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Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes using Vinegar

Madhuram — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:11:31 +0000

This strawberry cupcake recipe is from The Joy of Vegan Baking. This was the first recipe I ever tried from this book and my first experience with vinegar too. I was surprised that it didn’t taste anything like vinegar. It was very sweet for me, so I would reduce the sugar quantity of sugar when I bake it the next time. Earlier I had this doubt if reducing or increasing the quantity of sugar in a recipe would affect the end product, but recently I got it clarified. Day before yesterday I baked some blueberry muffins (using vinegar) from the same book and the sugar mentioned in the recipe was 3/4 to 1 cup and I chose to add 3/4 cup because of the experience with the strawberry cupcakes. The muffins came out very good and we were okay with sweetness. For some it may be very less but we were fine with it. I wanted to bake these muffins once again (I’ll mention the reason when I post that recipe) and added some more sugar, little more than 3/4 cup but less than 1 cup. Again the muffins turned out good. So I’m sure you can play with the sugar measurement in this strawberry cupcake recipe too because it’s pretty similar to the blueberry muffins recipe.

Ingredients

Unbleached All Purpose Flour (I used bleached) 1 and 3/4 cups

Sugar 3/4 to 1 cup

Baking Soda 1 teaspoon

Frozen/fresh strawberries, pureed or crushed 8oz (I used 14 strawberries)

Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon

Canola Oil 1/2 cup

White Distilled Vinegar 1 tablespoon

Yield: 12-16 cupcakes or One 9 inch loaf cake.

Procedure 1 Preheat the oven to 350F/180C for 15 minutes. Grease/line a muffin tin or grease a 9 inch loaf pan.

2 In a large bowl combine together the flour, baking soda and sugar.

3 In another bowl, mix the oil, vinegar and vanilla. I pureed the strawberries in a blender, because I was not sure if my son would like to bite of chunks of strawberry in the muffin. Add the pureed strawberry also to the oil mixture and stir to combine.

4 Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Stir together but do not overstir.

5 Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tins. I got exactly 12 muffins.

6 Bake for about 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If baking a loaf bake it for 40-45 minutes and check for the doneness.

7 Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. When cool, frost the cupcakes and top each with a whole strawberry.

My Notes 1 The original recipe had 1 cup of sugar, but I felt that it was very sweet for us. So I have made it as 3/4 to 1 cup.

2 Also the time mentioned in the recipe for muffins was 30 minutes, but mine was done around 22 minutes itself. The time mentioned for the loaf was 1 hour, but I have reduced it to 40-45 minutes. I have tried a couple of recipes from this book, they all turn out good, but there is some difference in the time it bakes. Mine always bakes at least 8-10 minutes earlier than the time mentioned in the recipe. Maybe it’s my oven! Anyway just watch out.

3 The top of the cupcake was slightly crispy than soft. I think that’s because of the sugar. Since we are not creaming the sugar in this recipe, I think the sugar tends to be in a semi-crystal state, forming a crust like thing. But in the blueberry muffin recipe also I did not cream the sugar, but it did not have the crusty top. It was so good and light. I can’t wait to post that recipe here.

4 I used a food processor to puree the strawberries. It was a wide base 1 cup mini bowl. I didn’t have to add water at all. If you use a blender I think adding little water would be necessary and I’m sure that it would not affect the result in any way.

These vegan strawberry cupcakes go to Egg Replacement Event – Vinegar hosted by me.

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Whacky Vegan Chocolate Cake

Madhuram — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:50:35 +0000

This chocolate cake recipe has been around for decades. It’s also called the Whacky cake or the Depression cake. But let me tell you, the taste and texture of the cake is definitely not whacky or depressing. It’s unbelievably moist and tastes like any regular chocolate cake especially with the frosting. At first I didn’t tell my husband that the cake has vinegar in it, so he was not able to tell any difference. He liked the cake very much even after I told about the secret ingredient. But since I knew about the vinegar I was able to feel a very very very mild smell/taste. I guess it’s psychological. I have to stress here again that when eaten with the frosting this chocolate cake is so delicious. This vegan chocolate cake recipe is definitely a keeper. I’m already thinking of the variations I can make each time.

I also wanted to prepare a vegan frosting for this cake, but I didn’t have confectioner’s sugar. Actually I have it somewhere but was not able to find it. I have made a pact that I won’t be buying anything other than dairy products, vegetables, fruits and other extremely necessary groceries for the next 2 months. Recently I did a pantry audit and was overwhelmed by the things I had accumulated in the past months, especially after starting this blog. I didn’t even know that I had bought so much baking/cooking stuff. That’s why I didn’t want to buy confectioner’s sugar, even though I was so tempted to run to the grocery store.

I was wondering what to do for the frosting without the sugar because all the recipes I had called for confectioner’s sugar. I had a few packs of instant pudding mixes and thought how it would be for a frosting. I googled and found that pudding mix frosting is very common. Luckily I had the Cool Whip topping which is required for the frosting. Even though I was skeptical, I had to proceed with it anyway because I had no other go. Surprisingly it did turn out good. So the frosting is not vegan.

Cake Ingredients

Unbleached All Purpose Flour (I used bleached) 1 and 1/2 cups

Sugar 3/4 cup

Salt 1/2 teaspoon

Baking Soda 1 teaspoon

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (I used Hersheys) 1/4 cup

Vanilla Extract 1 and 1/2 teaspoons

Canola Oil 1/3 cup

White Distilled Vinegar 1 tablespoon

Cold Water 1 cup

Yield: One 8 or 9 inch cake or 8 cupcakes.

Cake Procedure 1 Preheat the oven at 350F/180C for 15 minutes. Lightly oil the cake pan you are using.

2 Stir together all the dry ingredients (flour to cocoa powder) and create a well in the center.

3 To the well add all the wet ingredients one by one. Mix until just combined. Don’t overmix. It’s ok to have some lumps.

4 Pour the batter in the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Mine was done by 24 minutes. If baking cupcakes, check around 13-15th minute.

5 Cool completely on a wire rack. I left it for an hour.

6 To remove the cake from the pan, run a sharp knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake.

7 Cool completely before frosting. Actually frosting is not even necessary for this moist cake. You may simply dust with confectioner’s sugar and top with fresh raspberries.

My Notes 1 I read that apple cider vinegar is better than white distilled vinegar when it comes to baking, because you will not even have that very mild smell or after taste I was referring earlier.

Pudding Mix Frosting Ingredients:

Milk cold – 1 cup

Instant Pudding Mix, any flavor One 4oz pack (I used Oreos cookie flavor, 4.5oz pack)

Cool Whip, thawed One 8oz container (I used fat free)

Procedure:

1 Pour milk into a large bowl. Add the pudding mix. Beat until fluffy for 2 minutes.

2 Blend in the thawed Cool Whip thoroughly.

3 Frost the cake/cupcakes and refrigerate it at least for 3-4 hours before serving.

My Notes:

1 This frosting is not very sweet, but it was perfect with the cake and for us. We don’t like overly sweet cakes and frosting.

2 This measurement will be right for a 13×9 inch cake or a layer cake. I had at least a cup of frosting left over, which I intend to serve in ice cream cones for my son.

This chocolate cake recipe goes to:

1. Egg Replacement Event – Vinegar hosted by me.
2. Just for You hosted by Alka. I made this cake for Valentine’s day for my husband.
3. My Favorite Things – Heart Shaped Food hosted by Bindiya.
4. Cook and Create with Luv for Luv hosted by Priyanka.

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Announcing Egg Substitute Event – Vinegar

Madhuram — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:35:58 +0000

First I would like to thank all my blogging buddies for flooding my inbox with recipes using EnerG egg replacer powder. You all know that my husband only does the round up right! I have to give him the content and he will take care of the presentation part. Since he is extremely busy with his office work, he can work on this only on Sunday. So wait until Monday to see what wonders you can create with egg replacer powder.

This month’s egg substitute is vinegar. I read in a couple of books that 1 tablespoon of vinegar along with 1 teaspoon of baking soda can be substituted for 1 egg. Both white distilled vinegar and apple cider vinegar can be used. This combination works best in cakes, cupcakes and quick breads. I also read in few forums that 2 tablespoons of lemon juice can be used in place of the 1 tablespoon vinegar. So for this event you could use either, but I have to mention here that I have not tried the lemon juice substitution.

Also I see a lot of baking recipes with vinegar, especially in various vegan books, websites and forums. You can try those recipes also. That is, you could either take a recipe which has eggs and substitute it with vinegar or try recipes which already has vinegar in it and is eggless too.

Now for the rules of the event:

1. Bake anything from cookies, cakes, cupcakes, muffins, breads, tarts, pies, etc using vinegar/lemon juice and post about it in your blog between Feb 13th 2009 and March 14th 2009.

2. Post the recipe in your blog, with a picture and link back to this post. Also feel free to share your experiences and tips while using the substitute regardless of the outcome. This would provide the much needed insight about that particular egg substitute.

3. Since the idea behind the event is to help those who are searching for tried and tested eggless baking recipes, you can also send me the recipes which you have posted earlier in your blog using vinegar/lemon juice as an egg substitute. Reposting is not necessary, but link it to this event. That being said, I would really appreciate if you could try new recipes too and post it, because eggless recipes are never enough.

4. Also multiple entries are welcome more than ever for this event.

5. Email me your name, blog URL, name of the recipe, recipe URL, photo in 150wx120h size to ere(at)egglesscooking(dot)com with Vinegar as the subject.

6. Non bloggers are also welcome to send your recipes, tips and picture of your creation and I will include it in the round up.

Check here for recipes using vinegar as egg substitute.