Skip to main content

100% vegan chocolate cupcakes



I have wanted this book forever : Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World (or VCTOTW) by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, two cool vegan girls from Brooklyn. I only recently received it, but it was worth waiting for. It is cute, cool and delicious. Both of the recipes I've tried so far have had that "I can't believe it's vegan!" wow factor, and believe me, we love our meat! Not that meat would come into the equation where cakes are concerned of course, but we're not shy with dairy or eggs, especially if they're involved in a sweet concoction.

The first one was the golden vanilla cupcakes with chocolate mousse topping (look here). I used cow's milk though because that's what I had. But, it's of notice that this made me eat tofu, which I normally hate. This was silken tofu out of a tetrapak, and if anything, it tastes watery on its own, but mix it with melted chocolate, and you've got a luscious chocolate dessert that goes really well with the cupcakes.

This weekend I made the chocolate agave syrup cupcakes, in a bid to keep my blood sugar low (that's what agave syrup does in comparison to plain sugar), although this was counteracted by the chocolate buttercream icing/ frosting (see recipe here) that I piled on top of them, but still. I used only vegan ingredients.
My ingredients, though I see now that I forgot the flour (semi-wholewheat) as well as the buttercream ones, oh well

You really can't tell it's "cruelty-free" (oh yeah, I went all out and bought some soy milk, made sure the margarine and shortening were vegan). But it is very cocoa-rich, and therefore might taste a little surprising (in a deep, dark cocoa-flavour way, cocoa does taste slightly bitter and floury in high quantities). Therefore, I preferred them the next day, but nonetheless gratefully wolfed down my first one on the same day. Even Maya kept asking for more, and that's surely a sign.
The cake is moist and tender, the icing complements it beautifully.

I cracked open my new piping bag. It's not easy to pipe swirls gracefully, so I went for the little spikes instead, which I thought looked quite cool.

I made a half batch of each recipe, and I got six cupcakes and largely enough to smother them in frosting.

There are many more recipes I'd love to try, like the Brownie cupcakes, or the peanut butter ones, the blueberry mousse (silken tofu again), the Elvis cupcakes (banana, buttercream, sprinkles, etc). It's no wonder there are hordes of VCTOTW fans out there, if you're vegan this book is a must-buy, same if you have dairy or egg allergies. And if like me, you're not vegan, well you should get this book too because the recipes work, it's a nice funky read, and it's always a good idea to save on cholesterol and other animal fats and to give animals a rest once in a while.

Comments

Paola said…
This is such an awesome book! After making vegan cupcakes, I know I'll never make 'normal' cupcakes again!

paola
Anna said…
I love this book too - and your cupcakes are really gorgeous!
xx

Popular posts from this blog

Nigella's summer crumble

How has your summer been? Has everyone around you been complaining of the weather? Summer' s so much more than just sun and heat though... fruit,  farniente , ice-cream,  apéros  and walks...reading long books, so many little pleasures. Tossa de Mar And lest we forget to turn the oven on, to warm us up... Nigella's summer crumble (from Forever Summer ) is a fantastic way to use up those less-than satisfying apricots that everyone leaves in the fruit bowl, the ones a little less red, the mushy ones, and transform them into deep orange compote under the layer of almondy crumble. Or any other stone fruit for that matter. Parc Guell, Barcelona Summer crumble, adapted from Nigella Lawson in  Forever Summer 750g apricots, stoned and quartered 75g butter 100g self-raising flour or flour with 1/2 tsp baking powder a pinch of salt 25g ground almonds 75g caster sugar 50g flaked or chopped almonds Preheat the oven at 200C. Butter a gratin dish. Layer the fruit

La Réunion en recettes : cari de lotte et son riz au lait de coco

Enfin, je réalise d'autres recettes réunionnaises . La cuisine de la Réunion, au carrefour des continents, à l'image de sa population, associe des saveurs européennes, asiatiques, indiennes et africaines. Je vous propose le cari de lotte, tout simplement parce que je cherchais du poisson ce samedi-là, et que les queues de lotte m'ont tapé dans l'oeil. Pauvres lottes décapitées sur l'étal du rayon poissonnerie, eh oui, la lotte est moche, tellement moche qu'on l'appelle poisson-diable en allemand et en anglais (mais aussi poisson-moine/monkfish), aussi, on la propose souvent débarassée de son faciès. Oui, mais une fois rentrés à la maison, que faire de ces deux beaux filets? Ni une, ni deux, j'ouvre mes tomes de Nigella et Jamie et compulse les index, mais les recettes ne m'emballant pas trop, je pense soudain à en faire un cari et j'ouvre alors Cuisine des Iles de l'Océan Indien (Edisud), ramené lors de mon dernier voyage à la Réunion il y a

Pseudo goulasch hispanisant (avec ou sans mijoteuse)

Avec mes gadgets appareils culinaires, c'est par périodes. Parfois je fais des yaourts pendant des semaines, et puis après j'en ai marre, je les achète. J'avoue avoir assez rarement utilisé la mijoteuse , et surtout pour des plats à cuisson longue type ragoûts, curries, bourguignon, et aussi pour cuire des légumineuses. Mais cette semaine, j'ai décidé de m'en servir plus régulièrement, et de vous en faire profiter. Sympa, hein? ;-) Comme ressources, j'utilise ce livre , mais je ne l'aime pas trop, et surtout la Crockpot Lady , une mine d'or. Et parfois, j'improvise, comme ici, et le résultat était totalement délicieux. Saviez-vous qu'il est plus "écolo" de manger du porc que du boeuf? L'élevage de porcs abîme moins l'environnement que celui des boeufs, bien sûr pour être vraiment écolo, il faut manger végétarien voire vegan, mais à chacun ses convivtions, c'est déjà mieux de manger moins de viande, et de choisir volai