Cupcakes for Cat/Dog Lovers

Hey! This is Toby, previously known as Mr T. I didn't really blog because I thought you can read about my life via Kristy's blog anyway.

Last Saturday we had two birthday drinks to attend: Liz's and Lisa's.

We made Cat cupcakes for Liz, who has a cat called Bella, using fluffy butter cream icing for the face, chopped Oreo as ears, quartered jellybeans as eyes, chocolate chips as noses and cut up licorice as whiskers. We also made some of them for our friends Craig and Bec, who have just moved in together, with two cats.

Using the same Vegan Oreo Cupcakes as the base, we also made Dog cupcakes for Dog lover Lisa.

The dog version are made with a Chocolate icing face, Oreo ears, Skittles eyes, jellybean noses and Licorice mouth. :-)

Lisa had her birthday drink at Bar Etiquette. The small but cozy bar has a carefully selected beer list including the open fermented White Rabbit Dark Ale.

The cupcake carrying bike experiment

I recently made lots and lots of mocha cupcakes for a party



And I decided to take some to a friend. As you can see, they looked fine in their container:

And I put them in my bike basket like this

Unfortunately they didn't arrive in the greatest state:

I have a cupcake courier for regular cupcakes and maybe I can experiment with attaching to the back of my bike. Anyone had success with carrying cupcakes on a bike?

Strawberry cupcakes

It was my cousin's 21st on sat night and so I made 80+ mini cupcakes for her party. I'm almost worked my way through vctotw so decided to try something else. I made Kittee's strawberry kake recipe (minus the food colour) and put them into mini cupcakes liners. I baked them for about 12 minutes. I was really really happy with the flavour of these moist cupcakes and have already put in a request for Mr T to make me the actual cake for my birthday. The recipe is quite interesting because it asks for blackcurrant cordial but I don't think you would ever guess it. I then made the vanilla icing from vctotw and added some of the cordial to it. I think next time I will just stick to the vanilla icing as I think flavouring it takes away from the actual cake part. I also made flowers but didn't like the way they tasted. I had one person at the party ask me if I would make cupcakes for children's parties, I said I would think about it. I kind of worry that if I bake for money regularly I will no longer enjoy baking. Besides I wouldn't know how much to charge, and also whether I would advise her that they are vegan.





I've recently updated my veg links on the site, if I have left someone out please let me know!

Self frosting peanut butter cupcakes

Over the long weekend, it was pouring down with rain and I decided that I need to bake something without leaving to go to the shops, I decided on the self frosting peanut butter cupcakes from my sweet vegan.

So I started making them and then realised that what I thought was apple sauce in the fridge was actually apple, banana, strawberry puree and decided to use it anyway. It actually worked, the banana worked well with the chocolate, and peanut butter and you couldn't really taste the strawberry. I know that I am on to a good recipe when I substitute it with something silly and they still taste great.

I loved the idea of self frosting, although I am not sure it is that much easier than just making icing. Still these felt a little healthier and they were delicious.

Speaking of delicious, Cindy introduced me to the bookmarking website delicious, which I have been way too excited about. Now I can bookmark all the recipes online with appropriate tags, and access them from any computer. Yes I am kind of a nerd!

Automatic cafe and pink cupcakes

My little sister turned 18 last weekend and to celebrate I made pink oreo cupcakes because she loves pink. I didn't mix the crushed oreos into the icing though like the recipe asked for because it becomes too chunky and is difficult to ice in my icing gun, also it turns it a weird grey colour, instead I just sprinkled the crushed oreos on top.

And we went to automatic cafe at the casino. I was suprised to learn that this cafe had 3 items on the menu that were marked as vegan. Consdiering we are not talking about a cafe in the northern suburbs and we are talking about the casino I was surprised.

Mr T and I shared the baked beans which were the BEST BAKED BEANS I HAVE EVER HAD. They had carrots in them that just kind of melted in your mouth and had a lovely smoky, slightly salty flavour.

We also had the dhal, which come with flat bread which was cooked in the wood oven and had some tomato based relish on this side. This was yummy but compared to the best baked beans ever you really can't even compare the two.

I look forward to trying the other vegan dish: chickpea cassoleut.

Automatic cafe
Crown
No 8 Whiteman St
South Melbourne
9690 8500
www

Pretty cupcakes or why I have the best mother

It's my birthday next week and my mother decided she couldn't wait to give me a small gift. She gave me these little moulds pictured below and a variety of smaller ones for mini cupcakes. She also gave me two different colour petal dusts which are basically food dye in powder form and both the pink and yellow were surprisingly vegan. You can check them out online here if you scroll down.

I made a batch of green tea cupcakes for a dinner party that we are we attending and then starting experimenting with the moulds and dusting sugar. I used the orchard white icing that the mould instructions asked for.

I still need a little practice with the frangipani flowers as they are quite fiddly but love how the yellow petal dust works on them.

The simpler flowers are so easy though and if you mix the petal dust with atiny bit of water it makes a paint that you can paint on.

Here is the pink petal dust dry:


There is a variety of different combinations I expirmented with:


But for the dinner party decided on the simpler look:


Btw, I loved the flavour of the green tea cupcakes from VCTOTW!

Damn oven cupcakes*

I should have lots of food pics but don't really, without access to the internet I haven't had the motivation to photograph food.


This is one of the toasted coconut cupcakes with coconut pecan fudge icing from VCTOTW.

It's the first thing I baked in my new oven, unfortunately I ruined them or rather the new oven ruined them. The switch on the oven doesn't sit right so it's hard to tell what temperature it is but I stupidly thought I could figure it out.

These cupcakes were quite crunchy because of the new oven but the icing was good although maybe a little too sickly sweet for some (not me though).

I've since got a oven thermometer so I can tell what the temperature is and have become friends with my oven and can bake properly again.

Off to catch up on blog reading now...

* I take back the 'Damn' now that we are friends. I decided to name them after watching the kooky film waitress

Happy Birthday Claire

We went to Claire's 21st last night, and there was the best idea ever:


Lots of normal sized cupcakes (chocolate and banana coconut with amazing peanut butter icing) and one SUPER SIZED CUPCAKE (carrot cake cupcake).

Have an amazing day today Claire, you rock!

Cupcakes with fillings

Our good friends Tim and Caroline are going on a big massive holiday and so to farewell them our friend Dan made us all a massive amazing feast and to say thank you to her and farewell to Tim and Caroline I made the fauxstess cupcakes from vegan with a vengeance. Here they ready for the filling:

And here is my ugly first attempt at doing the icing. I just used the leftover filling instead of making the royal icing. It tasted better but was difficult to pipe. I also accidentally smudged a couple. It says Timline because that is what we call Caroline and Tim.


We also celebrated Mr T's birthday with lots of friends of sat night and I decided to surprise him by making more cupcakes which proved to be a rather difficult task when you live with the person you want to surprise. This time I made vanilla cupcakes with raspberry filling, chocolate ganache and different icing for the writing. I originally tried to make the royal icing in vegan with a vengeance but discovered that it tasted horrible since soymilk powder tastes like crap. So I made it up with both icing sugar and water and at first the texture was too watery and then it hardened up so much that I couldn't get it out. I also ran out of maple syrup and vanilla extract part way through and dropped half the bag of choc chips on the floor. It was disaster after disaster. I wrote out happy b'day Mr T(with his actual name) and made a couple of smiley faces and because I was so stressed and rushed to get it done before he got home I forgot to take any pictures but I think the writing was only slightly better. Whereas the ganache was worse because they weren't as tall as the fauxstess cupcakes and so I couldn't dip the cupcakes in the ganache and had to pour it on top instead. Here is the one inside shot that I have:

I prefer the vanilla raspberry variations. I made the raspberry icing using pure raspberry fruit topping that I got from the supermarket. It took lots of playing around in terms of adding more raspberry topping and then more icing sugar but I think I got the texture just where I want it in the end. I think I will retire from writing letters in icing now but I do think that all of my cupcakes should have a filling from now on :-)

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In other news I woke up feeling super sick today- sore muscles, very very sore throat, head and ears and we have our holiday in less than a week. Noooooooooooooooooooo! I always end up sick for holidays. Although this time I have been guilty of too many late nights, not enough sleep, eating out way too much, not eating enough fruit or veg, or drinking enough water and not getting enough rest. I'm off to see a traditional Chinese doctor now hoping that he can make better before the trip. Fingers crossed!

Baby cupcakes

Ok take two with carrot cake cupcakes. This time mini cupcakes for my colleagues baby shower. I have coloured the icing pink because she is having a girl using the beetroot trick. This time I experimented with adding half cup extra flour to the recipe and then adding 3/4 cup of flour and I couldn't tell the difference. I think adding a full extra cup extra would be too much. I then sprinkled cinnamon on top because the spices really didn't come through in mini size. I cooked them for about 13-15 minutes.



I then made mini lemon macadamia cupcakes cupcakes with white choc chips, also from VCTOTW. The white choc chips really blended well with the other two flavours, maybe too well in that the flavour didn't stand out enough for me.

Here they are, side by side. I put walnut pieces on the carrot cake ones and macadamia pieces on the lemon ones so you can tell them apart.

The stupid automatic flash whitens out the pink a little, but I'll get a new camera soon and toss away my broken one, I promise!

It's exhausting making mini cupcakes, they take forever to put into the tiny liners and then even more time to put tiny bits of icing on them and I really think flavour wise they are not as good, but they do look cute.

Speaking of tiny cupcakes, I went into a House shop the other day and noticed they had pastal cupcake liners in two small sizes, I asked the woman who worked there which ones fit into the mini muffins trays and she said they both do. So I got the slightly bigger ones and they don't fit. Bitch!

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I'm not baking for a while, I need a rest and besides I have to focus all of my attention on Mr T's permanent residency application, got it takes a lot of prove that we are in a real relationship, you would think that considering this is our 3rd immigration application we would be experts at it and it would be easy, but there are lots of little things like forgetting to keep the very few bits of mail that has been send to both of our names and forgetting to keep receipts from joint travel and why are there hardly any pics with Mr T and I and our friends or family? I have plenty of pics of just the two of us or him with others or me with others. If you are a friend who has pics of me and him and you, please email them to me or facebook me. At least this round doesn't cost thousands of dollars.

Oh yeah and I've also got to start my thesis again.

Hmmm, baking does sound like a better idea though :-)

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I've agreed to make cupcakes for a baby shower/farewell party for someone at work on wed and decided to trial the carrot cake cupcakes from VCTOTW this weekend, boy I am glad that I did. I followed the recipe thinking that it looked like a tiny bit of batter but then I normally double cupcake recipes so I thought it might be that, but then I realised the texture was off too as I put the batter into 3 of the liners. I then did a bit of a google search and realised that others have had problems with this recipe and have suggested adding another cup of flour. I decided to do a bit of an experiment and leave the 3 original ones as they were and add half a cup of flour to the remaining batter and then compare. Here are the two types, the bottom one is made from the original recipe and was really oily almost like a deep fried cupcake and the above one has more flour. It still only made 8 small cupcakes.



Here are the nice ones with the cream cheese icing, which was yummy even though I only added about half of the sugar it asked for:


My only problem is getting the right amount of flour for the next batch for wed, has anyone tried with the 1 cup of flour and had success?

This is the first time that VCTOTW has disappointed me, it's normally like my baking bible.

Two perfectly good cookie recipes ruined by me

First up peanut butter & jam thumbprint cookies from the upcoming vegan cookie cookbook, the recipe can be found here. I ruined them by adding only half the amount of sugar they asked for by accident so they weren't sweet enough. It was a lot of fun to make them though.


After that I decided to give it another try with the remaining jam and make the chewy chocolate raspberry cookies from Veganomicon, the recipe can be found here. I made one tiny mistake. I didn't wash the sifter in between the two different batches of cookies, not realising that the first recipe called for baking powder and the second didn't and that baking powder has the potential to make something very bitter. It was such a pity because they were perfectly chewy and I could see the potential but they just had a horrible bitter taste.


Needless to say, Mr T and I ate all of them anyway, but we didn't love them the way we should have. Hopefully now that my baking disasters are over, I will be able to bake properly for the next vegan brunch potluck on sat.

Beetroot meets Copha

It was my little sisters birthday recently and she asked me to make her Oreo cupcakes so I did using the Cookies and Cream recipe from VCTOTW that I have made for my family a few times. It's my family's fav type of cupcake, whenever I make other cupcakes they tend to be disappointed but I am getting kind of bored of them.

So to try to mix it up a little I decided to try to make the icing pink since my sister is obsessed with the colour pink. I didn't want to use red food colour (or Cochineal) because it is made from insect blood, gross! So I sought out my new source of all food knowledge- post punk kitchen forum and was pointed in the direction of this recipe which explains that you can use raw beetroot juice. I followed the original recipe for cookies and cream icing and just added the juice and it worked without affecting the flavour. I also followed Solusta's suggestion of using copha in addition to margarine. He suggested that I "melt some copha and marg down, then cool it down again. Once it starts to solidify, mix it so that the copha doesn't solidify separately." Here is the end product, it was a great colour and texture. The flash makes it look paler than what it was.


But....

because I then added crushed up oreos it altered the colour, which I should have known since it turns my lovely white icing grey normally. I also put it in the fridge for several hours and it hardened up more than I thought it would and it wasn't easy to spread on to the cupcakes, but then butter is quite hard so maybe it was the right texture, or maybe I didn't mix it enough. I will certainly try both techniques again. Since I don't have a special cupcakes carrier YET (hint, hint), I generally take the cupcakes to the destination and then put icing on them otherwise they end up in a mess by the time I arrive. Before I left though I made some quick test ones which I know don't look pretty but you give you an idea of what they looked like.

My little sis and her friends loved them!

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By the way Mr T has finally started his blogging again at Ask Me Tomorrow.

Ok so I can't bake

I stupidly said on fri night that I am good at baking. Then I made the apricot glazed almond cupcakes from VCTOTW to take to the vegan brunch that buttons was hosting on sat. And this is what happened with my my baking efforts:

* I accidentally turned the oven up high and when I went to check on them they were really burnt
* Thankfully I made a double batch of batter so I put the second batch into the tray only to discover that it only filled about 8 cupcake liners.
* Even though I turned the oven down and waited for it to cool down and monitored the second batch they were still slightly overcooked again.
*Taste wise -Almond extract SUCKS! I don't get it, I love almonds, almond meal, almond milk and yet almond extract is really horrible. It is overpowering and kind of takes over everything else.

It's such a pity because I love putting the apricot centre in the cupcakes, it was actually fun to make them and they looked pretty and they aren't as sugary at the other cupcakes recipes. Here's a pic:



To make up for the baking issues, Mr T decided to make the peanut butter banana cupcakes that I made last week. While he made them I got them out of the oven too early so they were undercooked and I burnt my finger.

I think I'm going to take a break from baking for a little while.

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The brunch was great, with all sorts of yummy foods and lots of people. My fav savoury dish were cute little vegan pies and the vegan love pie was AMAZING. It reminded me of the cakes at vegetarian orgasm. You'll have to check out Button's blog for pictures when she updates.

Procrastination cooking

I have been cooking a lot lately, not just baking like I normally do but actual cooking. It's because I've reduced my work hours so I can work on my thesis. So instead of doing homework I cook, at least it's productive procrastination.

If you have read this blog before you may have picked up on the fact that I love combining fruit/fruit juice with savoury dishes. It's one way that I try to eat more fruit, I don't eat enough by itself. So I decided to try the orange, lentil and carrot soup here. I didn't use fresh coriander or yogurt, and used ground cumin and coriander instead of seeds. It was ok, but I found myself needing more stock and relying too much on my 'beef' stock for too much of the flavour. Perhaps it is because I didn't use the seeds. I might have try it again actually following the recipe before I judge it.


Next, I decided to try the tofu balls thanking to Cindy's post. I really enjoyed them, the peanut butter helps them to stick together, and peanut butter, soy sauce, breadcrumbs (or cornflake crumbs in my case) all together equals yummyness. I didn't use the onion it asks for because I didn't have any, but I don't think it mattered. Sorry for my pic, I ate all of the prettier ones first and then put the uglier ones in my lunch box with pasta. Everyone at work, commented they smelled great. I did however, learn through trial and error that if you don't roll them in flour you can dry fry them instead of having to use lots of oil. I'm going to skip the flour next time.


Next up, I decided to make some choc mint cupcakes from VCTOTW. These taste like mint slices in cupcake form. Mr T helped me out with the icing and decided to be a little creative with it as you can see below. I did however notice that the mint icing part was kind of watery, i'm not sure if that's because I used margarine instead of shortening but taste wise it really doesn't matter. I even made a couple of non mint icing ones for those crazy people who don't like choc mint combinations. My little teenage cousins commented they they can't believe that they are vegan, and I ever so wisely replied 'sugar is vegan, and sugar is yum'.

I've decided I've been eating way too much sugar lately, so I decided to bake a slightly healthier baked good to take to Melbourne vegan strength training session. I wasn't training but just went to support the guys with food and to chat and to eat of course. Mr T recently started going to the gym and attending Melbourne vegan strength sessions and raved about them, so I also wanted to see it for myself. I thought that both bananas and peanut butter make a good workout meal, especially if teamed with choc chips. A Google search revealed a recipe for Peanut Butter Banana muffins with Choc chips at Utopian Kitchen. I had everything except for the egg replacer and according to the recipe it was optional, and considering that banana makes a good egg replacer I decided to give them a shot. I also used all white flour because I didn't have any wholemeal. I had 3 small bananas, but half way through making them I dropped a banana on the floor so I couldn't use it. Taste wise they were great, however it didn't make enough for 12 muffins , only 11 and they were still kind of small. I'm not sure if that is because of the missing banana or the missing egg replacer. Maybe I'll make them for brunch next week. Here's a pic of them with Noah's Cherry cupcakes.


Here are some of the guys in action:



They also have non conventional methods like tire throwing

And circus acts :-)

Meanwhile, I was playing with one very affectionate cat called 'Nothing'

Hope you had a great weekend!

Don't judge a book by it's cover

For a BBQ a couple of weeks ago I decided to make some sweet things to take. I made lychee cupcakes from VCTOTW and strawberries in rose jelly from veggie chic.

I started making the cupcakes and then realised that quite a few people in blog land had tried them and thought they were not so good. This is one of the guest recipes so I should have known better. One person recommended adding more lychee syrup and thankfully I listened to her.

The jelly recipe asked for vegetarian jelly so I used agar agar. I've used agar agar before to make jelly with no problems and it smelled and looked great (the pic doesn't quite capture it).

Unfortunately, the cupcakes however looked pretty horrible, there were flaxseed lumps all throughout it and the icing was pretty transparent and really running (see the pic below). However they thankfully tasted fine, there were kids at the BBQ and they kept coming back for more. I always think if I managed to get both adults and kids to agree I've done ok since most kids are so fussy. If you do plan on making them I strongly recommend that you triple the amount of lychee syrup and replace the flaxseed with another egg replacer.

The jelly on the other hand was the worst ever. It was tasteless and the texture was not right, it was like rubber. I'm not sure if it was because I didn't cook it long enough or if it is because vegetarian jelly is different or if the recipe just sucked. I stupidly didn't try it before the BBQ and so I had to try to convince people not to eat it and they wouldn't listen and I'm never felt more embarrassed ever, one of the kids spat it out and the rest of the adults politely ate it and pretended to like it. I'm glad that the majority of the people of the party didn't know I was vegan so they didn't have this horrible association with tasteless rubber vegan food.

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

They don't look as good as the ones in the book, but they tasted pretty yummy. I love the texture thanks to Oreo (yes the ones here are vegan) pieces mixed into the chocolate batter. My only issue is that I can't seem to find American style shortening and replacing it with margarine just doesn't seem to cut it.

What are other Aussies using for shortening?

And which ones should I make next?