Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Cupcakes! Part 1 of 3



I love cupcakes, but what girl doesn't? They're cute, small, and delicious. Recently I house-sat for my friend Allie and as a thank you, she bought me this amazing book:



The book was intoxicating, not a lot of gluten free options, but the ideas in this book blew my mind!
Anyway, it came in very helpful when Doe Deere asked me to bring a vegan/gluten free dessert option to her housewarming party. I immediately started scouring the book looking for Asian style recipes. I came up with Green Tea Almond and Rosewater Pistachio. Neither of these recipes were gluten free so I decided to improvise with a Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Vanilla Mix. And OH MY GOSH the combo of everything was so decadent, I had to make an extra batch (The second batch I did mocha fudge and chocolate truffle) because Brian, myself, and friends ate a ton of them the night before the housewarming.... oops. These cupcakes were the best gleegan cupcakes I have ever made, Brian swears that they are too moist to be really gleegan. So here we go. Over the next three days I will be posting the three dolled up cupcake recipes I did, and if you like them I strongly suggest you get Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. It's an amazing read, I'm super impressed. Let me preface I USUALLY don't eat processed sugar, but these are a treat, and I am not feeling bad about eating them. So there!

Let's start with my favorite, and the most requested recipe:

Rosewater and Pistachio Cupcakes
inspired by Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

For Cupcakes:
3 fake eggs (I used Ener G Egg Replacer)
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup almond milk (Plain, unsweetened)
1/4 cup rosewater (I got mine in the beauty section at Whole Foods, make sure that it doesn't have perfumes and is edible!)

1. Preheat oven to 325*F. Line cupcake pan
2. Mix the fake eggs and set aside
3. Mix cake mix, coconut oil until combine, add liquids and eggs.
4. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 of the way (I think the mix made 18 cupcakes for me)
5. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Check with toothpick. 
6. Cool COMPLETELY before frosting.

For Frosting:
21/2- 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar (I used a looooot)
2 tbsp Earth Balance or coconut oil (I used earth balance)
2-4 tsp almond milk
1-2 tsp rosewater
dot of red food coloring (I promise. A DOT is all you need)
chopped pistachios for decoration

1. Cream half the sugar and margarine until crumbly.  
2. Add in almond milk and rosewater, and beat in remaining sugar.  
3. Adjust consistency if needed.
4. Pipe frosting on top of cupcakes, I made it tall, swirly and wonderful, then I took pistachios and sprinkled them on the ugly parts. 
VOILA! Beautiful cupcakes!

Check back tomorrow for the Mocha Fudge and Devils Food Recipes!

EDIT: Due to the controversy surrounding Bob's Red Mill products right now, I'm unsure I want to promote them. There are other gluten free mixes (I've used Betty Crocker's which was pretty good) you can use, just adjust the liquid ingredients to what the mix you purchased asks for.



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