Super Lemon Cherry Topped Cupcake

Well it's good to be back.  There was a two week baking hiatus due to traveling for a spectacular wedding.  Congratulations to my sister-in-law Amy and new brother-in- law Steevo on their recent nuptials.  The wedding was incredible and the fun was non-stop.  Now that I'm back so are the cupcakes.

This week's cupcake is a lemon cupcake with a bit of cherry frosting.  The lemon cupcake is oh so lemony and the frosting has a sweet hint of cherry that works well with the tartness of the lemon.  I thought cherry would go well with lemon and would be a real summertime treat.  It is almost summer and the cupcake works well for the season.

This recipe is going to yield 24 cupcakes.  Make sure and preheat that oven.  During these summer months open the windows and get a nice breeze going through your kitchen so you don't have to feel the heat, although this cupcake will cool you down with it's sweet lemon goodness.

Line your cupcake pans and let the fun begin.

Lemon Cupcake

3 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of earth balance or any dairy free butter
2 cups of sugar (raw cane sugar works well)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 teaspoon lemon extract
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon lemon juice (fresh squeezed)
1/4 cup oil (sunflower was used in this recipe)
1 cup of almond milk (or soy)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

mix together milk and vinegar and set aside.  Sift together all dry ingredients and set aside.  Mix together butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.  Add oil a little at a time until fully mixed and add extracts.  Mix in the lemon zest and mix for about a minute.  Start adding the dry mixture a little at a time changing between lemon juice and almond milk until all wet and dry ingredients are mixed thoroughly.  Spoon into cupcake tin about 3/4 full and bake for approx. 15 or until toothpick is dry.

Lil Bit of Cherry Frosting

3 cups of confectioner sugar
1/3 cup of marachino cherry juice
1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup earth balance butter (or any vegan butter)
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening

mix together butter and shortening until smooth and creamy.  Start adding sugar about 1/2 cup at a time with a little cherry juice until all sugar and cherry juice have been used.  Add extract and beat until nice and fluffy and light.

Top the cupcakes with your delicious frosting and as a decorative addition I added sugar balls.  It adds a nice addition to the cupcake without taking away anything from the flavor.  I was going to add fresh chopped cherries but they weren't very ripe and didn't look that great.  Oh well, there is always next time, especially for these little delicious cupcakes.

Tip of the day: don't frost your cupcakes while they are still warm.  It's a little mistake that can cause all of your frosting to melt away.

So until next time, enjoy the lemony treat for summer and keep on baking in the free world.  Oh and don't forget "The Lemon Song" to go with your cupcakes.

As always, sugar kisses and cupcake dreams. 

Krystle's Farewell Coconut Chocolate Cupcakes

This week's cupcake is a coconut cupcake topped with chocolate buttercream frosting and a little bit of slightly toasted coconut.  The cupcake is dedicated to my friend Krystle who is going to be leaving our mutual place of employment this week and onto better things.  We wish her all the best of luck in her endeavors and therefore dedicated this cupcake to her. 

Let's talk coconut cupcake.  I find that there really is no such thing as too much coconut.  This cupcake has coconut milk, coconut powder, coconut extract and fresh shaved coconut cooked in it as well as on top of it.  The funny thing is, it's not really that overwhelming of a coconut flavor.  It's a nice hint of coconut in the cupcake and the little coconut shavings on top adds a nice little addition to the already coconut flavor.  This cupcake was slightly deceiving in the cooking time.  You shouldn't cook it for more than 15 minutes.  I promise.  I went a minute longer and realized that a few more minutes and it would have been way too long so it was taken out at 16 minutes.  Don't get me wrong the cupcake is delicious and still soft and has a great consistency, but as a warning you have to watch this sneaky cupcake.

Chocolate and coconut.  It's good and simple, just like that.

This recipe made exactly 24 cupcakes.  Preheat the oven to 350.  Always remember to preheat the oven.

Coconut Cupcake

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup of coconut powder (found this at a specialty food store)
1/2 cup of shredded coconut
1 can of coconut milk
1 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
1/3 cup oil (sunflower)
1 1/2 cup of sugar

Mix together all dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt) including coconut powder, mix together oil and sugar in a bowl, add dry ingredients and coconut milk alternating back and forth until everything is mixed together, add extract and shredded coconut and mix for approximately 3 minutes

Bake for 15 minutes.  Check the cupcakes and if there is still cake on the toothpick give it another minute or so.

Chocolate Frosting with a hint of coconut

1/4 cup of vegetable shortening
1/4 cup of butter (earth balance)
2 3/4 cup of confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup of almond milk (or soy whatever your preference)
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup of cocoa powder

mix together butter and shortening and add the chocolate and sugar a little bit at a time incorporating the almond (or soy) milk a little at a time.  Add the extracts at the end and beat it, just beat it.

Toast the shredded coconut at 350 in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Top the coconut cupcakes with frosting and sprinkle with the toasted coconut.  BAM! Delicious cupcake for you.

So to Krystle, we raise our cupcakes to you, wishing you all the luck in the world.  You will do awesome because you're awesome.

Cheers! We will miss you.  By we I mean me and the cupcakes.

Tip of the week: always follow your dreams.

So leaving you this week with sugar kisses and coconut cupcake dreams.

Until next week bake on.

Everyone Loves a Hostess

This is the multi-cupcake blog week.  It's been three weeks since the blog has been updated.  First, let's start by saying Happy belated Easter.  There was an Easter cupcake that was deserving of it's own blog but unfortunately didn't get it, so this little treat will be piggybacking on this weeks cupcake, which is a vegan hostess style cupcake.  You know the kind with the sweet cream in the middle and the chocolate on top with the little swirls.  Second, there was a baking disaster last week that caused the blog to be put on hold yet again.  Here is a tip: don't overcook banana cupcakes.  Here is another tip: banana is hard to use for cupcakes so make sure the bananas are very ripe and very soft and don't overdo it on the bananas.  BUT...now that the disaster is over and forgotten (queue Aerosmith "Back In the Saddle") the blog is back.

So first the Easter basket cupcake.  This cupcake is the similar to the vegan french vanilla cupcake from a previous blog with a few changes:

Vanilla Cupcake

3 cups of soy milk
2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar
4 1/2 cups of flour
1 3/4 tablespoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
2 1/2 cups of sugar (we used raw cane)
1 cup of oil (we prefer sunflower)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoons almond extract

Heat oven to 350.  Whisk the apple cider vinegar and soy together in a bowl and set and set aside, sift all the dry ingredients together, whisk the soymilk, sugar, oil, vanilla and almond together until foamy and then add the dry ingredients half at a time until combined

bake about 15-18 minutes or until your toothpick isn't covered in raw batter.

Almond Butter Cream

1/2 cup earth balance (or any vegan butter)

1/2 cup vegetable shortening 

3 1/2 cups of confectioner sugar

1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons of almond extract (depending on how almond of a flavor you want)

1 tablespoon almond milk

cream together butter and shortening.  Add sugar a little at a time with a little soy.  Add almond last and whip until creamy and fluffy.

Take some shredded coconut and toss it in green food coloring and toast it in the oven at 350 for about 10 - 15 minutes.  Top with jelly beans or robins eggs (this will make it not vegan though b/c they are made with milk chocolate).  Voila! Edible Easter baskets. 

Moving on to this week's cupcake.  It's a Hostess - for this cupcake's sake lets call it a Mostess (get it me, I'm Mo).  Yep, it kind of loses the appeal if it needs to be explained.  Oh well, it's still a great cupcake. 

Chocolate Cupcake

2 cups almond milk

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1 cup of cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups of flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup sugar (raw sugar works well)

2/3 cup of oil (sunflower is real nice)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond

You will get about 24 cupcakes out of this recipe.   Mix the vinegar and milk together and set aside for a few minutes.  Mix together dry ingredients and set aside - sifting is good.  Mix together oil, sugar and extracts.  Add almond milk mixture and beat for about 2 minutes.  Add the dry ingredients a little a time until well mixed and there aren't any lumps.  

Bake for about 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out squeaky clean.

Creamy Center and Topping

1/3 cup vegetable shortening

1/3 cup vegan butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon almond milk (or soy)

2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

beat the butter and shortening together until creamy.  Add sugar a little at a time.  Add milk and vanilla when almost done with sugar.  Whip for about 5 minutes. 

Chocolate Topping (Ganache)

1/4 almond milk

2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (make sure they don't have milk in them)

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

boil milk and vanilla and dump over chocolate chips stirring until melted. 

Dip the cupcakes in the chocolate and let sit for about 10-15 minutes.  Use frosting bag to insert the creamy center and another bag with a smaller tip to create the swirl. 

Oh yes.  These are a delightful little treat.  They will take you back. 

Make sure you don't have air pockets in the frosting bag when you are doing the little swirl or else you will get some of them that look a little funky.  Well, since the only place that perfection exists is in the dictionary no matter how the little swirls turn out these cupcakes are delicious. 

Coming to a close it's good to be back.

Tip of the day:  Actually tip of the last two weeks - don't walk away from your cupcakes for too long.  Always pay attention even if you set a timer b/c you may set it for 25 minutes instead of 15 minutes and then have small banana rocks.  Just saying.

Until next time, sugar kisses and cupcakes dreams.

I'M BACK IN SADDLE AGAIN! I'MMMMMMM BACKKKKKKKKKK!