Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Whoa, we are more than halfway through MoFo and this is only the 3rd time I have cooked with pumpkin this month? I need to step up my game, yo!

Remember when I told you yesterday that I baked cupcakes for a coworkers birthday? Well, they came out fucking awesome. I won't lie though, I was shitting bricks on my way into work today with them. I know I am a very capable baker but I haven't brought in baked goods to share with my office in the whole 9 months I have been here. Like I mentioned, I am super lucky to have another vegan and two vegetarians in the office so we always have each others backs. Everyone else is really veg-friendly(though the occasional teasing occurs, but its all in good nature) but I was nervous about how the omnis would react to a vegan cream cheese frosting. The nervousness started last night while I was making the frosting. I eat Trader Joe's "This is not a tub of cream cheese" with my bagels but I've never used it for frosting, I usually stick with Tofutti or Galaxy(the best of the best). I wasn't loving how it was coming out so I added a bunch more vanilla and sugar then I tossed in some cinnamon. After fussing with it for awhile, I was pleased with the results. Almost. At this point, it was a perfectly spreadable frosting but not thick enough that it would hold up to piping it. I was exhausted so I decided to just spread it on and be done with it. The frosting still tastes awesome but isn't as pretty as I would have like. Oh well.

I had my guy taste test the cupcakes the night before because I know he will tell me what he really thinks. He loves vegan cream cheese but I don't think I told him there was any in it until after. I was also worried about them having too much cinnamon, my tastebuds were starting to go a little numb from all the frosting I had to try. His reaction was that the frosting was awesome and went perfectly with the cupcake.

The reaction through the office was the same as well. I'm definitely going to bake more for work now! I love vegan baking success!

The recipe I used is the one I got from Vegan Good Eats, which originally came from Jody of jodycakes. Here is the recipe below, without my frosting modifications (those were done to taste without measuring)

Pumpkin Spice Vegan Cupcakes

• 1/4 cup soy milk
• 1 teaspoon. vinegar, preferably apple cider
• 1 cup all purpose flour, preferably unbleached
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup each vegan sugar and packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon each ginger, nutmeg and salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cardamom (optional)
• Dash of ground cloves and allspice
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line 12 count muffin tin with cupcake papers.
2. In large measuring cup, combine milk & vinegar to create soy “buttermilk. Allow to sit and curdle while preparing all the other ingredients.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugars and whisk until smooth. Sift together all additional dry ingredients, including the spices and salt into the sugars. Whisk to combine.
4. In small bowl, stir together pumpkin, applesauce, oil and vanilla.
5. Pour wet ingredients into dry, adding soy “buttermilk” last. Combine all ingredients until smooth and pour into the prepared pan, filling cups about halfway.
6. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until the tops spring back to a light touch.

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

• 6 tablespoons Vegan Cream Cheese, such as Tofutti brand
• 2 tablespoons Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
• 2-4 tablespoons soy milk (as needed)

Cream together the cream cheese and butter and add vanilla. Add the sugar one cup at a time. If frosting is too thick, you may slowly add soy milk to loosen up to reach the desired consistency.

Mofo Post 6 - Cookies N Cream Cupcakes

Do you guys want a cupcake that is seriously worth writing home about? Make a batch of these little badasses and you will not only want to write home, you will want to blog to the entire vegan world about them! Every cupcake I have made from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World has been phenomenal and each recipe I make is even better than the last.

That brings me to the Cookies N Cream cupcakes. If you have the cookbook, just whip up a batch of the standard chocolate cupcake, smash up about 10 Newman O's  and mix them in with the batter. The same goes for the frosting, make the buttercream frosting recipe, smash the shit out of some more O's and mix them in. Then, consume and die happy. After my successful run with the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes and now these, I have decided to make one batch of cupcakes each week for the remainder of MoFo, sure that's only like 2 or 3 more batches but that is 2 or 3 steps closer I will be to my life dream goal of cooking every recipe in that book.

What's your favorite recipe from VCTOTW?

Vegan MoFo-Day One - Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cinnamon Icing

Fall is by far my favorite seasons! How could it not be, I live in New England! With all of the gorgeous foliage, pumpkin beer making its way back into bars and liquor stores, the cool breeze that starts chilling the air at night, the abundance of apples, the sound of leaves and pine cones crunching under your feet and getting to dress Gizmo in adorable sweaters adorned with skulls and crossbones are all things that make this season awesome. The one thing that will make this fall especially awesome is Vegan MoFo! 

If you aren't familiar with MoFo, I suggest you get yourself acquainted because for the rest of the month, myself along with 800+ other vegans will be blogging almost daily! Last year I suffered from MoFo burnout, but I am determined to not let that happen this year. Armed with my million vegan cookbooks, my Nikon D40, iTouch and my awesome job as the manager of a veg*n restaurant I will see this bitch through til the end! Sure, some posts might just be a photo and a few sentences about what I am eating, buying or cooking but I will succeed!

Now, onto my very first MoFo post of the year.........

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cinnamon Icing!

I walked to the market with plans on buying canned pumpkin to make some dog treats for Gizmo and her new best friend, Stank, my neighbors pitbull. I left with about 5 cans so of course I had to find something to make for myself with my surplus pumpkin supply.  One of my missions is to eventually bake my way through Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and these cupcakes got me one step closer.

They are super easy to make and friggen delicious! I've made a shit ton of cupcakes in my vegan and pre-vegan life and these are by far, the moistest(is that a word?) cupcakes I have baked. I've had pumpkin bread, cookies and muffins before but never a cupcake. The only thing I think I will do differently next time is add a little more cinnamon and maybe throw in some nutmeg and ginger to give them more of a pumpkin pie flavor. But even without the extra spices, these little cakes of heaven are seriously worth dying for.

Coconut + Lime = Heaven

It's funny how your taste buds change as you get older. When I was younger I wouldn't touch anything with lemon or lime, especially baked goods. I didn't think they had any place in something sweet. Nowadays I can't get enough citrus in my life. I used to get pissed when a waitress would bring me a glass of water that already had lemon in it but nowadays I always add either lemon slices or fresh squeezed lemon juice to it. If I don't have lemon, lime goes in as a substitute. Ever since I got some Coconut Lemon Liz Lovely cookies to sample and review for xgfx.org my feelings towards citrus in baked goods have changed. In the semi-recent past I have made Coconut Citrus Glitter cookies at least twice, devoured a vegan lime coconut cake that my old boss made for my birthday and most recently was a batch of Coconut Lime Cupcakes I whipped up from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. 

Out of all the cupcakes I have made so far from this book, these are my favorite. I can't wait to keep exploring the awesomeness that is citrus!

Polenta, Beans, Cashew Cream and Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes!

I meant to write this post last week. Oops.

I wasn't intending to make a Mexican type meal for Cinco de Mayo last week but it ended up happening. The night before I had started a pot of polenta and simmered and mashed some black beans but by the time I was done I wasn't hungry anymore so I stuck them in the fridge and decided to wait.

I had never made polenta before so I didn't really know what to expect. I took a cup of cornmeal and threw it in some boiling water with some cumin, chipotle powder, cayenne and garlic and simmered it for about 15 minutes. I then put it in an 8x8 pan to set up in the fridge so I could slice and fry it. I started frying them in oil in a skillet but it wasn't working out very well so I busted out the electric counter top skillet and sprayed with a little canola. Other than the slight malfunction I ran into when I was trying to run it at the same time as the microwave on the same outlet and tripped the fuse it went really easily. They crisped up on the outside much better than they were turning out on the stove.

I also had a huge can of black beans that I cooked up with tons of  sauteed garlic, onion and cumin. After letting them simmer for awhile I took about half and gave them a whirl in the food processor to mash them up into more of a refried bean consistency.

The beans and polenta would have been an awesome dinner as is but I took it up another level with a cashew cream sauce. I had about a cup of cashews that had been soaking overnight,  I whipped them up in the VitaMix with some water, salt, lime juice, lime zest and cilantro. It did come out a little thinner than I would have liked but it's my own fault, I added a little too much water but it came out great either way. Lime and cilantro both have such fresh bold flavors and once they are combined with the creamy coolness of the cashews you are left with a refreshing cream sauce perfect for topping any sort of Mexican or Latin inspired dish.

I even found the motivation to make dessert and wanted to keep with the Cinco de Mayo theme so I decided on Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes complete with cayenne pepper! I have never tried a chocolate cupcake with cayenne and never thought I would make them either but I am so glad I did. I used a basic vegan chocolate cupcake recipe and added some cinnamon, nutmeg and almost a teaspoon of cayenne. Topped only with powdered sugar and cocoa powder they look like an innocent little treat and at first bite they taste that way too. Give it a second and you can taste and feel the spice coming through. They aren't spicy in the way that you will start sweating or feel like your tongue is burning, its more like a gentle kick to your taste buds.

Cookbook Challenge Week 4. VwaV - Seitan Portobello Stroganoff

I really can't believe it's already Week 4. Halfway through no less! I have been slacking the past week or so, for Week 3 I only made 2 recipes out of the 3 I had planned. But this week is all about Vegan with a Vengeance. This is the first vegan cookbook I owned, my mom gave it to me for Christmas 2 years ago while I was still a vegetarian. As much as I love all of my vegan cookbooks, especially Veganomicon, this one will always be my favorite. I've made some pretty badass dishes from it that I know I will keep going back to because they are just that good.

For the Cookbook Challenge I decided to step out of my comfort zone of tried and true recipes and try some new stuff(except the seitan, I've made that before.) Technically I made 3 recipes from the book on Sunday but 2 went together for a meal and the other was just dessert so I am still planning on making at least one more good meal and maybe another dessert by weeks end.

I decided to make Seitan Portobello Stroganoff with homemade seitan, homemade pasta and Coconut Heaven Cupcakes. I definitely had my work cut out for me. I spent the entire day in the kitchen!

Let's start with the pasta...

I haven't busted out my pasta machine in a few years so I figured no better time than now to dust it off and crank out some sheets of fresh fettuccine to go with the Stroganoff. I forgot how easy it actually is and now that I've been reminded I can see more fresh pasta in my cooking future. Probably only on weekends though, it is easy but a little time consuming. The results are so much more worth your time than the $1 you spend on a package of dried shit at the grocery store. It cooks almost instantly, it has a fresh taste and you can customize the dough however you want by adding different flours, seasonings, oils or even pureed greens. I kept it simple for this recipe just in case my pasta making skills had disappeared. Luckily they are still here! I am really looking forward to trying out some different flavor and flour combinations to create the perfect pasta but in the meantime I will give you the recipe I used.

Fresh Vegan Pasta

1 2/3 cup flour - I used AP
2/3 cup water
1/2 tspn salt
1 tspn garlic powder
1 tblspn truffle oil (or olive oil if thats what you have)

On the counter or in your mixing bowl(I took the lazy Kitchenaid route) Dump the flour, salt and garlic powder into a little mountain.

Using your finger make a well in the middle, like a volcano.

Pour the water and oil into the well and using a wooden spoon or your dough hook mix until it comes together to form a dough.

Dump onto floured surface and using your hands(don't forget to flour them too!) knead for about 5 minutes, adding more flour if the dough is too sticky.

Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes, I cover it in saran wrap for this step.

Once rested divide the dough into 2 equal portions. Taking the first section using your hands roughly make the dough into a rectangle shape and start running through your pasta machine on the thickest setting 2-3 times.

Repeat with every setting going down to thin out the dough. Dust with flour as needed.

At this point the pasta sheet should be very long. I cut it in half or thirds(depending on the length I would like my noodles to be) and then run each shorter sheet through the pasta cutter.

Put on a drying rack, hang on a broom or door for at least 30 minutes before cooking. If you are going to store them, dry them out for longer and seal in a bag with as much air removed as possible. You can also freeze the noodles prior to cooking.

When ready to cook, bring water to a boil and submerge noodles. Once the water comes back to a boil and the noodles float to the top, they are done. This will vary from 30 seconds to 3 minutes depending on thickness and freshness of the pasta.

Now onto the Seitan Portobello Stroganoff. If you are a PPKer reading this, than I know I am not the only one who is chuckling at the word "stroganoff.' I've never had any type of stroganoff before this one(are there different kinds?) so I didn't know what to expect, except deliciousness of course! I got what I expected, and more. It looks like something a mean old cafeteria lady who reeks of cigarettes would plop onto your plate in school, or maybe even prison. Don't let the looks fool you into thinking it will be as unappetizing as it looks. This dish is packing some serious flavor on so many levels. It is so hearty and savory with a nice little kick at the end from the dijon mustard. I promise you, make this recipe and you will love it.

Last but definitely not least, let's talk about the Coconut Heaven Cupcakes. Using the word 'heaven' in the title is no joke. These cupcakes really are like dying and going to heaven(if you believe in that sort of thing). If you are a cupcake lover and especially a coconut lover, these babies are for you! Coconut cupcake with coconut frosting, hell yes. There is something about shredded coconut that gets me every time, I just can't say no. I only shared these cupcakes with a few people but heard only awesome things that these are going to become a standard cupcake for me. I have recently started using vanilla bean paste in place of vanilla extract in my baked goods and have noticed  huge difference in flavor. The biggest difference though was in these cupcakes, the vanilla and coconut flavors were totally balanced so neither one was too overpowering. Although it is much more expensive, the level of flavor it adds is worth the extra money for the paste. All those little black specks you see in the frosting in the picture below isn't a screw up, or pepper or any other weird shit, it's actually the vanilla!

Baking Fail

This post is a week overdue but I've been running around like a mad woman all week. I suck at getting this blog going.

When I was an omni and a vegetarian I was always good at baking and used to do it alot, but in the past 2 years I think I have baked a total of 4 times(mainly because I was living with my [ex]bf and our oven was broken, I cooked in a toaster oven, not fun.) And the times I did bake were all before I was vegan. This is my first fall as a vegan, and fall is when I do alot of cooking and baking(asides from the 2 years mentioned) I decided that it was about time that I get back into it. Of course I couldn't just start out with something quick and easy like cookies to boost my confidence. Nope. I had to start with cupcakes and pumpkin brownies. Big mistake.

The cupcakes I made were the vegan vanilla cupcakes from Crazy About Cupcakes. I followed the directions exactly with the exception of adding a handful of confetti sprinkles to make them "Funfetti" cupcakes, so I don't know where I went wrong but they came out like dense little pound cakes. They were heavy too. The flavor was o.k. but nothing I would serve to anyone else. I also made the vegan frosting in the same cookbook which called for cooking some of the ingredients together. I think I let it boil for 1 second too long because instead of a smooth creamy frosting I ended up with a lumpy bowl of what looked like man juice, you know what I'm talking about...... That had to go in the trash. I also tried veganizing a regular frosting recipe subbing vegan butter for dairy butter and soy milk for cow. This frosting ended up just like a glaze, I beat in a ton more confectioner sugar to get more of a frosting consistency but once it was piped on to one of the cupcakes it went from a perfect little spiral of frosting to a melted goopy mess all over the counter... I think part of what my problem was that I used Smart Balance Light, according to some peeps over at the PPK forums, Earth Balance is the way to go when baking and make frosting.

The recipe for Pumpkin Brownies was the one from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. Another fail, but only a semi-fail. The brownie batter tasted amazing and cooked up nicely too, they were fudgy and moist. The pumpkin layer however was a mess. It was really liquidy when I put it and and it stayed that way throughout the cooking. I am not giving up on that recipe though, I will try again, and I will succeed.

After all of that, I felt like I was not meant to bake as a vegan. But I had already offered a fellow PPKer to donate some baked goods for a bake sale at a craft fair that benefits the Milton Animal League so I couldn't give up. The bake sale is tomorrow so of course I waited until today to try baking again. Luckily this time I used different recipes and everything came out delicious. I'll save that for another post though. And I actually took pictures of stuff this time!