Penny is One! (gluten-free chiffon cake)

Today was all about Penny.  We woke up in bed together and almost immediately Alex, her older brother, came bounding in.  After a little snuggling Alex snuck off to help John/daddy wrap a present.  Once her gift was opened we rounded out our day with a lot of play time, some picture taking, dress-up, a little baking, a nap (which I also took) and of course singing and the cake ceremony.  Penny was eager to have tastes of frosting and nibbles of cake all morning.  After the actual singing she carefully tasted icing and a little more cake but wanted out of the chair so that she could play once more.  The rest of the cupcake fell to the ground and was quickly devoured by Karmal, our beagle mutt. 

I struggled with choosing a cake to make today but in the end decided to go ahead and give her a little white sugar.  The frosting was decent but nothing to write home about but this chiffon cake came out perfectly.  Ethereally light, just sweet enough and by no means compromised by not having wheat flour in it.  It is a keeper recipe. I plan on making them again for strawberry shortcakes when Michigan finally gets fresh strawberries.  Or maybe I don't have to wait that long and could serve them with rhubarb instead!

Gluten-free Chiffon Cake
This was good frosted but I think it would be best with a fruit compote or sauce or even plain.  Based on the recipe from Chocolate and Zucchini, please take a look there for a wheat flour version.
 Makes 7 cupcakes

4 tablespoons brown rice flour
2 tablespoons potato starch, not flour
2 tablespoons tapioca starch
1/4 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
a pinch of fine salt
3 eggs
6 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted but not hot*
2 tablespoons water

*Many coconut oils will give a strong flavor.  I like the expeller pressed oils from Tree of Life and Wilderness Family Naturals, both will give you richness but no strong coconut flavor.

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Set 7 cups on a baking sheet.  You can choose to use oven-safe mugs lined with parchment or unwaxed paper cups to tear away.
-Sift the brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, baking powder and salt.  Sift twice more and set aside.
-Separate your eggs.  The yolks should go into a stand mixer bowl with a whisk attachment and the whites into a clean medium-sized mixing bowl.
-Add three tablespoons of sugar to the yolks and beat with the mixer until pale yellow in color, scrape the sides as needed.
-Beat the whites until they reach soft peaks and then start adding your remaining sugar (3T) bit by bit whisking in between each addition.  This can be done by hand with a balloon whisk or with an electric hand mixer.
-Add the vanilla, water and oil to your beaten yolks and sugar and beat to blend together.  Then add in your sifted dry ingredients and mix until smooth.
-Fold in a third of the beaten egg whites and then after they are incorporated fold in the rest of the whites.  Carefully pour the batter into your prepared cups. 
-Bake for 25-30 minutes, until they pass the toothpick test.  Cooking time may vary depending on your choice of cup.
-After removing the cups from the oven invert them on a cooling rack.  When they are cool run a knife around the inside of the cup and give them a shake to release the cakes.

Penny's perfect lips

Lots of attention from Big Bro today

*More 1st birthday photos on this Flickr set
**To see my chiffon cake history check out these Mead Chiffon Cupcakes. I missed the honey flavor but liked the richer cake that the above recipe had. Perhaps a combination of the two is in order?

Happy Birthday Alex! (Almond Lemon Meringue Cupcakes)

On Tuesday my son Alex turned 8 years old.  To celebrate we went with a few of his friends to a local arcade to play laser tag.  Since he's hoping for a Bionicle cake for his family birthday party (dear me, I'm so screwed! this cake was a challenge and I had my own kitchen to bake in--I'm going to be downstate 5 hours from my kitchen!!)  I thought I'd keep this first run simple with cupcakes.  I made our perennial favorite cocoa cake with seven minute frosting, minus the corn syrup for a corn allergic guest.  Then because my husband John is *trying* to go grain free/paleo I also made the Lemon Meringue Cupcakes from Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried.

I've had this recipe bookmarked for ages.  I love that everything in it is sweetened only with honey.  It's easy to find baked goods recipes using agave or flavored with honey but with sugar as well but rarely do you find honey only recipes.  For my honey I used local star thistle honey from Sleeping Bear Farms.  The cakes are almond flour based filled with lemon curd and topped with honey meringue.   I find all lemon curd tremendously addictive and this one was no exception though the cake turned out to be the bigger hit.  John loved them unfrosted and I can see myself making the cakes again and topping them with a dark chocolate ganache.

Here are my American adaptations/interpretations to the recipe so I can remember them:  3 large tsp of nut butter = 3 rounded teaspoons; 2 dessert spoons of mild honey = 2 tablespoons; 50 ml vegetable oil = 3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon (or rather 3T + guesstimate a third of a tablespoon); 160C fan assisted = 325 degrees F convection. The recipe as written made 16 mini cupcakes in nut cup papers baked for 11-13 minutes.  Coconut oil works well in place of the butter in the lemon curd and you don't need to add it slowly, just whisk well.  It will make the curd grainy cold but be smooth at room temperature.  Thanks Naomi for the great recipe!

The mini cupcake brigade

Happy birthday to me! (Vanilla Bean Cupcakes)

After getting a major dump of snow this week Michigan brought out a perfect snowy and sunny day for my birthday. Per our tradition we went to get a Christmas tree and then headed home to decorate. To refuel us after trudging through the knee-deep snow I baked up a batch of cupcakes. My favorite combination has always been yellow cake and chocolate frosting but dairy-free versions of yellow cake typically leave me disappointed. I solved the problem by using a whole scraped vanilla bean and coconut milk yogurt.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
Real vanilla bean and coconut milk yogurt combine to make a very flavorful dairy-free yellow cake substitute.
Makes 12 cupcakes

2 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
the seeds from one vanilla bean
5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk Yogurt
5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon neutral oil (I've been using grape seed lately)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line or grease your cupcake tins.
-Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla bean seeds with the whisk attachment on a stand mixer until thickened and light yellow. Adding the vanilla bean at the beginning ensures that the seeds will be evenly distributed.
-Add the yogurt, oil and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
-In a separate bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
-Gradually add the flour mixture to the egg mixture while beating on low until the flour is incorporated.
-Spoon into the cupcake tins and bake for 18-20 minutes (check for doneness with a toothpick).
-Cool and frost*.

*I made the frosting using Earth Balance margarine, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, almond milk and King Arthur Flour's Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa. Sorry but I rarely measure when making powdered sugar frosting and it *was* my birthday after all. The special cocoa is smoother and darker than regular cocoa and I'm really looking forward to trying it in this year's Winter Mint Cookies or maybe some Dairy-free TKOs.

This week's 9 Bean Rows share: (clockwise from top)
Two small pac choi heads, eggs, whole wheat loaf, garlic, red potatoes,
small yellow potatoes, apples, arugula, kale and red Swiss chard
Alex the tree hunter
Our tree, a little scrappy (and scratchy) but you can't beat the $10 price.
Three cheers for the Cedar-Maple City Lions Club!

How to make a fondant sardine

For the full-sized pictures, a list of supplies needed and directions go to:
How to make a fondant sardine
a Flickr set

Also see them on the Spinach and Sardine Cupcakes

Spinach and Sardine Cupcakes

I'm been wanting to make a savory cupcake for a while but needed some inspiration to get me started. When my son Alex showed some interest in a can of sardines at the store recently I knew I had to make something special with them. The spinach pasta for the recent Daring Baker lasagna made me think of the perfect combination, spinach and sardines!

For the cake, I chose a simple onion and thyme flavored sponge cake that wouldn't overpower the toppings. The trick was to have just enough sugar to keep the cake tender and yet remain savory. If I made it again I might use caramelized onions in place of the onion puree to give a richer flavor but using sweet onions was good enough for this first try. For the frosting, I would have loved to use whipped cream with spinach puree but with Alex's dairy allergies that wasn't an option. Instead I made up fresh mayonnaise lightened with extra lemon juice to cut through the fattiness of the sardine.

Yes, these will be intimidating for your kids to take the first bite. Encourage them to go for the head first and the brave ones will step up to the challenge. Just think of how packed with minerals, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D these little fish are!

Links:
-Nutritional facts for sardines
-Pacific sardines get a best choice rating from Seafood Watch
-If eating the whole fish isn't for you, try this Sardine Pate recipe on TriniGourmet

Update: Of course, don't really make this recipe. Any cupcake flavor with green frosting will do. The fish on top are fondant with luster dust and black food color and here's how to make them. They did look disgustingly realistic once you bit the head off though. Special thanks to Rachel from one of my favorite sites, Cupcakes Take The Cake for this post. You can't fool all of the people all of the time but fooling even just one on April Fool's Day is the best!

Spinach and Sardine Cupcakes
For Oscar
Makes 12 cupcakes

Cake ingredients:
1 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 large sweet yellow onion, peeled
1/4 cup melted margarine (or butter)
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar

Topping ingredients:
1 cup neutral oil (if you prefer you can use a flavorful oil like extra virgin olive oil)
1 egg (to be safest use a pasteurized egg)
2-3 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons smooth pureed spinach
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
canned whole sardines for garnish

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line a cupcake tin with papers.
-Sift together the flour, baking powder, thyme, onion powder and salt and set aside.
-Take the onion and the melted margarine and process together in a food processor until it forms a smooth pulp. Set this aside as well.
-Separate the eggs for the cake and place the yolks in a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Add 2 tablespoons of the sugar and beat until very light in color and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they foam. Gradually add the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar while whisking until the whites form stiff peaks.
-Add the margarine and onion pulp to the yolks and beat to incorporate. Fold the flour mixture into the yolk mixture just until combined. You don't have to be very careful with your folding at this point.
-Take one third of the whipped whites and mix into the yolk and flour combination. Add another third of the whites and carefully fold until only a streak of white is left. Add the final third and fold until no whites are visible.
-Spoon into the cupcake papers filling only half way. These will rise quite a lot.
-Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick entered in comes out clean.
-Cool completely.
-Make the spinach mayonnaise to frost the cupcakes by beating the egg with the salt and half of the lemon juice and then drizzling in the oil gradually until a thick and creamy base is created. Once the mayo is nice and thick add the spinach puree and more lemon juice and salt as desired.
-Frost each cupcake with the spinach mayo and then top with a plump whole sardine. Be sure to pat the sardines off with a paper towel to remove any excess oil before adding.
-Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator for later.

My son Alex is fearless and went right for the head.
There was no way to keep Abbie away from these during the picture taking.

Chocolate Espresso Pudding Cupcakes with Caramel Milk Foam

I'm down to the line with my Iron Cupcake entry this month. This month's ingredient is coffee. My idea was to make pudding cakes flavored with espresso that would be baked in espresso cups. I also wanted to play with a recent acquisition, Versawhip a soy protein powder that can whip liquids into foams. I bought the Versawhip after seeing the honey fluff made with it on Garrett's Table. I've made maple syrup fluff with it which was great on pancakes and sweet potatoes. Using it to foam soy milk is pushing the limits since there is fat in soy milk that lessens the foaming capabilities. However the consistency was what I was looking for, just like the foam of milk on a cappuccino without having to heat the milk.

The pudding cakes are really a treat and super easy to whip up. I will warn you that despite several adjustments to the recipe I couldn't keep them from bubbling over a little in the oven. You could solve that problem by baking them in one larger pan per the original recipe but then you lose the appeal of having your own little cupcake in an espresso cup. Who doesn't like to have their own little portion? These little cups are dark and chocolaty. The cake is fluffy on top and the pudding hidden underneath is thick and rich. The best part is that they don't have any undercooked egg danger and the recipe was easy to make vegan/dairy-free. I quite like the faux cappuccino look of the milk foam but I'd hate to discourage anyone from trying these because they don't want to go out and buy some crazy soy protein powder. Give them a try topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or some cashew cream.

Chocolate Espresso Pudding Cupcakes
My adaption of the recipe for Chocolate Pudding Cakes from Baking Bites. Please look to the original recipe for a larger version that is baked in an 8-inch square baking pan.
Makes 4 (3 ounce) espresso cup
cupcakes
*These are the espresso cups I used.

Batter:
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons +1 teaspoon sugar
4 teaspoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
3 tablespoons milk (Silk DHA Enhanced soy for us)
1 tablespoon neutral oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:
3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon brown sugar
4 teaspoons cocoa powder
4 teaspoons mini chocolate chips (Enjoy Life chips is my choice)
6 tablespoons boiling water + 3/4 teaspoon espresso powder or 6 tablespoons hot espresso

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
-Stir together the dry ingredients for the batter (the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt). Add the milk, oil and vanilla and stir until a smooth batter forms. Spoon equal amounts into 4 oven safe espresso cups or use 4 other oven safe ramekins or mugs.
-In a small bowl mix together the dry ingredients for the topping (the brown sugar, cocoa, and chocolate chips). Spoon equal amounts of this mixture over the tops of the batter filled cups. Place the cups on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.
-Pour over the boiling water mixed with espresso powder or hot espresso. I spooned a tablespoon over each and then repeated with the remaining hot liquid until all was distributed evenly.
-Carefully place the baking sheet with cups into the hot oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. The cakes are done when the tops are puffed and set but you should be able to tell that there is pudding settled on the bottom.
-Remove the cups from the oven and cool slightly.
-Serve warm topped with caramel milk foam, whipped cream, ice cream or eat as is. You could foam some milk using a milk frother like this one.

Caramel Milk Foam
Based on tips from Garrett of Garrett's Table. Thanks Garrett!
Makes a little over 1 cup of foam

2 grams Versawhip 600K (soy protein powder purchased from Willpowder)
40 grams of soy milk
50 grams caramel syrup (I used syrup from this recipe)

-Whisk together the Versawhip and soy milk together until soft peaks form.
-Drizzle in the caramel syrup and continue whisking until all the syrup is incorporated and the foam is light and frothy.
-Spoon over the cupcakes and serve immediately.

This month's voting will begin Sunday, March 1 at 8 p.m. at No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner and will be open through Friday, March 6 at 12 noon.
The February Prize Pack includes prizes from:
Diana Evans, Lots of Sprinkles and Cakespy.
Prizes also come from these corporate providers:
Head Chefs by Fiesta Products, Hello Cupcake by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, Jessie Steele Aprons, The Cupcake Courier, and Taste of Home Books
Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers and Upwithcupcakes.com
As an added bonus for February, Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Bakery and Cupcakery Supply will be tossing in a variety of cupcaking supplies.

Abbie rates this recipe sniff worthy. Did you notice my son Alex's fingers in the spoon shot? He thought it was hilarious to try and steal the cup while I was taking the picture.

Mead (Honey Wine) Chiffon Cupcakes

Yes, it's Iron Cupcake Earth time again. The theme for this month is wine. I knew immediately that I had to do a mead or honey wine flavored cupcake. Back in December, there was an article in Hour Detroit magazine that fascinated me. It was called "Mad About Mead" and featured a meadery called B. Nektar. Based in Ferndale, Michigan, the founding couple started off homebrewing mead and the hobby lead to opening their own meadery. I'm always interested new local products and liked the varieties of flavors they produce. For the Iron Cupcake challenge I made special trip to Champanes, a warehouse sized wine shop in Warren with a real stuffed lion in the entryway (quite the eyebrow raiser).

Of the B. Nektar meads I bought, their award winning Vanilla Cinnamon seemed the most appropriate for flavoring a cupcake. It was quite sweet, like an ice wine or Sauterne, and the honey flavor was very pronounced. I chose to adapt a chiffon cake recipe so that the honey flavors wouldn't be overwhelmed. Then I kept the frosting light as well with a meringue flavored with more mead and sweetened with honey. The cakes on their own would be good for kids because the fermented aspect of the mead flavor dissipates in the baking. All that's left is a wonderful honey fragrance. I think they would be great topped with some fruit puree. The frosting is more suited to adult tastes because you do get the yeasty, winy flavors from the mead. The frosted cupcakes were an ethereal puff of honey sweetness with nuances of fermentation. Thanks Iron Cupcake for encouraging me to play with another new cupcake flavor.

In this recipe I used:
Sleeping Bear Farms Star Thistle Honey
B. Nektar Meadery's "Vanilla Cinnamon (mead) A light colored and semi sweet wine made with whole cinnamon sticks and vanilla beans. The beans are sliced open by hand before being added to the mead to ensure maximum flavor extraction.This mead won a silver medal at the 2007 AHA National Homebrewing Competition."
*If you live in the Detroit area B. Nektar has tastings at their Ferndale meadery on the first Friday of every month, see their website for more information.


Mead Chiffon Cupcakes
Based on Alton Brown's Chiffon Cupcake recipe
Makes less than a full dozen (~9-10 cupcakes)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
a small pinch of cinnamon
2 eggs, separated
5 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter
2 tablespoons mead
2 tablespoons neutral oil

-Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F and line a cupcake tin with paper liners.
-In a small bowl, stir together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
-Beat together the egg yolks and 4 tablespoons of the sugar until very light yellow, ribbon stage.
-In a very clean bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tarter until frothy. Gradually add the remaining tablespoon of sugar to the egg whites, beating in between each small addition. Continue beating the egg whites until they form shiny, stiff peaks.
-Add the mead and oil to the egg yolk mixture and stir until combined, then add the flour mixture again stirring until combined.
-Stir a third of the beaten egg whites into the egg and flour mixture. Then gently fold in the remaining egg whites.
-Fill the cupcake papers two thirds of the way full with the batter.
-Bake 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick poked into a cupcake comes out clean.
-Cool and frost.

Honey and Mead Meringue Frosting
Makes enough to lightly frost 10 cupcakes, double the recipe for generous frosting

1 egg white
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons mead
1/4 cup honey

-Beat the egg white, sugar and mead over a simmering double boiler until soft peaks form. *I would strongly suggest using a hand mixer for this.
-Add the honey in small amounts and beat in.
-Continue beating over the heat for at least 7 minutes until the frosting forms strong peaks.
-Remove from heat and beat for another minute to allow the frosting time to cool slightly.
-Spread your desired amount of frosting on a cupcake with a spatula and then tap the frosting lightly while turning to create spiky peaks/curls. Repeat with remaining cupcakes.

This month's voting will begin Thursday, January 29 at 8 p.m. at No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner and ends Wednesday, February 4 at 12 noon.
The January Prize Pack includes prizes from: Dogbone Art, Lots of Sprinkles, Cakespy and Sweet Cuppin Cakes Bakery and Cupcakery Supply.
Prizes also come from these corporate providers:
Head Chefs by Fiesta Products, Hello Cupcake by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, Jessie Steele Aprons, The Cupcake Courier, and Taste of Home Books
Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers and Upwithcupcakes.com

Cranberry-filled Chocolate Chestnut Cupcakes

Coincidentally, contemplating cranberry cupcakes can create a clever combination with chestnut and chocolate.

This month's Iron Cupcake Earth ingredient cranberry sent my mind spinning with ideas. Cranberries are in season and it's easy to find Michigan-grown berries. I'm always happiest playing with local and seasonal ingredients. The question was what to pair the cranberries with that would be appealing and unique. Someone beat me to the excellent cosmo-inspired pairing of cranberry and orange (boozed up of course, yum!) I went through and considered the entire Ocean-spray line (Cran-raspberry, Cran-apple, Cran-grape...) but that didn't peak my interest either. Then I came across some Michigan chestnuts. The combination of cranberries and chestnuts seemed fitting in a traditional holiday way. I began looking for chestnut cake and cupcake recipes. Nothing seemed perfect. Then I switched my search to include cakes with chestnuts and chocolate. Sweets aways disappear faster when there is chocolate involved. This brought up a lot more recipes to tweak but nothing specifically dairy-free or vegan (even though I cook with eggs, I have a vegan cupcake fetish.) So I made the decision to replace the pumpkin in a vegan brownie recipe with roasted chestnut puree. I filled my cupcakes with homemade Michigan cranberry preserves and made a frosting that included chestnut puree.

The cake is mildly sweet and not overpoweringly chocolaty. You can taste the natural sweetness of the chestnuts and smell their aroma. The sweet/tart preserves inside bring the cake up to the right amount of sweetness. I chose not to spice the cranberry preserves but would probably do so in the future. My favorite part was the chestnut frosting. I fight with using tub Earth Balance margarine for frostings because it is just slightly too wet. To get a stable frosting you have to over sweeten with powdered sugar. You can solve this by replacing some of the margarine with shortening or by using the Earth Balance sticks but both suffer from a waxy mouthfeel. The chestnut puree solved this and added a nuttiness and nutritional boost (ok ignore that last one it's a cupcake, who cares?) I've never worked with canned chestnuts but I'm thinking about making a big batch of puree and freezing it for future frosting. I bet it would be excellent in a chocolate frosting as well. Here's what I did:

Chocolate Chestnut Cake
Special thanks to have cake, will travel for the recipe Pumpkin Chocolate Brownies I used as a starting point.
Makes 12 cupcakes

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons soy milk
3/4 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened roasted chestnut puree
5 tablespoons neutral oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line a cupcake/muffin pan with papers.
-Mix together the soy milk and vinegar and set aside for a few minutes.
-Stir/whisk together the two flours, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt and set aside.
-Place the two sugars and the chestnut puree into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until combined. Scrap the bowl down and add the soured soy milk, oil and vanilla. Beat together until smooth, additional scraping may be needed.
-Add the dry ingredients in three stages beating until almost (but not completely) incorporated after each addition. Scrape down after the last of the flour mixture has been added and fold a few times to ensure that all the ingredients are blended evenly.
-Spoon into the lined cupcake pan, filling each cup two thirds of the way full.
-Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
-Cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then transfer and cool completely on a wire rack before filling.

Cranberry Preserve Filling
1 cup fresh cranberries, rinsed and halved
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

-Add the ingredients to a saucepan and cook down until thickened, stirring occasionally, approximately 20-30 minutes.
-Cool and store covered in the refrigerator.

Chestnut Frosting
1/2 cup Earth Balance Margarine
6 tablespoons chestnut puree (ideally run through a sieve to remove lumps)
1 1/2 - 2 cups powdered sugar

-Beat the margarine and chestnut puree together until smooth and combined.
-Sift in the powdered sugar and beat together. Add powdered sugar until a pipeable consistency is achieved.

Cupcake Assembly
1. With a 3/4" to 1" round cutter remove a plug from the top of the cupcake. Trim off extra cake from the plug and gently scoop out enough cake from inside the cupcake to create a reservoir.
2. Fill with cranberry preserves (~1 teaspoon) and cover with the top of the trimmed cake plug.
3. Pipe on the chestnut frosting and drizzle over some of the thickened liquid from the preserves.
4. Chill and store in the refrigerator. Allow to warm to close to room temperature before eating.

Some links:
-The Cosmo-inspired vegan cupcake that makes me jealous
-Michigan-based Chestnut Growers, Inc (With a schedule of events in Michigan where they will be selling their chestnuts.)
-Cranberry growing in Michigan
-Which type of chestnut tree should I grow on my new land? Oikos Tree Crops has 12 varieties of chestnut trees for sale.

Visit No one puts cupcake in a corner to vote for the best cranberry cupcake.
Voting begins on Nov. 30 by 8pm and ends on December 5th at noon.
The November Etsy Prize Pack includes prizes from:
Lollipop Workshop, Cookie Sunshine, Lots of Sprinkles, Cakespy and Sweet Cuppin Cakes Bakery and Cupcakery Supply
Prizes also come from these corporate providers:
Head Chefs by Fiesta Products, Hello Cupcake by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, Jessie Steele Aprons, The Cupcake Courier, and Taste of Home Books
Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers

Citrus-Basil Cupcakes for Iron Cupcake Earth

I struggled a bit with this month's Iron Cupcake Earth challenge ingredient, basil. Nothing struck me as a the perfect sweet combination for a basil cupcake. I wanted to bring some cupcakes to a park outing with my parents so I decided to just go super simple and combine citrus and basil.

I started with the agave cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. This is a moderately sweet, golden cake that I knew would be moist and tender and not conflict with the basil flavor. I pureed the soymilk for the recipe with a what seemed like a lot of basil leaves. The color of the resulting strained liquid was less than appealing so I added green food coloring to get a bright green color. This unfortunately did not bake true. The cakes were golden on the exterior with a mucky green interior. The basil flavor in the cake didn't carry through and was lost in the slight touch of lemon.

Thankfully, there was better luck to be had with the frosting. I read recently about the advantages of using stick Earth Balance instead of tub for vegan buttercreams and made that switch. This helped stablize the frosting a great deal. I balanced the powdered sugar's sweetness with both lemon and orange juice. The small amount of chopped basil in the frosting gave a surprising amount of basil flavor which combined well with the lemon and orange zests. Alex loved the frosting and I can see myself using it again on a different cake. I fried a few basil leaves for decoration and their transparent, stained glass look was a pretty touch.

I wasn't thrilled with the final cake color,
I like to call it moldy guacamole

Citrus-Basil Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

2/3 cup soymilk
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
green food coloring, optional
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup agave nectar
1/3 cup neutral oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

-Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake papers
-Blend together the soymilk and basil leaves until fully pureed. Strain out the leaves and add food coloring until it reaches a bright green. Add the vinegar and allow to sit for a few minutes.
-Add the agave nectar, oil and extracts to the soymilk mixture. In a separate bowl sift together the dry ingredients. Add the dry to the wet and mix until combined.
-Fill the cupcake papers two thirds of the way full. Bake 18-22 minutes until set in the center, check with a toothpick or bamboo skewer.
-Cool on a wire rack and frost.

Basil-Citrus Frosting
For 12 cupcakes

1 cup Earth Balance margarine, stick form
2 1/2 - 3 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon orange zest

-Beat the margarine til light and fluffy.
-Add the powdered sugar, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of the orange juice. Beat until smooth and fluffy.
-Add the basil and citrus zests and beat until smooth again. Add the remaining tablespoon of orange juice as needed to make a smooth, fluffy frosting.
-Pipe on cupcakes and decorate with a deep fried basil leaf.

This is my Iron Cupcake Earth:Basil entry. You can vote for the best cupcake on Sunday, September 28th at No one puts cupcake in a corner. Voting ends Thursday, October 1st at 12 noon. This month's prizes are from Metal Sugar, Feista Products, Hello Cupcake, Jessie Steele, Cupcake Courier, and Taste of Home.

In other cupcake related news, I consoled myself over losing the previous Iron Cupcake challenge by commissioning a custom dog hill watercolor from Jessie Olson of Cakespy. I loved the watercolor she made of our two dogs, Karmal and Roxy, on a hill with a family of cupcakes. Thanks again Jessie! You can get your own Cakespy art at her Etsy shop.

Iron Cupcake Voting Now Open!

Voting for the Iron Cupcake Earth Challenge: Chili Pepper has opened and lasts until noon, Sept 4th at no one puts cupcake in a corner.

Of course you should go vote for me as Dog Hill Kitchen, I entered a Cincinnati Chili cupcake, but for inspiration and admiration here are some of my favorites:


Triple Cherry Chili
A visual stunner. The cake has two types of cherries and cherry peppers along with almond paste and coconut milk and it's topped with almond cream cheese frosting.
From A Sweet Piece

Just Peachy Texas Kicker
Inspired by BBQ sauce! The cake has peach preserves, cornmeal, chipotle chili and fresh Texas peaches and it's topped with a chipotle pepper peach glaze and white chocolate ganache.
From Walking the Vegan Line

Chocolate Chipotle del Muertos
A cupcake with a skull and chili crossbones, it's going to murder the competition! The cake is chocolate chipotle and it's filled with lime pudding and topped with lime cream cheese frosting. The skull is fondant.
From Cupquake




Black Sesame Chocolate Chili
Black sesame and chocolate cake with a baked in habenero-sesame ganache center topped with chocolate cream cheese frosting with New Mexico chili powder.
From Delightful Delicacies



Texas Torpedo Cake
This one is just gorgeous inside! A vegan pineapple cake with candied fresh jalapeno, dried pineapple, and cocoa nibs mixed into the cake topped with vegan cream cheese frosting.
From eat'n veg'n


Ginger Cayenne Cupcakes with Pear Cream Cheese Frosting
This one is last because I'm insanely jealous. It has a ton of molasses in the spicy gingerbread cake and the pear cream cheese frosting sounds perfect on top. This is worth making a dairy-free version to try.
from girl farts

The Complete Iron Cupcake Pool
My Cincinnati Chili Cupcake recipe

Cincinnati Chili Cupcakes for Iron Cupcake Earth

For my father's birthday this week I asked him what he'd like me to make, expecting him to pick his favorite carrot cake. Then I remembered that I had my Iron Cupcake Earth cupcakes to make and so I gave him the option of a chili pepper cupcake. I hadn't decided exactly what to make yet and his mind immediately sprang to one of his favorite dishes, Cincinnati Chili. The spices that accompany the chile powder in this regional favorite are cinnamon, allspice and CHOCOLATE. Perfect flavors for a cupcake! Since a good cupcake is only as good as it looks I also thought about the iconic look of Cincinnati chili. A bowl of Cincinnati style chili is topped with copious amounts of spaghetti and cheese. I knew I could pipe vanilla icing and grate orange-colored white chocolate for a whimsical "spaghetti and cheese" decoration.

We ate the cupcakes today and they were wonderful. The spices in the cake reminded me of rich, chocolaty gingerbread. The sweet frosting brought out the chocolate taste even more and I loved the way the cupcakes looked. Alex had fun helping me pipe on the "spaghetti" and grate the "cheese". It was a fun project, a successful cupcake experiment and I think my dad really liked them.

A bowl of real Cincinnati Chili
Thanks to Laughing Squid for the photo!

This is my Iron Cupcake Earth: Chili Powder entry. You can vote for the best cupcake on Sunday, August 31st at NO ONE PUTS CUPCAKEIN A CORNER. Voting ends Thursday, September 4 at 12 noon. This month's prizes are a one-of-a-kind piece of original Cakespy art by ETSY artist Jessie Oleson; a luxury hostess apron from Jessie Steele; the next generation of the Cupcake Courier; and a new publication from the library of Taste of Home Books.

Cincinnati Chili Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon chile powder*
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 cup chocolate chips
5 tablespoons neutral vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon vinegar (apple cider or white)
1 cup cold water
*Be sure to check for other ingredients in spice jars labelled "chili powder". You want to buy pure chile powder and not anything with cumin, onion, garlic, etc added.

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a cupcake pan with papers.
-Add the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, salt and spices to a large bowl. Stir with a wire whisk until full incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and stir to distribute.
-Mix together the oil, vanilla, vinegar and water in a small bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Fill the cupcake papers three quarters full.
-Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out with only a few crumbs clinging.
-Cool for 5-10 minutes and then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to finish cooling.
-Frost and decorate.

Basic Vanilla Frosting
1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup shortening
3 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

-Beat the margarine and shortening until smooth.
-Slowly sift in the powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
-Add the vanilla extract and beat until mixed in.
-Fill a piping bag with a #4 Wilton tip or snip a very small opening to create the "spaghetti".

To Decorate:
I made the orange "cheese" with orange colored white chocolate. I get dairy-free white chocolate from Chocolate Emporium. I melted the chocolate chips carefully in the microwave and then added both Wilton Lemon Yellow and Orange icing colors to get the ideal orange shade. I chilled the colored block of chocolate in the freezer. When I was ready to decorate, I microwaved the block of chocolate in 5 second increments to get it just warm and pliable enough to grate.

More Cincinnati Chili stuff:
The History of Cincinnati Chili
Not in Ohio? Get Cincinnati Chili in Chicago
Like Geocaching? My father's Chili Magnet Travel Bug

Iron Cupcake Earth

I just signed up for a new food competition called Iron Cupcake Earth.
Each month a ingredient is chosen to use in a unique cupcake. Then at the end of the month there will be judging at No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner. To clincher for me was that the prizes for this month are from Cakespy as well as Jessie Steele Aprons and Cupcake Courier and Taste of Home. I adore the cute little Cakespy watercolor paintings!

To join, all you have to do is email Sandy at IronCupcakeEarth@wi.rr.com with the following information:
Name
City, State, Country
Blog Address
Flickr Name
Referral: DOGHILLKITCHEN

Apricot-Ginger Cupcakes with Coconut Butter Frosting

Sometimes recipe with convoluted beginnings have very tasty, unexpected endings. This one began with some deeply discounted fresh apricots. After passing over the same apricots at full price I found a quart for 99 cents irresistible. The poor things ended up in my fruit bin for longer than I'd like to admit. I just couldn't decide what to do with them. I tried eating them with oatmeal or yogurt but they were a little too sweet and bland. I looked through a million recipes online and just before I was about to dry them all I found myself with a cupcake craving. This brought me to Cupcake Project's Apricot Cupcakes with Almond Butter Frosting recipe. I figured if she could rehydrate apricots for puree I could puree my fresh ones. I wanted a summery flavor so I highlighted the ginger in the recipe. I used only powdered ginger to spice them and added some candied ginger chips. Then I changed the frosting to coconut. To do this I used one of my favorite products, Artisana Raw Coconut Butter. I love this stuff! You can use it like any other nut butter but you can also mix it with water to make a coconut milk substitute. I hate opening a can of coconut milk and then having leftover milk in the fridge. I use the coconut butter in curry dishes all the time and add it to fresh fruit or hot cereal.




While I was baking my house turned into a war zone! My son and his two friends from next door came inside to play. With them came a container of squash borer grubs and a couple of collected Japanese beetles. The grubs got loose and were crawling everywhere, kids were leaping off furniture, a tomato got smashed, it was bedlam. Of course they noticed the cupcakes and started begging. I gave them each a cupcake and sent them and the insects outside. Alex doesn't like coconut but he and the little girl neighbor liked the cupcakes without frosting. The girl's older brother gobbled up the whole thing! I loved the flavor of the sweet apricots with the spicy ginger. The coconut frosting was rich and a little went a long way but it gave a tropical flavor that felt summery. It was a perfect match with the extra ginger. I do want to try this recipe again in the fall with squash or pumpkin puree. I think it'll be even better. And maybe next time I can eat my cupcake without chasing down escaped grubs. That would improve my enjoyment tremendously.

I'm adding this to the Living with Food Allergies Blog Carnival. Visit No Whey, Mama on August 21st to see the other participants.

Here are my altered versions of the recipes:
Apricot-Ginger Cupcakes with Coconut Butter Frosting
Makes 7-8 cupcakes

1/2 cup pureed apricots
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/3 cup +2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons milk (I used hemp to use up a carton)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour (or more ap flour)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons candied ginger chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake tin with paper liners.
2. Mix the puree, oil, sugar, milk, and vanilla together until combined.
3. In a separate bowl mix the flours, ground ginger, baking soda and baking powder. Stir until combined.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until combined. Add the ginger chips and spoon into the cupcake papers. Fill the papers three quarters full.
5. Bake for 20 minutes.
6. Cool and frost.

Frosting
1/2 cup coconut butter
1/4 cup margarine (or butter)
1 teaspoon milk (I used soy here, the hemp was all gone)
3/4 cup powdered sugar

1. Stir together the coconut butter and margarine until combined.
2. Add the powdered sugar and beat. Add the milk until the desired consistency is reached.
3. Frost the cupcakes and decorate with more ginger chips.

Earthy Chocolate Muffins

Tired of the same ol' banana bread recipes, I made this delicious chocolate version with buckwheat flour. The key to these is the melted chocolate, it makes them rich while still keeping the sugar count lower than most banana breads. They can be made gluten-free by replacing the all-purpose flour with brown rice flour or a gluten-free flour mix.

Earthy Chocolate Muffins
Lower in sugar and fat than most banana muffins these are full of the earthy flavors of chocolate, banana and buckwheat.

Makes 12 muffins

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup (2 1/4 oz) dairy-free chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate
3/4 cup mashed ripe banana (~2 large bananas)
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons margarine (or butter or shortening)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin cups with papers or grease and flour.
-Sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
-Beat the sugar and margarine together until light in color and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat to incorporate.
-Melt the chocolate chips or chocolate (microwave or double boiler). Mix the melted chips thoroughly into the mashed banana.
-Add the banana mixture and the flour mixture to the beaten margarine and sugar. Beat just until combined.
-Spoon into the lined muffin cups and bake for 17-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out cleanly.
-Allow to cool 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. These freeze well.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

After watching Martha's cupcake week I was inspired to create a new cupcake for Alex. He really loves cinnamon and I saw that one of the Trophy Cupcakes flavors was snickerdoodle. Of course with the real butter and milk in their cupcakes and the fact that their shop is are over two thousand miles from our home, we aren't going to be eating any of their cupcakes anytime soon. So I added a little orange extract to a favorite vanilla cupcake recipe and swirled in cinnamon sugar paste. Then I made a simple vanilla frosting and topped it with more cinnamon sugar for sparkle. These are vegan, dairy-free and egg-free. They taste awesome and make the house smell amazing. I think I might try topping them with crumble topping and serving them as muffins too. Thanks to Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World for the recipe I adapted to make these.



Cinnamon Swirl Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes
1 cup soymilk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup + 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons brown sugar

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners.
-Mix together soymilk and vinegar and set aside for 1-5 minutes.
-In a large bowl, mix together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and white sugar.
-In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon, brown sugar and 2 teaspoons of the vegetable oil.
-Add remaining oil and the orange and vanilla extracts to the soured soymilk. Stir together and add to the dry ingredients. Mix together to form a smooth batter. Pour into the lined cupcake pan.
-Spoon a heaping 1/2 teaspoon full of the cinnamon mixture into each cupcake. Make a zigzag with a bamboo stick or toothpick.
-Bake for 19-22 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
-Allow to cool and frost with vanilla frosting and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Frosting Notes: I rarely measure when I make vanilla frosting. I just take 1/2 cup of softened Earth Balance and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and beat it with enough sifted powdered sugar to get the right consistency and taste. If it gets too thick I thin it with a little soy milk.