Aug 19th 2008 

Iron Cupcake:Mango cupcakes with Habanero ice cream

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I was so excited about this contest I can’t even tell you. I bake all the time, but one thing I tend to sit back and just follow recipes. Coming up with the recipe for these cupcakes was a challenge for me in the best of ways.

So for the chili challenge I decided to go with one of the hottest peppers out there: habaneros. I wanted to compliment it with light flavors instead of covering it up. Up until recently, I was not a fan of spicy food, but I’ve become completely addicted. I went with a simple flavorful mango cupcake and topped it off with habanero ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate.

I have to say that these cupcakes were very good and unlike anything I’ve ever had. The mango cupcake was sweet with a little bit of tartness. The ice cream cut down the heat of the habanero which kind of sneaks up on you. It has a warm cinnamon flavor that is almost like an aftertaste to the whole cupcake. The combination of the sweetness of the ice cream and the chocolate and the light fluffy fruitiness of the cupcake was, well, awesome.

Oh yeah, and in case you haven’t read this blog before…it was all vegan.

So here are the recipes:

Mango Cupcakes

8 0z Mango, pureed
1 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
1/3 cup canola oil
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup soy milk

Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin pan with cupcake liners. Puree the mango (about 1 1/2 fresh mangoes) in a blender or food processor. Add the oil, vinegar, vanilla and soy milk to the mango and blend until mixed. Mix the flour, baking soda, sugar and corn starch in a medium bowl. Add the wet ingredients to dry and stir until just mixed. Pour into cupcake liners and bake for about 24 minutes.

Habanero Ice Cream

2 habanero peppers
2 cups soy creamer
1 3/4 cup vanilla soy milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp arrowroot powder

Mix the arrowroot with 1/4 cup of the soy milk to dissolve. Put the remaining soy milk, soy creamer and sugar in a medium sauce pan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and stir in the soy milk and arrowroot mixture until it thickens a bit. Let the mixture cool completely. Cut the habaneros in half and remove the seeds. Chop the habaneros in a food processor until they are in tiny pieces. Put in the freezer while waiting for the soy milk mixture to cool. Once cool add both to your ice cream maker according the machine directions. Let freeze a bit more in freezer after the ice cream is thickened in the machine.

Note: wash your hands after touching the chopped habaneros!

Chocolate Topping

Ok so I didn’t really measure this part…so bear with me.

about 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
about 1/4 cup soy milk
about 2 Tbsp sugar

Set up a double boiler and add ingredients. Stir until melted.

To put the cupcakes together, cut a small cone out of the top of each cupcake. Carefully take a tablespoon or melon baller to scoop a bit of the ice cream on top. Making sure the chocolate topping is no longer hot, drizzle a little on top. Dip a small habanero in chocolate for garnish.

All right everyone, don’t forget to vote at no one puts a cupcake in a corner after August 29th

» food

Aug 10th 2008 

happy weekend!

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I love sushi. I really love sushi. I’m so excited because my rice cooker makes awesome rice. I’ve tried making sushi before but it didn’t turn out very well at all. This batch had super yummy avocado. I want to experiment with some other veggies and make something more unexpected. Vegan caterpillar rolls? At least this time I got the rolling part down.

Only think we were missing was the wasabi. 

And for a late night snack (yes I bake cupcakes at 2 in the morning) I made some raspberry cupcakes. These were sooo good. The recipe was very different from most of the cupcakes I’ve made. The batter was much thicker but they still came out surprisingly light. They were just sweet enough with the blended raspberry that they really didn’t need icing. Although maybe a little fruit on top just for looks would be good. 
Also, we went to Madeline’s for the first time. I can’t tell you how amazing their food was. Vegan beignets! Perfect fluffy donuts. Waffles, fried “chicken,” mashed potatoes and gravy. Tofu benedict with mushrooms on hash browns. Everything was delicious and felt great to eat. I can’t wait to go back.  

» food

Aug 10th 2008 

tofu florentine (and pretzels)

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I don’t know what my preoccupation with making a vegan tofu florentine/benedict is. Maybe it’s because it was one of my favorite breakfast treats when I was growing up (that and french toast, but I’ve got that covered). I’ve been to a few restaurants that have really good vegan versions but I want to make my own! This one in particular is from Veganomicon. It was definitely good but I’m gonna keep trying. The cheesy sauce is really yummy but not quite hollandaise.

To test out the new oven I made pretzels. They were a lot of fun, even with the two hours waiting for the yeast to rise. Going to make them a little bigger next time, as the fluffier ones were the best. They were so little and cute though. Oh and the leftover cheesy sauce from the tofu florentine was a delicious topping .
Also made brownies last night (yeah can you tell I’m ecstatic about the oven).  Good thing was they were fluffy and not oily, which is a problem I’ve run into with a lot of vegan brownie recipes. On the other hand, I would have liked them to be a bit more chocolately and cakey.

» food

Aug 6th 2008 

All things green

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I realize August is not really the ideal time to be making scarves, but sometimes it’s just nice to not have to follow a pattern. I bought this yarn a little while ago from Knit Cafe in West Hollywood. It is a organic dyed cotton from blue sky alpacas and it is amazingly soft and easy to work with. I absolutely adore it and will definitely use it again despite it’s price. It was only $10 a skein but I have a habit of buying inexpensive yarn. I went with a simple moss stitch in alternating greens.
And because I cannot seem to stay out of the kitchen recently, I had quite a few different food experiments this weekend. Most of them, while edible, did not go as well as expected. In the end though, all my mistakes were completely overtaken by the fact that I made the best vegan pizza I’ve ever had. Now that is really saying a lot because I have a mild addiction to the pizza dough from Trader Joe’s and have made countless variations from tons of fake meat to vegetable overload to barbecue and most things in between. This pizza was a simple pesto, tomato and vegan mozzarella on wheat crust. I’m usually not a fan of the wheat crust as it tends to come out a bit dry, but all the oil in the pesto seemed to counteract that. This thing was definitely greasy, but well worth it. The cheese even melted! This alone would excite any vegan. In any case, I ate almost the whole thing. I attempted to make this last weekend but had a minor disaster with the pesto. The adapted version of the recipe is as follows.


Vegan pesto

1 bunch fresh basil (about 2 cups)
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp lemon
2 cloves chopped garlic

Throw it all in a food processor and blend.

» food / handmade

Aug 2nd 2008 

First post!

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All right, it’s official. This is the inaugural post to this soon to be amazing blog. I just wanted to show off one of the fabulous margarita cupcakes I made this weekend. Of course this recipe is from “Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.” Although I never thought I would be putting tequila in a cupcake, they’re really quite sweet.

Since I bought a new cupcake tray tonight there will definitely be more made in the near future. Not to mention that I still have a ton more recipes to try. Hopefully there will also be some non-edible treats as I can’t spend all my time snacking in the kitchen. (Alternatively, I just need to find more people to eat the things I make.)

» food