, back to the drawing board-

I think I'll keep the cake- 1/2 the chilli content, so you just get a surprising warming of the mouth..

Definately want a filling, and want to change the frosting..

Next week it's smores cupcakes for my husband K's birthday...

The good, the bad, and the ugly..

The banana cupcakes were a disaster!
Wanting to use all the bananas- I put in all 4, instead of the prescribed 2..
Yar, yar, that old 'too much of a good thing', again coming back to haunt me.
Straight out of the oven & slathered with vanilla buttercream frosting-they were incredibley tasty!!..
The next day on the other hand- muh, just like eating baked mashed banana- mmmmmn!

But you gotta take the good with the bad, and the good, is that K & I just got our very own cannon 350D- oh yeah baby!

So although I got crappy cupcakes, I can at least take pretty pictures of them now..