Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting

I've been a vegetarian for close to 20 years, and I always will be, but I'll probably never be vegan.  I usually eat 2 vegan meals a day, but I often have cheese with dinner, and it would be really hard to give up all my favorite baked goods... but being vegan is becoming easier and easier with vegan bakeries springing up all over the place.   It wasn't so long ago that no one could even pronounce the word vegan, now it's a regular part of the culture.

I've done a reasonable amount of vegan baking and sampling, and unfortunately, many vegan desserts taste vegan - that doesn't mean they're not yummy, but sometimes they just taste a little... different.  I don't think that's the case with these cupcakes though, especially if you eat the cake and frosting simultaneously.  Go ahead, invite your friends over and have a taste test!

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted from Martha Stewart - Makes about 20 cupcakes

2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup canola oil

1 tablespoon instant espresso powder dissolved in 1 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons cider vinegar

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Spray muffin wells with baking spray, or line with muffin wrappers.

Whisk together the dry ingredients:  flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar

In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, espresso, and vanilla.  Add to the dry ingredients, and whisk until completely mixed.  Add the vinegar, and stir quickly:  the baking soda and vinegar will begin to react, and you'll see pale swirls throughout the batter.

Pour the batter into the muffin tins - each one should be about 1/2 full.  Bake for about 12-15 minutes.

Vegan Vanilla Frosting

1/2  cup vegan margarine, soft

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 teaspoon vanilla

3-5 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons water or soy milk

food coloring, optional

Beat the margarine and shortening together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until very soft and smooth.  Beat in the vanilla (use clear vanilla if you want to keep the frosting pure white).  Add the sugar in 3 or 4 additions, beating well between each addition.  Beat in the water or soymilk.  The powdered sugar and water/milk measurements are flexible (and somewhat weather dependent) - add more powdered sugar if you want a stiffer frosting, and less if you want a creamier frosting.  You can also add water/milk to make the frosting softer and creamier.

Add a toothpick-full or more of gel food coloring if desired.

Almond Cake with Chocolate Raspberry Filling & Chocolate Frosting

Do you own 6" cake pans yet?  I love mine!  If you like to bake, and don't want to gain 5 pounds, you should definitely invest in some 6" pans.  You can usually just half the recipe for a 9" cake, and make it as a 6" instead - no complicated math required! If you're intimidated by the thought of putting together a big layer cake, a 6" is also a little less scary. The smaller layers are less likely to break while you're assembling the cake, and frosting the 6" is just a little bit easier than a bigger, unwieldy cake.

I didn't get to eat any of this cake unfortunately (it was for a Zucchero Dolce order), so I don't have any shots of the inside.  I'll just have to make it again soon so I can get you some more pictures... yeah, that's the reason I need to make it again soon. Really it is...

Almond Cake (adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum)

This recipe makes a 2-layer 6" cake.  Double the recipe to make a 3-layer 9" cake, a 3-layer 8" cake, or a 2-layer 9" cake if your pans are a full 2" tall.

2 eggs
2/3 cups sour cream, separated
1 teaspoons almond extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups cake flour, sifted
1/3 cup finely ground almonds, toasted and preferably unblanched
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons butter (6 ounces), room temperature

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray 2 6" round cake pans with baking spray, line with parchment paper, and spray again (you can probably skip the parchment if you spray well).

In a medium bowl, stir together the eggs, about 1/4 (that's a little under 3 tablespoons) of the sour cream, and the extracts.  Set aside. Don't worry, it won't be smooth or pretty.


In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine all the dry ingredients - mix for 30 seconds.  Add the butter and the remaining 1 cup of sour cream, and mix on low until combined.  Mix on medium for 2 minutes to aerate batter.  If you don't have a beater blade, scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently with a rubber spatula.  Add the egg and sour cream mixture in 3 additions, beating 20 seconds after each addition.

Split the batter between the cake pans, and smooth with a rubber spatula.  Bake for 20-30 minutes until a toothpick just comes out clean.  (that's a big time window, but cooking time can vary drastically with different ovens, so it's best to keep an eye on it).


Let the cakes cook in their pans for about 10 minutes, then turn on to cooling rack.  Cool completely, then wrap in plastic wrap and chill until ready to frost.

Chocolate Raspberry Ganache Filling

3 ounces semisweet chocolate
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup raspberry puree*

To make the puree, I find it easiest to use frozen raspberries.  Thaw (or microwave) the frozen berries, and puree in the blender or food processor.  You'll need about 2 cups of berries to get 1/3 cup puree.

Melt together the chocolate and butter in a double boiler or in a microwave (short 30 second spurts, stir in between or you're likely to burn the chocolate).  Stir in the raspberry puree, and use to fill the cake.  If you make this ahead of time, you may need to microwave it very briefly to bring it back to spreadable consistency.

Chocolate Frosting (adapted from Chocolate Chocolate)

 

4 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter 

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid 

2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid 

Large pinch of salt 

1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract 

3-4 cups powdered sugar, sifted 

3 fluid ounces (3/8 cup) milk, heated to tepid

Beat butter on medium speed for 1-2 minutes.

Blend in the melted chocolate, salt, vanilla, and 1 cup powdered sugar.

  

Add in the rest of the powdered sugar in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions (begin and end with the powdered sugar). Add more powdered sugar for heavier (this may be necessary if you want to pipe your frosting) frosting, or more milk for a creamier frosting.  Use the frosting immediately.  If it starts to harden before you're ready to frost, re-whip, adding a small amount of milk if necessary to restore the creamy consistency.

 

Assembly

About 1 cup ground almonds (I like salted)

2-3 tablespoons toasted slivered almonds (toast at 300F for 5-8 minutes)

Raspberries, lightly coated with sugar

Be sure the cake is completely cool before frosting. I always chill my cakes to be safe, you don't want cake layers melting frosting and sliding every which way!).  

Place one cake layer on a serving plate or a cake board, and spread the chocolate raspberry ganache on top, leaving roughly a 1/4" border on the outer edges (the weight of the second layer will make the ganache spread to the edge).  Top with the second cake layer, and chill if you have time (not long, even a half hour would be good if your kitchen is warm; you can assemble the whole thing at once if it's not too hot out).  Cover the entire cake with chocolate frosting.  

Cover the sides of the cake with the ground almonds while the frosting is still smooth and creamy (if you wait too long, the frosting will begin to harden and the nuts won't adhere to the cake).  To cover with nuts, just scoop some nuts up in your hand and gently press in to the cake.  Many many nuts will fall down on to the platter. Just keep scooping them back up and pressing on to the cake until it's covered.  Work quickly, so the frosting doesn't harden.

Pipe chocolate frosting around the edge of the cake if desired.  Scatter the toasted slivered almonds on top, and to with raspberries.  Serve at room temperature.  Enjoy! 

Mint Chocolate Layer Cake

It's rare that you eat a piece of chocolate cake and feel as refreshed as if you had just brushed your teeth.  But mint does that, even when it's combined with lots of chocolate.  I've been using the chocolate and mint flavor combination a lot recently, and only by request, but I just may be coming around to this dynamic duo myself.

No picture of the inside of the cake, as it was an order - but I really like the look of the white filling against the dark cake layers.  And if you're really feeling adventurous, dye the filling green!

This recipe is for a 2-layer 6" cake.   You can double the recipe for a 3-layer 9" cake.

Chocolate Cake (adapted from Bon Appetit)

1 1/2 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate
3/4 cups hot brewed coffee* 

1 1/2 cups sugar  
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour  
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)  
1 teaspoon baking soda  
scant 1/2 teaspoon baking powder  
3/4 teaspoons Kosher salt
2 large eggs (use 3 eggs rather than 4 if you double the recipe)
3/8 cup (that's 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons, or 6 fluid ounces) vegetable oil
3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk  
scant 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


*You can replace the coffee with half whole milk, half water if you're baking for kids.  The coffee flavor is barely discernible in the cake, it just enhances the flavor of the chocolate.

Preheat the oven to 300°F and spray 2 6" pans with baking spray. Line bottoms with rounds of parchment paper and spray paper as well (you can get away without the parchment paper if you spray the pans very well and if your pans are good quality).

Finely chop the chocolate and place in a medium bowl; pour hot coffee over the chocolate. Let stand for one minute, then stir until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

Whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

In another large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer).

Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well.

Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well.

Divide batter between pans and bake in the middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 50-65 minutes.

Cool the cake layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove parchment paper and cool layers completely.



Mint Filling

1 stick butter (4 ounces), room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon mint extract (or 1/4 teaspoon mint oil)
3 cups (about 12 ounces) powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons milk


In a large bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer.  Add the vanilla and mint extracts.  Gradually add one cup of sugar,  beating well on medium speed. Scrape the bowl.  Add the remaining sugar, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the sugar.


Add more powdered sugar to make the frosting stiffer, more milk or water to make frosting creamier.

To save time or to really overload on the chocolate, you may want to use the mint chocolate frosting to fill the cake as well. I personally like to cut the chocolate a little with a different filling.



Mint Chocolate Frosting

4 1/2 tablespoons butter (2 1/4 ounces)

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

2 ounces semisweet chocolate

A pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon mint extract (or 1/4 teaspoon mint oil)

3 cups (about 12 ounces) powdered sugar

3 ounces (1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons) milk, heated to lukewarm

Beat butter on medium speed for 1-2 minutes.

Blend in the melted chocolate, salt, vanilla, mint, and 1 cup powdered sugar.

Add in the rest of the powdered sugar in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions (begin and end with the powdered sugar). Add more powdered sugar for heavier (this may be necessary if you want to pipe your frosting) frosting, or more milk for a creamier frosting.  Use immediately.

Assembly

Be sure to chill the cakes before frosting.  Place a layer of chocolate cake on a plate or cake board, and place scraps of parchment paper between the cake and plate/board.  Spread a thick layer of mint frosting on top, leaving a 1/2" border at the edge (the weight of the second layer will cause the frosting to spread towards the edges).  You may have some filling left over.  Freeze for a later use (you can use it in place of the mint layer of chocolate mint brownies).  Top with the remaining cake layer, and chill while you prepare the chocolate frosting.  Frost the cake as soon as the chocolate mint frosting is done - if you can't, you'll need to rewhip the frosting, and you might need to add some milk.

Decorate with shaved chocolate and mint leaves, if desired.