Chocolate Heaven

Chocolate Heaven...

Okay, these cupcakes will satisfy any chocolate or sweet cravings you may have. They are rich, moist, fluffy, and melt in your mouth delicious.  Not to brag too much – but these are the best cupcakes I have ever made. I have been sick and finally had my taste buds back and after looking through dozens of recipes, I struck out on my own and came up with this.

Warning: If you don’t like your chocolate cake to taste too sweet, or do not enjoy actually tasting the chocolate in your cake then these are not for you. But…If you are a chocolate lover who needs to satisfy a monthly craving or chocolate fix of any kind then these are for you!

Cake:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar (or sweetener of choice)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup chocolate almond milk
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup vegan sour cream
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray a cupcake pan with nonstick spray. In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt thoroughly.

2. Combine the chocolate almond milk, apple sauce, sour cream and vanilla in another bowl. Use a hand mixer to blend thoroughly. (The vegan sour cream is sometimes a little thick and needs to be mixed in well)

Create a well in the bowl with your dry ingredients and combine your wet ingredients. Use a hand mixer to blend.

3. Scoop immediately into cupcake pan – distributing evenly and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (if you find a spot without chocolate chips). Be careful not to bake too long or you will get a chewy outside layer (which does not taste bad at all) If you can wait…allow to cool before adding frosting. If not – have at it!

4. For frosting, use your favorite flavor…whatever it might be (chocolate perhaps?!)

5. Decorate your cupcakes and ENJOY!!

Frosting

There are TONS of great frosting recipes I use – and since none of them are my own I will direct you to www.vegweb.com where you can find just about any recipe that has been made vegan. So you can top this with a chocolate butter cream frosting or whatever fits your mood.

Baking Tips

Here are a couple of baking tips I picked up from the Cupcake Queen: Christine Alexander, former owner of Fairgrounds Coffeehouse, in Iowa City (where they have the best vegan cupcakes on earth - outside of these of course).

1.   Always preheat your oven and have your bake ware ready ahead of time.

2.   Make sure you combine your wet and dry ingredients quickly and are ready to immediately get your dish in the oven. Once the baking soda or baking powder combines with the wet ingredients it is activated and the amount of rise and fluffiness is improved with quick turnaround to the oven.

3.   When combining wet ingredients, always have a rubber spatula on hand to get all of the wet ingredients mixed into the dry. Recipes calling for a certain amount of moisture are relying on the full amount of wet ingredients. If you have a good layer of wet ingredients in your bowl then you are shorting your recipe by a couple of tablespoons of wet goodness!  

Egg Substitutions & Spring Bread Pudding

This Easter my sister found a really yummy bread pudding recipe. The challenge was how to make it vegan? Vegan baking is an art. If you live in Iowa and you want to see this art in action, visit Fairgrounds Coffee House in Iowa City, www.fairgroundscoffeehouse.com. I worked at this coffee shop for a summer a few years back. They have a full line of vegan bakery items. While helping to bake bread, muffins and cupcakes each day, I learned to look at the baking process differently.

The question comes up a lot from people. “How in the world do you bake without eggs?” The answer is “I substitute the egg for something healthier!”

The first thing to know about baking without eggs, is how the egg is acting or reacting in a recipe. So when you go to substitute an egg you want to make sure you use an egg substitute that will react similarly in a recipe. For example, when baking light items like cookies and muffins, substitute ¼ cup of soft silken tofu. I like using ground flaxseed with water in brownies…because then I can pretend like the brownies are really healthy. The flaxseed acts as a binding agent and helps give rise to the batter.

A great resource for anyone baking without eggs or dairy is a book by Celine Steen & Joni Marie Newman: The Complete Guide to Vegan Food Substitutions – Veganize it! Foolproof Methods for Transforming Any Dish into a Delicious New Vegan Favorite. This book has non-vegan recipes where the authors have highlighted the eggs, dairy, yogurt, etc. and wrote in the vegan substitutions you can use to make it healthier! The book also goes into how to make recipes that are soy free, gluten free, etc. A must have to any cookbook collection!

For your reference here are some common egg substitutions:

• Ener-G Egg Replacer
• Tofu
• Applesauce
• Ripe Bananas
• Ground Flaxseed
• Vinegar
• Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer
• Coconut Milk

Okay – now onto the good stuff! The recipe below originally called for 4 cups heavy whipping cream and 4 eggs. I think my recipe is MUCH healthier…and it came out tasting divine! (We didn’t want to stop eating it!)

Spring Bread Pudding

1 Package Soft Silken Tofu

1 large or 2 small Ripe Banana (brown bananas are best for baking!)

2 Cups Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

2 tsp Baking Powder

2 Cups Fresh or frozen blueberries

1 Cup Chocolate chips (dairy free)

1 loaf French Bread

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9X13 baking dish with oil or non-stick cooking spray.

2. In a large mixing bowl, use a mixer or blender to whip the first four ingredients until smooth and thoroughly blended. Add baking powder and mix well.

3. Stir in the blueberries and chocolate chips

4. Cut or tear French bread into small 1 inch pieces and add to wet ingredients (my 4 year old nephew loved tearing the bread apart with me!) Let French bread sit in wet ingredients for 5-10 minutes to become saturated.

5. Pour pudding mixture into oiled baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until toothpick comes out clean. (if you can find a spot that does not have a wet chocolate chip!)

After the dish cools you can add vegan whipped cream to the top and it tastes extra yummy. It is good with or without a topping!

ENJOY!!!!