I hate to say it, but the peanut butter buttercream was the star of this cupcake. I could eat this stuff by the bucket.

I am glad to be spending so much time on developing recipes, because I have the opportunity to learn by way of trial and error. I love baking vegan cupcakes for several reasons, one of which is the challenge that comes in developing and tweaking recipes to make the finished product just as good (or better) than a standard cupcake.

Unfortunately, this one wasn’t as good as a standard cupcake.

It definitely looks heavenly, and everyone found the cupcakes enjoyable, but I wasn’t happy with the texture of the cake.

It was a little…how shall I say…SPONGY. I made a fatal error while I was baking.  I was winging it.  That never works well.

In any case, as I’ve blabbered on about several times, this is all in the name of cupcake perfection. There are bound to be successes and failures. One thing that I was pleased with was the homemade vegan peanut butter cup that I baked into the middle. They were so yummy! After the fact, I was wishing that I had made an extra batch of them on their own.

******

Vegan “Chocolate” Peanut Butter Cups

(print this recipe)
(Yields 24 mini cups or 12 large)

10 oz. vegan chocolate chips (I use these)
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract (or any other extract of your choice–I use this)
1 cup peanut butter natural, creamy or crunchy
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted

24 mini paper liners or 12 regular-size paper liners

Instructions:

1. Place paper liners into a muffin tin.

2. Microwave the chocolate chips for 1 minute in a glass bowl, and stir. Microwave for an additional 45 seconds-1 minute (depending on the power of your microwave), making sure not to over heat. When the chips have completely melted, add in the extract of your choice. Allow to cool slightly.

3. Put the slightly cooled chocolate inside of a pastry bag with a small tip, or into a plastic bag with the corner cut off (you can see an example here). Pipe the chocolate into each of the paper liners, just covering the bottom and edges of the surface. Put in the freezer to set.

3. Using a hand or stand mixer, combine the peanut butter and salt, then add in the powdered sugar.

4. Spoon (or pipe) a dollop of peanut butter into the center of the set chocolate. Using the remaining chocolate, pipe on top of the peanut butter to cover and fill.

5. Place the tray back in the freezer and allow to set for 30-45 minutes.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! This weekend, I’ll be working on a very special cupcake. I can’t wait to share it with you guys!!

I would be lying if I told you that I didn’t eat one of these cupcakes.

I’d also be lying if I told you that I only ate one of these cupcakes.  Because I ate two.

Now, don’t let the color of the buttercream fool you.  Although subtle, it definitely has genuine lemon flavor, courtesy of the 2 Meyer lemons that were inspiring me from my counter (none of those yucky artificial flavorings).  I’d love to tell you that the raspberry preserves were homemade, but unfortunately I’ve tried making preserves and I really stink at it.

The cupcake itself has just a hint of almond flavor, but I was mostly relying on the almond paste to give me the chewy, moist texture that I was craving today.  It turned out to give me one of the best vegan cupcakes that I’ve ever made or eaten in my life.  I’ll definitely be taking this information with me as I continue developing permanent flavors for Sugared.

I was happy with how moist the cake was, but not as happy with the fact that it was a little overly-delicate.  I’ll have to work on that.

As you can see, I topped each cupcake with a piece of candied lemon peel.  I love the stuff!  It’s like gummy bears, only made with real ingredients.  It’s really easy to make, too!

Candied Lemon Peel

[print the recipe]

2 Lemons
2 Cups Water
2 Cups Cane Sugar

1) Leaving peel on, cut lemons into 4 wedges, and remove fruit from the peel.

2) Using a butter knife, scrape as much of the white pith off from the back of the peel as possible (without damaging peel).

3) Cut peel into the desired shape.

4) Bring water to a boil, and add lemon peel.  Boil the peel for 5-10 minutes, or until tender.

5) Remove the peel from the water and set aside.  Add sugar to the water and bring back to a boil.

6) Add peel back into the sugar/water, and continue to simmer until the liquid turns clear (about 15-20 minutes).

7) Remove peel from the syrup, and dry on a non-stick surface.  Reserve the remaining syrup for future recipes (it’s now a “lemon simple syrup”).

******

I also made a chocolate version of this cupcake, and it’s possibly even more amazing than the original.

I used a slightly different technique when I made my chocolate buttercream, and it resulted in a really creamy, shiny frosting that eerily resembles the texture and taste of that kind from the grocery store [rhymes with 'chunkin fines'].  Minus all of the crazy artificial flavors/colors/etc.

Try to convince me that you don’t want to take a healthy-sized bite of this cupcake.

Liar!

You can’t fool me-I’ve tried them!

I really like how the almond flavor is nearly undetectable in this cupcake because it’s so very chocolaty.  The almond paste added an incredible moistness to the cake without infringing on the flavor at all.  Score!

So which one would you eat–the original or the chocolate?

I have to admit that after I do an initial taste-test of my cupcakes, I generally don’t have the desire to eat another.  This cupcake was the exception, and I’m not even that huge of a chocolate fan.

There was just something yummy about the combination.

Nutella is kind of one of the best things ever invented, so I blame it on that.

I just wrapped up an entire day of cupcake-baking.  My feet are killing me, I have to run 9 miles tomorrow bright and early, and my right knee does not bend in the correct direction anymore, but I’m still smiling.  I love baking.

I can’t wait to show you what I made!

He’s talking about today’s Cupcake Friday treat:  Vegan Vanilla Dulce De (Non) Leche Filled Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream and Salted Caramel Topping.

This, my friends, is why I bake.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Friday!

First of all, homemade vegan caramel sauce is something that you MUST make. It’s super easy to do, and it is so much more delicious than anything you’ll buy in the store.

Tonight was the first time that I’ve attempted to make a vegan caramel sauce, so I promptly enlisted the help of a recipe. However, I substituted brown rice syrup in my recipe rather than corn syrup.

I had a minor panic attack after I put in the baking soda. Not only because everything began to overflow out of my pot, but also because it turned all strange and foamy. That made me a bit nervous.

Luckily, after taking the pot off of the stove and allowing it to cool for about 30 minutes (while I made my buttercream), it started to look a lot more like I envisioned it.

This stuff is amazing.  It’s just begging for a bowl of banana soft serve.

Rather than fill my cupcakes with this liquid gold on it’s own, I decided to turn it into a vegan sort of dulce de leche.  In hindsight, I should have just filled the cupcakes with the caramel alone because the filling would have made much more of an impact.  I suppose that’s we’ll just chalk this one up to “research and development”.

Right?!

[I definitely did a lot of researching and developing while I was eating this one, by the way]

I wasn’t super excited about the way the filling looked, but at least it tasted good.  The cupcakes themselves turned out looking adorable as planned.

The little sprinkle of sea salt on top really meshed well with the sweetness of the caramel and buttercream.

So these are OK, but next time, I’ll skip the dulce de (non) leche, and opt for all caramel filling!

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