You Never Need a Reason to Make Cupcakes

Weekends. Aahhh, weekends. As someone who appreciates sleeping in, lounging around all day in pajamas, and brunch (because it's just an excuse to eat sweet and savory foods at the same time), weekends have pretty much always rocked. Ever since my boarding school days, when I had classes and sports practice/games on Saturdays, I have grown to really appreciate my time away from the normal routine. However, I've quickly realized in the last month that weekends come to mean a hell of a lot more once you're out in the working world.

What? You guys don't frolic around Harlem on the weekends, stopping to take a pic with Freddy D?!

Now, as I only have three months left to enjoy the blissfully wonderful class schedule of a second semester senior in college, I have taken it upon myself to reflect on what awaits me in the big bad real world that exists one step beyond receiving my diploma: it's not pretty. Both my roommates leave the apartment (one in pantyhose and heels – shudder) in the morning and return home at the end of the day, frustrated and uninspired by their menial employment.

Moral of this story? Fuck excuses, fuck birthdays, fuck rational thought. Just make cupcakes for the hell of it. You don't need a reason, and they're often better if you have none. Just scamper off to Whole Foods like a deranged addict (wait, is that just me?) and bake your little heart out. Because we all deserve an escape from the mundane.

P.S. new shoes from your mom help too

So. These fluffy, moist (sorry all you moist haters) little pillows of deliciousness were brought in to celebrate making it through another week. It's a basic vanilla cupcake that's probably the best vanilla cake I've had since going vegan, topped with a salty, but still incredibly sweet, caramel frosting. This is what sugar comas are made of folks. Embrace, enjoy, and celebrate absolutely nothing!

Salted Caramel Cupcakes (from Chloe Coscarelli's Chloe's Vegan Desserts)*

(Makes 12 cupcakes)

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup almond milk

½ cup canola oil

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line or grease your cupcake tins. Blah blah blah.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: almond milk, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.
• Pour wet mixture into the dry mixture and whisk until combined.
• Fill the cupcake tins about 2/3 full with batter and bake for 20 minutes

* This recipe may seem insanely familiar if you've perused my chocolate cupcake recipe from last week. These basic chocolate and vanilla cupcake recipes always yield scrumptious results from very little effort.

Caramel Frosting

½ cup Earth Balance

1 cup dark brown sugar

¼ cup almond milk (I needed more)

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar

Sea salt, for sprinkling

• In a medium saucepan, melt Earth Balance and whisk in brown sugar, almond milk, and salt.
• Bring to a gentle boil and let boil for 3-4 minutes.
• Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, and let cool (I put it aside for 20-ish minutes).
• Once cool, slowly beat the caramel mixture with the powdered sugar using a hand mixer (When I did this it produced a crumbly mess so I took Chloe's suggestion and added in a couple of tablespoons of almond milk which smoothed it out into a recognizable frosting).
• Beat on high until smooooooooth.
• Optional: I threw my bowl of frosting into the freezer for 20-ish minutes to firm it up a bit. There's nothing worse than going to assemble your cupcakes and having the frosting slide down the cupcake because it's too warm or too runny.
• Once the frosting is firm, spread it generously on the cupcakes and sprinkle those bad boys with some sea salt to give them that extra kick!

Bonus:

if these cupcakes last the weekend they can serve as an incentive for making it through your mopey/manic/mundane Monday! Coming home to this little treat will no doubt put a smile on your face :)

Omnivore-Approved Chocolate Cupcakes

Hello world! I'm back: back in New York, back in the blogosphere, and back in the kitchen! Being unable to cook or bake for two and a half months this summer was brutal - but I love my job and adore escaping to the middle of nowhere in Maine, so it's worth it, even for a foodie like me.

When I came home I found myself making really basic things to eat - salads with bottled dressing for lunch, crispy tofu when I was feeling uninspired, and peanut butter sandwiches when I didn't feel like doing much. I think I actually had to remind myself that I loved to cook and bake!

So, there I was, seeking out more recipes online, making longer and longer Whole Foods lists, and perusing cookbooks at the public library. And then I remembered that it was going to be my roommate's birthday and BAM! I was in the kitchen and donning my apron like I had never left. Both roommates came home to the smell of chocolate cake wafting through our apartment and an extra tub of frosting sitting in our freezer. There are worse ways to spend a Friday night, right?

The birthday girl didn't have any crazy requests, so I decided to whip together something that we would all enjoy: chocolate and peanut butter. Because let's get real: who doesn't love this sweet and salty combination?!

These cupcakes are sheer perfection. Time and time again I've turned to this recipe when I need a dose of chocolate, or when I'm slightly weary of serving baked goods to people who expect the familiar tastes of cholesterol-laden Magnolia Bakery cupcakes. You see, I can accept that my taste buds have grown accustomed to substituting almond milk for cow's milk, Earth Balance for butter, and flax seeds for eggs, but it can be difficult for some people to see beyond the ingredients they think they are missing when they're eating vegan treats. Let me tell you – these cupcakes definitely don't have that problem! People are too busy devouring these beauties to even miss those unneeded ingredients.

I've made this chocolate cupcake for friends and family, and it's a personal favorite of mine, but until this recipe I hadn't experimented with very many types of vegan frosting. While I usually turn to the reliable chocolate ganache topping, I decided to try something new and turned to one of my old, pre-vegan favorites – cream cheese frosting. It is my belief that there are two types of people in this world: cupcake people or frosting people. I am definitely a cupcake person, and believe that there shouldn't be a huge glob of frosting on top to distract from the main event, however, you always need a little something to bring in a new flavor or enhance the cake aspect. I'm a huge fan of this frosting because it balances out all the sugar (and there's a lot!) with the tartness of vegan cream cheese and slight saltiness of peanut butter. Yummmm!

Before you get going on the cake, you should probably make the frosting first so as to let it chill in the fridge or freezer while you're baking. This firms it up to a perfect consistency when it's time to put it all together.

Peanut Butter Heaven (or peanut butter “cream cheese” frosting)

6 oz vegan cream cheese (I used Go Veggie! brand)

3 tablespoons peanut butter

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ¼ cup confectioner's sugar

• With a hand mixer, cream the vegan cream cheese and peanut butter in a large bowl.
• Slowly add the confectioner's sugar ¼ cup at a time until it is fully incorporated.
• When everything is properly mixed, stir in the vanilla extract.
• Place in the fridge (or freezer if you're short on time) to chill!

Omnivore-Approved Chocolate Cupcakes

(This recipe makes 12-14 cupcakes, depending on how much batter you want to eat. My recommendation? Make 12 cupcakes and spoon the rest of the chocolately goodness straight into your mouth as you smell these babies baking away in the oven. This method was roommate-tested, Brenna-approved.)

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup cold coffee

½ cup canola oil

2 tablespoons white vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line or grease your cupcake tins. Blah blah blah.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: coffee, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.
• Pour wet mixture into the dry mixture and whisk until combined.
• Fill the cupcake tins about 2/3 full with batter and bake for 16-18 minutes

When the cupcakes have cooled, spoon the frosting into your pastry bag and go to town! With the help of my handy roommate-assistant, I topped these beauties with tiny semisweet chocolate chips (courtesy of Enjoy Life) and subsequently devoured them in the name of birthday celebrations! 

Now that I've caught the baking bug again, what am I going to make next week?!