Time to vote

It's time to vote for Iron Cupcake: Earth

Just go to no one puts a cupcake in a corner, click on Cute and Delicious on the ballot on the left and submit your vote for my cupcake!

Voting ends September 4th at 12 noon central time.

Iron Cupcake:Mango cupcakes with Habanero ice cream

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

happy weekend!

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.  

tofu florentine (and pretzels)

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. 

New oven!

We're getting a new oven today! So excited. I can't even tell you. Anyway, here's a tiramisu cupcake from a batch last week. They turned out pretty good but I wasn't blown away. They were super easy to make though and look pretty nice (even though I did the quick and dirty version of putting them together).

On the craft and baking front, I made this apron. I still haven't decided how I want to finish the bottom but it will do for now to protect my clothes. I have a ton of shirts with grease stains from spilling earth balance or frosting on myself while I'm cooking. Maybe I'll add a few more stars too. This is one of those projects I whipped up in the middle of the night with some of the fabric I have laying around, so it's not necessarily the best design but I think it came out pretty good considering.

Oh my god I can't wait for the oven.

I made three batches of cupcakes last week but unfortunately didn't snap any photos. I have to say the best of the bunch were the 'jelly donut' cupcakes. I filled them with huckleberry jam and they were awesome. No frosting and a crispy top. Not too sweet. Yum. Definitely want to work on some recipes for cupcakes that aren't overwhelmingly sweet and sugary.

Lemon is great for desserts

I'll be honest, I've never liked cheesecake. I only started eating cheesecake when I became vegan because it's one of the most common vegan desserts around oddly enough. So I have grown to like it over the years, but quite often there is something a little off about vegan cheesecake. That is not to say I haven't had a few that have been quite delicious. In any case, I decided to try my hand at it. I have to say the results were fantastic. I combined a couple recipes I found to come up with a lemon cheesecake that was light and fluffy with just a hint of lemon. I will admit that I used a store-bought crust. Next time I'll try my own. 

I want to be posting a picture of the lemon bars I made this week but they were so good they were eaten immediately. So good. You would have no idea that they were vegan. This is not something I would usually say about my desserts since it makes vegan sound like a bad thing. In this instance though, the crust was just so flakey and the consistency of the lemon filling was just unlike anything I've had. Let me just say again...so good. It was possibly the best dessert I've made so far. 

Instead here is a simple chai tea cupcake. This batch came out okay, but I desperately need a new oven! I'm also not as big a fan of cupcakes that use soy yogurt in the recipe. Perhaps it was just the uneven baking of the cupcakes this time though. 

Girls can use power tools too.

Well I've been making a lot of tasty treats but I haven't had a lot of other fun projects to show off. It's been busy over here though. In honor of the fact that I'll be moving this weekend and this sweet coffee table that I made will be going into storage, I though it deserved it's own post, even though this isn't the best photo. I made this following (loosely) instructions from Readymade magazine, which I love. I found the reel to reel in the garage of the house I used to live in and it came along before the place was demolished. I'd like to get a glass top for this piece but that will have to wait for my next residence. Anyway I bought myself a drill to make this and I'm not sure how I lived without one before. Back to packing for me!