Wow! October is already over half way gone! It seems like summer just ended. Anyway, last Tuesday, October 18th was National Chocolate Cupcake Day (like I really need a special day to make chocolate cupcakes), but it did give me an excuse to try to make these vegan cupcakes.
My sister has been telling me for years that she makes vegan cupcake that is better than a regular cupcake, but it just didn't seem likely that a vegan cupcake would be THAT good. I mean they don't have eggs or butter in them, so how could they possibly as good?!? Well, this chocolate cupcake recipe proves me wrong. These cupcakes are absolutely delicious and have the perfect texture and crumb. This will now be my go to chocolate cupcake recipe, period..
Vegan Beet Cupcakes
Original recipe is from Minimalist Baker at http://minimalistbaker.com/fudgy-vegan-beet-cupcakes/
1- 8.25 ounce can of unsalted sliced beets, drained*
1 cup unsweetened almond milk, at room temperature**
1 teaspoon apple cider
3/4 cup organic evaporated cane juice
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 tablespoon whole wheat pastry flour
scant 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, + more if dusting cupcakes with cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Puree the beets in a blender until smooth. An 8.25 ounce can should yield 1/2 cup of beet puree.
3. Line a 10 wells of a muffin pan with paper liners
4. Whisk together the almond milk and vinegar in a large bowl, then set aside for a few minutes to allow the milk to curdle. Add the sugar, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and 1/2 cup pureed beets and beat until foamy.
5. Put the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a sifter and slowly sift it into the wet ingredients while mixing with a hand mixer or standing mixture. Beat on low until no large lumps remain. Be careful not not over beat, this can result in tougher cupcakes.
6. Fill the cupcake liners with the batter until 3/4 full. Bake 22-25 minutes, or a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Transfer cupcakes to a cooling rack and cool completely. It may be hard to wait, but if you try and unwrap them while they are still warm they will stick to the wrapper.
7. Once cool you can dust with cocoa powder, powdered sugar or glaze with Vegan Chocolate Glaze (recipe below).
Yields 10 cupcakes
*The original recipe calls for fresh oven roasted beets, but I did not have time to do this. To make oven roasted beets: Preheat oven to 375°F. Remove the stem and most of the root from 2 beets. Scrub and wash them underwater until clean. Place beets on a piece of foil and drizzle with a little canola oil, then wrap the foil tightly around the beet and roast for about an hour or until tender. To test for tenderness, insert a knife and it should go through with no resistance. Set the beets in a bowl and place in the refrigerator to cool to room temperature. Once cool, puree the beets and set aside 1/2 cup for the cupcakes. Two beets will probably yield more than needed, the Minimalist Baker website has a recipe for beet hummus that looks amazing!
**I first used cold almond milk and the coconut oil seized up, so I had to warm it a bit in the microwave to get it to meld again. Using room temperature almond milk should prevent the coconut oil from seizing. Also, the original recipe calls for unsweetened vanilla almond milk, but I just had regular unsweetened on hand, so I upped the vanilla from 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon.
Vegan Chocolate Glaze
Recipe adapted from a Chocolate Glaze recipe found on Epicurious.com
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1+ tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
Sift together the sugar and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Slowly stir in the water and vanilla, adding a little water at a time to make a smooth spreadable glaze.
Makes enough glaze to cover 10 cupcakes.
These cupcakes are sure to please vegans and non-vegans alike!
Enjoy!
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