Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

[Smoothie]

i just recieved mine yesterday. it looks so good. can't wait to start baking 'em cupcakes

[Wildflower]

I want this cookbook but I'm afraid I'll balloon to 300lbs or something.

So you didn't get it for Christmas then?

They do have a lowfat cupcake recipe, which is the one I have actually been making because 1) i really liked it 2) all the others look so good i can't decide what else to make

[Jamie]

my cakemaking went ok - although all up it took much much longer than I'd thought (but I'm not very good at guessing how long things will take!).

I had some photos although they are on someone else's camera so I can't post them for a little while. The cakes didn't look as good as the pictures, although I was in rush and so didn't have enough time to perfect them.

I had an issue with my chocolate cherry tallcakes - that I couldn't use the cherry pie filling I was planning to use, the best I could come up with last minute was some icing in the 'well' with a really small dollop of strawberry jam, then the 'lid' back on (upside down) and and a twirl of icing on top - I even had to improvise on the chocolate shavings because I didn't have time to make the shavings - I ended up sprinkling on some green & blacks hot chocolate granules!!! I tasted it and it was a bit like tiny chocolate ants - I thought it would do!

The only prob I had was that for some reason my icing was a bit runny. I didn't think it was particularly warm in the house to cause this, and I didn't have the problem last time I made it.

[Tigerlily]

So you didn't get it for Christmas then?

They do have a lowfat cupcake recipe, which is the one I have actually been making because 1) i really liked it 2) all the others look so good i can't decide what else to make

No, I forgot to specially order it from the bookstore.

[Fyvel]

I LOVE this book!!! I made the lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream icing and the gingerbread cupcakes with lemon buttercream icing. They were great!

[jeffg]

I'm kind of new to the vegan scene so this question might seem kind of dumb. Would cupcakes made with vegan ingrediants be lower in fat than regular cupcakes? Would they generally have less calories than regular cupcakes? A big part of the reason I am experimenting with a vegan diet is to keep my weight down and stay healthy.

[Fyvel]

The difference in fat/calories would vary depending on the recipe, whether vegan or not. Vegan cupcakes wouldn't be significantly lower in calories or fat (though they would have no cholesterol.. but the amount of cholesterol in non-vegan cupcakes is likely minimal as well). Junk food is junk food, whether it's vegan or not. Best to have cupcakes in moderation

[cookey]

I finally gave in and got this off Amazon. I had been looking for it at last year's Animal Aid fayre and everyone seemed to think I was a bit odd when I asked for it by name!
Here in the uk, we just have fairy cakes with a little bit of icing on top. These cupcakes seem to be a bit of cake with a whole dessert on top! Not that I object to this, but must keep to making them less often! Luckily I have cup measures already so I won't have to try and convert to grams.
I haven't made any yet, but it looks really well written and lots of good advice.

[sprite1986]

Wow.. I want some vegan cupcakes!


I might go have a look at this book on Amazon now, thanks!


p.s. good luck with the baking!

[inkedmiss]

My copy of this arrived this morning from amazon.

Im a bit confused as to what UK bakers would class as "all purpose" flour, as I thought we just had self raising or plain..

any ideas anyone ?

[fiamma]

I've just been using ordinary plain flour and they seem to turn out okay; I'm pretty sure this is what they mean. I've made the Gingerbread, Toasted Coconut and Golden Vanilla ones so far. The Gingerbread and Toasted Coconut ones are AMAZING; I don't like so much the ones where you have to curdle soya milk with cider vinegar , I think it gives the cupcakes quite an odd texture, while ones like the Gingerbread cupcakes are more "cake-like" in texture. I'd love to try out some of these incredible icing techniques, but normally my cupcakes don't last that long!!!

Good luck.

[inkedmiss]

Thanks for that. I can't wait to get baking. Its a lovely little book and the icing does look very professional.

I've seen a lot of pics on the Post Punk Kitchen forum and there are some very clever cooks there. Im like you though probably - doubt the cakes will last long enough to ice.

I'm going to try the Toasted Coconut ones first ..

[Smoothie]

i think it's just the plain flour. that's what I use, and it works

[Wildflower]

All purpose flour is plain flour.

Self rising flour has baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) already added. For these recipes, you need to add this seperately, per the instructions in the recipe.

[Jamie]

I don't mind curdling the soy milk - although I don't like to tell people that it has curdled soy milk in it!! I think it's really interesting the way it makes it go all thick and yoghurty. It doesn't seem to affect the texture of my cakes though. Have you tried with a different brand of soy milk?

I'm going to make the coconut and lime cakes again soon but will probably try some of the others mentioned here soon too!

[fiamma]

Don't you find it more difficult to get the cider vinegar ones off the paper? Half of the cupcakes seems to stay stuck to the paper

[Fyvel]

Don't you find it more difficult to get the cider vinegar ones off the paper? Half of the cupcakes seems to stay stuck to the paper

Haven't had that problem... but I have crappy cupcake papers that practically fall off the cupcake.

[inkedmiss]

In the book it says to spray the cupcake cases with that spray oil you can get, maybe that would help.

I have another ingredient question though - what in the UK would be classed as "shortening" ?

[fiamma]

This has already been discussed in this thread - scroll up to Jamie's post, around number 20.

Thanks for the spray oil tip, BTW

[cookey]

I made the vanilla ones last night but with a bit less sugar, spelt flour and no topping as they were intended for the childrens breakfast ! I've made many cakes in my time as a vegan. I used to use this curldled milk type version before but then went over to flour and oil and water type method. I was pretty impressed with these and no probs with sticking to the case.
I intend to do a full on frosted version for next weekend.

[Jamie]

oh yeah, they do stick to the cups, but it doesn't bother me that much! When I was young I used to chew on the paper cups at the end to extract the crumbs! I wouldn't go that far now but I do pull it flat and bite off the cake remains

I made the coconut & lime base cakes the other day, and started trying to make the frosting, using nuttlex marg and copha for veg shortening - but it went horribly because the copha was so solid it wouldn't mix at all - I spent ages try to shave ribbons off the block with my mixing spoon. Then I asked my hubby to take over while I went to check on the cakes, and he'd just broken up the big block and given me huge lumps of copha instead of more mixable ribbons!!! I even tried sitting the bowl in the sink in warm water to melt it a bit, but it just melted the marg. It was just horrible! I don't know if you are supposed to leave the copha out at room temp to go soft, or what, but I never had to do that with flora white. Also I don't think copha is unhydrogenated, and so really it just puts me off using it because I imagine what that fat will do when it's in my arteries!

But in the end, the cakes were wonderful without any topping!! In our fan oven in our new flat, they never seem to brown on the top, even though a skewer comes out clean - so I end up putting the grill element on for 5 minutes at the end to brown them up nicely so they look cooked! But they were AMAZINGLY light, really yum! So I totally recommend them on their own!

I also use self-raising flour in place of plain & adding in baking soda and powder.

[cookey]

That's interesting Jamie cos I got some trex last night to use instead of shortening and it does seem really hard (hard non hydrog veg oil). I might see if I can get it a bit softer before I mix it with marg and use all marg if not.
Flora white here in the uk doesn't say it's vegan and when I checked it has vitamin D in which I tend to avoid unless it specifically says its the vegan type.

[Jamie]

when I bought it a few months ago it definately said it was vegan on the packaging! that's why I bought it!

[Wildflower]

I made a few batches of the chocolate cupcakes last week, which calls for the curdled soymilk.

Question - my soymilk did not seem to curdle? I mixed in the cider vinegar and let it sit while I mixed together the dry ingredients - so...10 minutes or so. It just looked about the same.

Also made the chocolate mousse - which I had serious doubts as it is made with tofu - but it was AWESOME. And the buttercream frosting turned out great (i used all margarine instead of margarine and shortening) and threw in some Newman Os (like a vegan oreo). AMAZING.

[cookey]

I think the Soya milk only curdles a bit cos the amount of vinegar used is quite small. As long as they turn out right it doesn't matter!
I made the skinny vanilla ones this week to eat tiday. The first lot I put in too hot and oven which had other things in and they were getting dark on top but still squdgy in the middle. Found my conversion from degrees F to gas and realised they should have been on mark 4 not 7! Still didn't rise too much, but less goey inside.
Made vanilla buttercream frosting with half trex,half pure marg. Put this in before the icing sugar then realised how much 3 1/2 cups of icing sugar is and didn't have enough! So couldn't add the soya milk cos it would have been too soft! As someone said before, definately far too much frosting even with creative thinking and pilling it on thick. I would def make less next time.

[fiamma]

Wildflower when I curdled the soyamilk it went like yogurt. However I made another very similar recipe from the Candle Cafe Cookbook which uses cider vinegar but you didn't have to curdle the soya milk and the vinegar and the result was exactly the same. Maybe you could try a different brand of soya milk?

[xwitchymagicx]

I still haven't got this cookbook...can't afford it either.

[twinkle]

You could ask your local library to get it in for you...?

[xwitchymagicx]

Yeah, maybe, I haven't been to the library in ages. lol

[inkedmiss]

I still haven't got this cookbook...can't afford it either.

There was a copy on ebay the other day if that helps

[Wildflower]

Wildflower when I curdled the soyamilk it went like yogurt. However I made another very similar recipe from the Candle Cafe Cookbook which uses cider vinegar but you didn't have to curdle the soya milk and the vinegar and the result was exactly the same. Maybe you could try a different brand of soya milk?

I just made these again tonight, and I was using a different brand of soymilk.

I am not sure. I am one of those people who never has their soymilk curdle in coffee/tea either. I just bought and opened this particular gallon of soymilk a few days ago too...Friday I think.

I bought that Candle Cafe cookbook on an impulse and then read bad reviews of it and was afriad to try anything...did you get anything to come out? I suppose we should switch threads for this!

[fiamma]

To be honest I've been put off trying a lot of the recipes (in the Candle Cafe Cookbook) because they're just too finicky. I've made the Black and White Cupcakes (omnis loved them ), the Vanilla Scented Pears and the French toast, all which came out OK. Use stale bread for the Frenc toast though, it works better. But I'm going off topic.

I made the chocolate cupcake from VCTOTW and was disappointed - they seemed a bit heavy to me, didn't rise too well. But the fact that your soyamilk doesn't curdle in coffee is irrelevant - here you're putting vinegar into it, so quite different! I can't say I'm wild about the ton of frosting they use - looks pretty but I find myself scraping it all off, too sweet
But I'm itching to make more so I'll let you know how it goes

[Fyvel]

I've learned to halve the recipe for frosting if I just have one batch of cupcakes. Half the recipe is just enough!

[ViveVegan]

I loved this cookbook.
I loved these cupcakes.
the whole thing was worth the money.
I havent really ventured past the golden vanilla cupcakes yet, but I intend to this week if I get enough money for ingredients.
They taste pretty amazing too :] 'cept Im having frosting issues, so I just managed to find vegan vanilla fosting in a tub. =]

[angelamc]

Do all the recipes for the vegan cupcakes call for egg substitute? This book sounds amazing and I want to get it but I am allergic to egg substitute so it would be pointless for me to buy it if every recipe used egg substitute.

[fiamma]

No, not at all. They either use soy yogurt or apple cider vinegar, and one uses banana, but there's no egg substitute in there.

[angelamc]

Awesome!! Thanks, I am totally going to buy this book on amazon right now!!

[eclectic_one]

I have been loving this book (Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World). So far I've made the Velveteen cupcakes twice (they're my definite favorite vegan dessert now), the Chai cupcakes once, the carrot cake cupcakes, and today I made the Lemon Macadamia nut cupcakes.

I made a few changes though: Velveteen is definitely better with chocolate extract (as mentioned in the book), as I've made them with and without that extract. I also like them and the Chai cupcakes MUCH better with the vegan cream cheese frosting. As far as the cream cheese frosting goes, I think it's actually better with 1/2 tspn vanilla extract and 1/2 tspn lemon juice--tastes more like "real" cream cheese frosting to me!

[eclectic_one]

I made the Crimson Velveteen recipe and thing that the cocoa power should either be reduced by half or entirely left out.

I didn't think anything should be left out...I love the hint of chocolate

[Wildflower]

I made the chocolate cupcake from VCTOTW and was disappointed - they seemed a bit heavy to me, didn't rise too well.

Wow, I have made these about 5 times and they come out wonderful. Did you use both the baking powder and soda like it call for? Mine have puffed up quite a lot and they turn very black and chocolately - i didn't use dutch processed cocoa like it called for, I used untreated cocoa.

[fiamma]

Yes, I did I followed the recipe to a T, so I don't know what happened. I also had a vanilla cupcake disaster; they tasted great because of all the vanilla (I love vanilla) but they definitely had the consistency of scones! I baked them together with another dish to be economical, and that might have been to blame. Oh well, will keep trying - I want to make the lime and coconut ones next

[Fyvel]

A lot of the cupcakes I make fall a bit in the center (it seems to happen randomly, but I am blaming our old stove). We make the best of the situation by seeing it as an opportunity to just fill the holes with extra icing!!

[Jamie]

I wonder if it is the oven affecting some of the problem cakes?? Or can you be overmixing them or something, or perhaps baking powder/soda is past it's best?

We have a fan oven and it seems to cook the cakes but not brown them at all so they look very anaemic - I had been putting the grill on for another five minutes at the end to brown the tops and make them look cooked. But when I tried that on my last batch of apple cinnamon muffins, with a sugar & nut mix on the top - there was a bit of a disaster in that they were blackened and filled the oven with smoke!!

[veganwitch]

I've been interested in this cookbook and you are all making it sound wonderful. After all, I've never met a cupcake I didn't like! But the one time I flipped through the book in the store the recipes all seemed so complicated and fancy that I thought it was beyond my basic baking skills. Guess I'll have to look through it again.

[Fyvel]

There is a section in the beginning of the book that has some troubleshooting help for the cupcakes. It lists several things that could make the cupcakes fall (or not rise enough) and having an old oven is one of them... among other things. Remember that once you mix the acid with the base (usually when you mix the liquid with the dry), the leavening action starts. The faster you can get your cupcakes into the oven once you mix the two together, the better they will rise (you lose leavening as the air escapes the batter as it sits - you can see the little bubbles rising out of it).

The recipes aren't really complicated, they just have a lot of ingredients. They can be time consuming to measure out if you're a stickler like me, but they're not difficult.

[veganwitch]

Thanks Fyvel for the help. I might try to get to the bookstore later today.

[Poison Ivy]

I've just made the Peanut Butter Cupcakes topped with the rich Chocolate Ganache...they're not very exciting to look at really but they do taste fantastic

[Wildflower]

Mmmm...I have just made the Basic Vanilla cupcakes, with the oil version. They taste great but SOME of them rose funny...the middles puffed up a lot, but then there is a ring around the edge that didn't, and stayed crispy.

Ahhhh...my cupcakes have foreskins!

I am not sure if maybe I added extra batter to some, and not others, and this is why it happened. Like in when I was filling the tins, I may have added more than one scoop into some...

Also, I am not using the cupcake liners...maybe they stuck to the pan too much? I oiled it.

Anyway, I mashed a few up and ate it with fresh strawberries and Praline Cream from the Professional Vegetarian Cooking cookbook, which I shall go report on in that thread. It would have been perfect with peaches or even blueberries, but I already bought strawberries, so whatcha gonna do...pralines and strawberries was OK by me. I may turn it all into a trifle!

How do I post a pic? I took a pic of the foreskin cupcakes....

[Smoothie]

about a month ago, i arranged a cupcake café day at my school, where i made the vanilla cupcakes, the chocolate cupcakes, the macadamia/lemon cuppys, the peanut ones, the lemon/coconut ones and the carrot ones. OMG! it was amazing. we had a huuuge table, just with cakes. i hope to get the pictures soon (they're on the school camera..), then i'll post them on my blog!

[eclectic_one]

I just made the low-fat sexy vanilla cupcakes and next time I'll definitely spray the liners because 1/4 of the cupcakes probably stuck to them I also didn't end up making them truly low-fat because I used some of my leftover lemon frosting (from the lemon macadamia cupcakes) for a few cupcakes and chocolate ganache for the others