German Chocolate Cupcakes for Michael's Birthday!

Happy Birthday to the love of my life! Well, his birthday was yesterday. We are celebrating tomorrow with a day in LA -- an undecided museum, our favorite restaurant, and the LA Philharmonic! I can't wait.

Since I don't own cake pans, I made him cupcakes. German chocolate cake is his favorite, so I hunted down recipes and found this one. I thought that the recipe was good for 6 cupcakes so I doubled it. I guess I was wrong because it made a dozen plus one 9 x 5 cake. Oops! Anyway, these were SO DELICIOUS!!! Seriously, this recipe is awesome. I added in some instant coffee to the water, which was a nice addition. I also used almond milk instead of soy milk.

I hollowed out the cupcakes and filled them with some of the icing.

This also made a LOT of icing, so I really loaded up this bad boys with it. There's also some leftover in the fridge for Michael to eat with a spoon. Just a warning, though... this stuff is really rich and definitely unhealthy. It's a nice one in a while treat :)

Michael thanked me tremendously and also told me these are the best cupcakes I've ever made. Go make them! Now!

Blackberry Cupcakes

I originally wanted to make raspberry cupcakes, but when I realized that the jam I had in the refrigerator was blackberry and not raspberry, I had no choice but to change my recipe just a tad bit. Makes around 12 cupcakes.

Ingredients:

2/3 c. almond milk

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. oil

1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. natural unsweetened applesauce

1/2 c. blackberry jam

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/4 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 c. sugar

2/3 c. almond meal

2 tbsp. flaxseed meal

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

Instructions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 muffin tins.

- Stir vinegar into almond milk. Set aside.

- Mix together all dry ingredients -- flour, sugar, almond meal, flax meal, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

- In your vinegar and almond milk bowl, stir in remaining wet ingredients.

- Using a hand or stand mixer, mix the dry ingredients into the wet. Make sure not to over mix.

- Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling each about 3/4 full.

- Bake for 18-20 minutes or until done. Let sit in muffin pan for a few minutes before placing them on cooling racks.

- While cupcakes are cooling, prepare some frosting! I beat together a couple spoonfuls of blackberry jam, 1 tbsp. lime juice, a couple spoonfuls of softened Earth Balance, and powdered sugar. Just beat and keep adding powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.

- Spread on cooled cupcakes.

Despite the color of these cupcakes looking awfully scary (they're sort of a teal color), these were mighty delicious! They had a very nice, and not too strong, blackberry flavor along with a little tanginess in the frosting. They turned out very moist -- make sure they are stored in an air-tight container so they don't dry out! I actually stored them in the refrigerator which kept the icing from melting. Next time, I will probably use fresh blackberries or raspberries and puree them myself. However, the jam did work quite nicely (and was already in my kitchen).

I love making cupcakes. I wish I had pastry bags so I could at least make them look pretty! Oh well. It's all in the taste, right?

Eggnog Cupcakes

Michael and I are on a "no sweets except for the holidays" diet so I wanted to make sure I baked up some awesome goodies for Christmas. I found this recipe and decided to give it a go. I've never associated eggnog and liquor, though, so I changed the recipe up just a tad bit. I definitely don't like rum flavor. Ick. Anyway, this makes 12 cupcakes.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c. eggnog alternative (I used Silk Nog)

1/4 c. oil

1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/3 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

1 c. sugar

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

Instructions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tins with paper liners or spritz with oil.

- In a small bowl, mix the liquid ingredients.

- In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients.

- Combine the liquid into the dry, stirring until thoroughly combined but not over-mixed.

- Pour batter into muffin liners 3/4 full.

- Bake for around 18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

- Let rest in muffin tins for 2 minutes or so and then transfer to cooling rack.

- While cupcakes are cooling, whip up some delicious eggnog icing!

Ingredients:

1/4 c. softened vegan margarine (I used Earth Balance)

5 tbsp. eggnog alternative (again, I used Silk Nog)

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

3 1/2 c. confectioners sugar

Instructions:

- Beat together all ingredients except for the sugar using a hand or stand mixer. You may use more or less confectioners sugar depending on your liking so add this in slowly until it becomes an icing-like consistency (my measurement for this is approximate since I just kept adding until it looked and felt right).

- Spread on cupcakes when they are fully cooled and sprinkle with a bit of cinnamon.

Make sure to store these in the refrigerator so the icing doesn't become too gooey over time. I think these are best when the icing is a bit stiff! I also think the icing totally made these cupcakes. While they were delicious just as is, the eggnog flavoring in both the cupcake AND icing made these absolutely perfect. I think these are the tastiest cupcakes I've ever made (and unfortunately I am not talented enough in the kitchen to have made this recipe up myself). I made Michael go out and buy more Silk Nog before the new year so I could whip up another batch and devour them before the holidays were over! If you have any leftover eggnog, I HIGHLY recommend making these as soon as possible. You won't regret it.

Chocolate Citrus Cupcakes

I bake a lot but generally the baked goods I make go towards Michael's students. I wanted to make some cupcakes just for Michael and I. I also wanted something different than what I usually make. I adapted a few recipes and came up with this. This recipe makes roughly 24 cupcakes.

Ingredients:

1 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

2 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. sugar

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 c. cocoa powder

2/3 c. water

1 c. orange juice

2 tbsp. lemon juice

3 tbsp. oil

3 tbsp. unsweetened natural applesauce

2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

2 tsp. vanilla

1/3 c. shredded coconut

Instructions:

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease or line cupcake pans.

- Mix the dry ingredients (except the coconut) together in a large bowl and mix the wet ingredients in a small bowl. Slowly add the wet into the dry until it is just mixed.

- Fold in shredded coconut.

- Spoon batter into cupcake pan, about 3/4 full.

- Bake for 12-14 minutes or until done.

- Place on cooling racks and let cool completely if you decide to put icing on them.

- Eat!
These cupcakes could have used some adjustments. I wish I had added more lemon juice to give it a bit more tang, some more coconut, and probably some icing on top. Besides that, I think they were very tasty! They were very moist and stayed fresh in a sealed container for about a week. I'm glad they lasted so long -- Michael and I were snacking on these the whole week! I think next time, though, I'll whip up some orange icing to top them with. Delicious!

[Red] Velvet Cupcakes w/ Chocolate Ganache

Wow, I've really been baking a lot lately! I've also been cooking but have been too lazy to take pictures of the food and whatnot. Anyway, Michael's birthday was the other day (Oct. 6) so I made him some cupcakes for the celebration! This recipe is for red velvet cupcakes but I had no red food coloring so they are just... velvet cupcakes. I made a bunch of small cupcakes for his students and a few big ones for us. I used this recipe for the cupcakes but I will repost it here.

Ingredients:

2 c. soy milk

2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

2 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

2 c. sugar

4 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1/3 c. oil

1/3 c. unsweetened applesauce

4 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

- Mix soy milk and vinger. Set aside to curdle.

- In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients.

- In a small bowl, mix the oil, applesauce, vanilla, and your curdled milk.

- Combine wet ingredients with the dry and mix well.

- Fill cupcake liners to about 3/4 full. I didn't have any liners so I just made sure to grease the pans very well.

- Bake for 20 - 22 minutes until done.

- Place cupcakes on cooling racks and cool completely before icing.

- For ganache, use a double boiler. If you don't have a double boiler, just get a small pot and boil a few cups of water in it on medium-high heat. Place a metal bowl on top for your ganache. I used chocolate chips, a couple tablespoons of margarine, and a couple tablespoons of soy milk.

- Heat up soy milk and margarine until the margarine is completely melted. Add in chocolate chips and stir until smooth.

- Spoon warm ganache onto cupcakes (I sprinkled some sweetened coconut on half of them) and let cool until ganache hardens.

I'm glad Michael gave away all the tiny cupcakes to his students or else I would've had a hard time staying away from these babies. They were very good and I'm glad I added some coconut to ours (I only made about 8 big cupcakes for us). They definitely tasted like red velvet cupcakes... if only I had some red dye! I do, however, think the bigger ones tasted better than the small ones. I feel like the small ones didn't have enough softness to them or something. Either way, they were all delicious (the kids ended up eating every single one of the 36 small cupcakes!). I'm definitely going to keep this recipe on hand for later use. I don't eat boxed red velvet mix because of the hydrogenated oils and such so I'm pleased this turned out well!