More Lemon Cupcakes

I think I have some sort of addiction with baking these cupcakes, but at least I had better lighting this time around, & got to almost finish up the candied lemon peel I made a while back.

I took them to a dinner last night w/friends, along with these beautiful roses for my sister & Coral.  Can you believe that my roommate was contemplating hacking them down, for ease of mowing the grass by the sidewalk?  Wha?!  

Anyhoo, even though I forgot my camera at home, the point of the dinner was my sister wanted to re-create the Weeping Tiger sandwiches from the Bye & Bye.  She was definitely successful!  I'm going to tinker around & try to come up with a recipe, because they were just too good.  
In garden news, some turdy critters are eating peas, cucumbers, & beets as soon as they sprout, so I had to re-seed a bunch of stuff.  Bah!  I read that it could be birds, so I'll have to put down some netting or something to keep them at bay till the plants can fend for themselves.  

Raspberry-Chocolate Theme

Apparently I've been enchanted by the combination of raspberries & chocolate lately, even though I just put that together.  Game of Thrones night ended up being postponed on Mother's Day, but I'd already began the cupcake baking process...luckily my roommates stepped up & offered to help take care of the excess. :)

 

The look like your ordinary chocolate cupcakes (& who would complain about that?!), but hidden inside is a tart raspberry filling:

They were so, so good.  I still have more raspberries in the freezer from last year's Sauvie Island berry-picking adventures, so maybe I can come up with one more chocolate-raspberry treat...

More recently, as in last night, my friend Megan & my sister wanted to have a themed dinner, since Megan is moving back to the Midwest soon.  They came up with "Vegan Breakfast Dinner", so Megan made waffles & sliced strawberries, my sister made her famously crispy potatoes & tempeh bacon, & I brought raspberry sauce & Nutella (chocolate & raspberry, for the win!).

The glorious spread:

My monstrosity:

I should probably share the Nutella recipe I used, which is from Veganomicon, a cookbook essential for living a good life. <3  I also want to try this recipe sometime, though it seems way more complicated. 

Not-tella

• 5 ounces toasted, skinned hazelnuts (a generous cup)
• 8-10 tablespoons neutral-tasting oil
• 3/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1 1/2 teaspoons hazelnut extract (still good without this)
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

I don't follow the directions in Veganomicon exactly, because I've had better results by blending the hazelnuts & oil (start with smaller amount, adding more if necessary) in a blender until creamy.  (A Vitamix is ideal, if you or someone you know has one.)  Slowly add the powdered sugar & cocoa, scraping down the sides of the blender as necessary.  Add the extracts & blend until smooth & creamy.  Enjoy it warm from the blender, or chill it for a thickened, spreadable treat.   

Bonus sleeping kitty shot!  Yoda almost looks innocent here, but don't let him fool you...
 

 

Sansa Stark Lemon Cakes & Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake!

Sugar rush!  For last week's Game of Thrones viewing, I put those candied lemon peels to good use & made Sansa Stark Lemon Cakes.  People who have read the books might remember that lemon cakes were a common treat that Sansa liked to indulge in (before shit went down!).  Even if you're not at that level of nerd-itude, you can still enjoy these tasty cupcakes.  The recipe comes from "Vegan with a Vengeance" & they are the ultimate cupcakes for lemon-lovers---they're so tangy & don't weigh you down, like those (delicious) towering buttercream ones. <3

Lemon Gem Cupcakes   

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup almond milk
• 2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla  

Preheat oven to 350*F.  Line your cupcake tin with paper liners & set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, & salt.  In a small-ish bowl, whisk together the almond milk, sugar, lemon juice, oil, lemon zest, & vanilla.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones & whisk until just combined.  This will be frothy!  Fill the cups about 2/3 full.  Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool completely, then glaze them. 

*recipe makes 1 dozen, but I got 14*

Lemon Glaze

• 1/4 cup softened margarine 
• 2-4 tablespoons almond milk
• 2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Beat the ingredients together till smooth, adding a bit more milk if necessary.

After glazing the cakes, you can get all fancy & top them with candied lemon peel, tinted sugar, or sprinkles!  

 

 

As if those sweet cakes weren't enough, I also made a Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake for my friend Sage & I.  She came down from Vancouver, B.C., & we needed something to nosh on while we gossiped.  The recipe is from here, but I made it in a tart pan, & used a cookie crust, rather than a graham cracker one.  It's very delicious, but next time I'll spread the crust with peanut butter before adding the filling, so it's peanut buttery-er.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake

Filling

• 1-12.3 ounce container firm silken tofu
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted
• 2 tablespoons almond milk 

Crust

• 18 Newman-o's
• 1/4 cup melted margarine

Make the crust first, by putting the cookies into your food processor.  Once they're reduced to crumbs, drizzle in the margarine & give it another whirl.  Press into whatever pan you want to use (pie plate, tart pan, springform) & chill it while you make the filling.


Wipe out your food processor (a few crumbs won't hurt!), then put all the filling ingredients into it.  Blend it all up, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl several times till it's smooth.  Pour the filling into the chilled crust, & spread it around in a cute pattern.  Chill for a few hours till firm.  Slice & enjoy with your buds! 

Jon Snow Cupcakes!

My friend Thom hosts a Game of Thrones viewing every Sunday, & I'm unofficially in charge of bringing the treats (which rules!). I wanted to make a Jon Snow-centric pastry, because he's so pretty, & this idea popped into my head a couple weeks ago.

First, I made the Toasted Coconut Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, but they were missing something...

Nerd time: I printed out a dozen cropped copies of my fave picture of Jon Snow onto cardstock, then used a 2-inch circle punch to cut out his face (you could also cut them by hand). I also punched out a dozen plain cardstock circles for the backs. (Thom thinks I should have used another pouty picture of Jon for the backs, then we could've twirled the toothpick around, animating Jon's pouty face. Nice.)

To make the toppers, I just applied a circle of glue around the perimeter of a plain circle, with a small blob for the toothpick area. Then I twirled the toothpick through the glue, so I'd be sure of adhesion. Lastly, I sandwiched a Jon onto the top, holding it together for 30 seconds or so. Don't press on the toothpick area, only around it, or you'll crease the paper & leave an unsightly imprint on his face. Do not want!

I found that my afghan was a useful place to stick these while they dried, though it was a bit intimidating!


And here's the finished product! Thom said the coconut represented Jon's stubble. :)


Yeah, I'll probably just make boring old cookies or something next week.

Coral & Ryan Get Hitched!

Wow, this has been an amazing process, & now it's time to relax! Coral has spent so long planning her & Ryan's beautiful day, & it sure paid off. Everything was lovely & perfect in the end!

I'll start out with the prep work that I was responsible for. Ryan & his awesome friend, Chris, built a photo booth from scratch! Coral asked me to make some silly props for it. It took a while to get the method down, so I started on the simplest pieces, the lips.

Here's the first batch, on our trippy green couch:


The felt wasn't stiff enough to hold up on it's own, so I ended up painting them with diluted wood glue & letting them dry. Then I hot glued them to sticks. Some shapes were easier to cut with scissors, while others (especially the glasses) were easier with the Exact-o knife. For the glasses, I actually painted entire sheets of felt with the watered down glue, then let it dry before cutting them out. I'm not exactly sure of the method the people who sell them on Etsy use, but you couldn't pay me to sell these things, ha ha!


I was also asked to cut a couple dozen burlap table runners. Good thing we have a big basement crafty area now! It's not easy to find 10 ft. of blank space for cutting fabric. :)

Ready to be delivered to Coral:


My biggest contribution to the wedding was in the form of baked goods. Coral wanted 125 or so cupcakes, half carrot cake w/orange cream cheese frosting, & half traditional butter cake w/chocolate frosting. She also wanted 150 lemon bars, but they only needed to be a square inch, so that wasn't too bad.

The recipe I used for the lemon bars is available here. I've used it before. I really like the texture of the bars & they aren't as "wet" as traditional ones, so they won't get weepy & soggy.

What got me was the last-minute cutting & frosting! I baked the lemon bars & carrot cupcakes the day before, & also prepped the frosting, but wanted to wait till the day of the wedding to bake the butter cupcakes. Rose Levy Beranbaum, goddess of baking, recommends serving them on the day you bake them, so I wanted them to be as fresh as possible.

Here's the first dozen, fresh from the oven.


The recipe I used was for Downy Yellow Butter Cake from the Cake Bible. I used 3 tablespoons of batter & baked them @ 350*F for about 28 minutes. Even though I'm a baker, I don't really love cake that much. I'd much rather have some chocolate or a cookie, but this recipe is so amazing. It's light & fluffy, with such a deliciously sweet buttery flavor. I'd even prefer it plain, or with some macerated fruit on top. Mmmmm...

Here's some of the frosted lovelies:


The carrot cake recipe was an original that I've tweaked over the years at work. I added raisins & walnuts to these, but coconut &/or pineapple would also work. Yes, the recipe is eggless! It's also great with soy milk in place of dairy, for a vegan version.


Carrot Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 1/8 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. plus 1/8 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. plus 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. plus 1/8 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. plus 1/8 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1/2 cup milk with 3/4 teaspoon lemon juice added (or buttermilk)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Frosting:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• pinch of salt
• zest of 1/2 an orange
  

Preheat the oven to 350*F. Line a 12-cup cupcake pan with paper cups & set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon & ginger; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, milk, vanilla, carrots, raisins & walnuts.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones & mix until combined. Scoop 3 tablespoons of batter into each paper cup. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

There will be enough extra for another cupcake or two, or a baby cake for the baker!

Cool completely, before frosting generously. To make the frosting, whip all the ingredients together. Try not to eat it by the spoonful!

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And here are some pictures of the payoff of so much hard work by so many incredible people! I would have taken more pictures, but I was helping to set up, then had to get bedecked in my bridesmaid attire.

First of all, here is the beautiful bride. Did I mention that she made her entire dress herself?! One of her sweet neighbors happens to be a retired professional seamstress & she was a godsend! Coral also sewed the two flower girls' dresses, & all the bridesmaids' dresses. There is nothing she can't do!

Coral & Smels:


Smels literally teared up at Coral's beauty! :')


Here's a shot from under the tent. Look at the beautiful place settings! And I spy my old frenemy, Mr. Burlap! See the little jars of light & dark honey that we got as wedding favors?


And now for the dessert table, which was breathtakingly beautiful, thanks to Coral's thoughtful planning. I was honored to have my baked goods be a part of something so stunning. One of her friends from work, who does some catering, baked chocolate chip cookies too!

At this point, we were in the process of setting the cupcakes out at the last possible minute, since it was so hot out. The poor babies already had a long trip in the hot trunk of my (no air conditioning) car, so they were nervous to be displayed! We set 2 or 3 on each antique, floral saucer.


This sort of shows the left side of the table:


And this shows the right side:


I almost forgot to mention the cake! Coral wanted something tiny & rustic, so her & Ryan would have something to cut & shove into one another's face (lovingly, of course!). You can see the frosting was getting that glossy, I-want-to-melt-but-I-won't look to it. Thankfully, it held up for the whole evening! Whew!


Smels & Ethan show wear from too much good food & booze:


I'll end with a couple of photo booth pictures. Outside the booth, there was a table set up with a scrapbook, markers, glue sticks & scissors, so guests could leave a cute picture & note for the newlyweds.

Ethan & I:


Smels & I:


We love you, Coral & Ryan! Congratulations on your new life together!