Vegtastic!

I have two BBQs and a birthday party to attend today. [I'm not used to being this social.]

So, I baked cupcakes. All recipes are from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

One batch of the book’s Fluffy Buttercream Frosting produced enough to top 36 cupcakes (errr, 34 — David and I each ate one un-iced). I mixed up everything for a single batch except for the extract, then divided it into thirds and added extracts, food coloring, and additional ingredients accordingly. (Since the recipe calls for 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, it ends up being 1/2 tsp extract per 1/3 of the recipe).

Coconut

Start with the Golden Vanilla Cupcakes. Sub out 1 tsp of the vanilla for coconut extract. Adding some shredded coconut to the batter would probably be nice, but I didn’t do so. Sub out half of the vanilla extract in the 1/3 batch of frosting for coconut extract (1/4 tsp + 1/4 tsp) and add a couple tablespoons shredded coconut. Frost with a 1M tip.

Lemon

Start with the Golden Vanilla Cupcakes. Add a lemon zest (≈1/2 a lemon) to the batter and sub out 1 tsp of the vanilla for lemon extract. Sub out half of the vanilla extract in 1/3 batch of frosting for lemon extract (1/4 tsp + 1/4 tsp) and add the zest of the other half of the lemon and a couple drops of yellow food coloring. Frost with a #21 tip.

Gluten-free chocolate

The batter tastes strongly of flax, but baked these cupcakes turn out marvelously; not to be cliche or anything, but they are so moist and tender that I really can’t tell that they are gluten-free.

I needed to sub garbanzo bean flour for the quinoa flour Isa+Terry recommend, though the result is still delicious. Something to note: tapioca flour (as called for in the recipe) is the same as tapioca starch. I prepared the frosting following the directions 100% and added food coloring to get a green color, then striped my pastry bag with blue food coloring for the contrast. Frost with a 1 M tip.

Green and blue are my frisbee team’s colors (BBQ #2); since I’m terrible at frisbee, I wanted to show them that I’m at least good at something — baking.