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.
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!
Candied citrus peel is something I've wanted to make for sooo long, but just never got around to. It's so dainty & seems like it'd be a cute gift to give to someone for the holidays---especially orange peel dipped halfway in dark chocolate. :)
I recently checked out "Vegan Soul Kitchen" from my local library & noticed that it had a recipe for candied orange peel in there, but the recipe said you could substitute any citrus fruit. The reason I wanted to make lemon peel, specifically, is for this week's Game of Thrones treat...I'll make a post for that in the next few days!
Here's my adaptation on Bryant Terry's recipe:
Candied Lemon Peel
- 6 organic lemons, washed
- 1 3/4 cups organic sugar, divided
Use a vegetable peeler to peel the lemon zest from the lemons. I got about 5-7 thick strips, lengthwise, from each lemon (save the lemons for another project...maybe lemonade!). Put the strips in a saucepan & cover them with a couple inches of water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 1 hour, until they're tender. Drain & rinse them, then use a spoon to gently scrape any pith (this used to be the white, foamy part within the lemon) from the peels. Cut the peels into 1/4-inch strips---no need for perfection here.
Grab that saucepan again, but this time you'll add a cup of water, along with 3/4 cup sugar. Bring it to a boil, add the peels, & simmer for about an hour, or until most of the sugar syrup has been absorbed.
Drain the candied peels in a fine sieve, then roll them in the remaining 1 cup of sugar. This part is kind of time consuming, but you can meditate or something while you work.***
***I recommend using the rad dredging technique where you use one hand for the wet & one hand for the dry, similar to when you bread stuff. I used my right hand to pull out a gooey, drained strip & threw it into the sugar, then used my left to sprinkle sugar over the top, then tossed it around a little, before putting it on a rack to dry overnight. Repeat this a million or so times, until you've rolled all your fancy strips. They're so glittery!
So, my birthday was on the 4th of July, & I have a lot of catching up to do! I hope everyone had a safe & happy 4th, if you even celebrate it. I probably wouldn't, if it weren't my birthday. :)
I ended up having a sleepover at my sister's house, since all of her housemates were gone for the weekend. It was fun, since I got to see my great friend, Jeremy! (My sister even took me to birthday breakfast at Blossoming Lotus, where Jeremy works!) As per usual, I made a crapload of food & packed too much, but whatever. Here is a delicious recipe, slightly adapted & simplified, that I got from the July/August issue of Vegetarian Times.
Corn-Quinoa Salad
*1 cup quinoa, rinsed & drained
*1 1/2 cups water
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
*1 1/2 cups halved cherry or grape tomatoes
*1 cup diced cucumber
dressing:
*1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
*1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
*3 tablespoons maple syrup
*1 tablespoon grainy Dijon mustard
*1 teaspoon salt
*fresh pepper to taste
Bring the water, quinoa, & salt to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to low, cover, & simmer for 15-20 minutes, until water is absorbed. Set aside, covered, to rest. If using fresh corn, blanch it for 1 minute, then rinse & drain. If using frozen, just wait a bit. Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing. Use a large bowl, so you can add the tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, & quinoa. Stir everything together & chill until serving time.
*The original recipe calls for blanching the frozen corn as well, but I've tried it both ways, & it seemed unnecessary. It also calls for 1 cup of finely chopped red cabbage, but I didn't have any on hand.
I also made some "lazy sushi" fixins, but didn't take pictures---nori sheets, sushi rice, sliced cucumbers, avocado chunks, pickled ginger, & wasabi...it wasn't pretty, but it was tasty, except for the gross pickled ginger I got at Fubonn. Not sure why, but it was cut too thick, & had lots of stringyness, not to mention chemicals galore. I only bought it because I couldn't find any other brands the day I went, but it was tossed out after failing in so many ways. Blargh.
I made my own birthday cake because it's fun & I love to bake! Sadly, not many of the people I hang out with on my birthday like cake, so I made a half-batch of my favorite, summery cake, printed years ago from the O Magazine website (It's no longer available, apparently).
Here's my adapted, mini-version of it:
Butter Cake with Lemon Cream Frosting
Lemon Curd:
*3 large egg yolks
*1/2 cup sugar
*2 lemons, zested & juiced
*1/4 cup butter, cut into several pieces
Cake:
*1 1/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
*1 1/8 teaspoons baking powder
*1/4 teaspoon salt
*6 tablespoons butter, softened
*3/4 cup sugar
*1 1/2 large eggs (I know, it's weird to divide an egg in half)
*6 tablespoons milk
*1 teaspoon vanilla
Frosting:
*3/4 cup heavy cream
*1/4 cup of prepared lemon curd
Filling & Topping:
*1/3-1/2 cup strawberry or raspberry jam
*1/3 cup or so leftover lemon curd
*fresh raspberries & strawberries
Prepare the lemon curd first. Bring a medium pan, with an inch or two of water in it, to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, put a metal bowl on top & reduce the heat the medium-low. Combine the egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, & zest in the metal bowl. Whisk over the simmering water, stirring constantly, for about 10 minutes, or until the mixture is thickened & pale yellow. Remove from heat & add the butter, in pieces, whisking till combined. Pour into a jar or small bowl & set aside to cool. There will be more than you need, but I'm sure you can figure out how to get rid of the rest! :)
Preheat the oven to 350*F. Butter & flour a round cake pan, either 8" or 9"; set aside. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, & salt; set aside. In a mixer, cream together the butter & sugar till fluffy. Add the eggs & beat till fluffy again.
Combine milk with vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add half of the dry ingredients, stirring till mostly incorporated, then add half the milk/vanilla, stirring till combined. Repeat, stirring just enough, but not too much. Pour cake batter into the prepared cake pan & bake till a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (mine took about 25 minutes, but it depends on your pan size & oven).
Cool about 5 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a cake rack to cool completely. I put mine in the window sill & the smell was intoxicating!
Once the cake has cooled, slice it in half. Place the bottom half on a pretty cake plate, then spread the jam evenly across the bottom, before topping with the top layer. Spread about 1/3 cup of lemon curd on the top layer, if you desire; I did & it was tasty!
Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. Fold in the 1/4 cup of lemon curd, then spread onto cake. Garnish with fresh fruit, or leave it simple. Refrigerate until close to serving time. Since it's a butter cake, it should be served at room temperature, or it may appear dry. The whipped cream is quite stable, due to the eggs in the lemon curd. I had my cake sitting out for a few hours & it was fine.
After being spoiled by everyone, I had another event to attend---my friend Scott is moving back to New Jersey, so there was a shindig at Ara & Drew's house yesterday. I ran around town all morning, hitting up the Joann's sale with Coral, & buying some cutesy fabric, a couple sewing patterns, & a pack of blank cards (for stamping with these cute stamps from Mom!).
A future apron, once I can get past my fear of the sewing machine:
After Jo-Ann's crazy-sale-o-rama, I ran to Limbo (highly recommended for inexpensive, amazing produce---usually local/organic!!!) & Trader Joe's for some more party food fixin's & beer. Once home, I made a batch of pineapple salsa, which is always unique & tasty, but I forgot to take a picture. :(
But!...the main reason for shopping was to buy some lemons, raspberries, & Earth Balance, so I could make this cake for Scott, who's a vegan.
The recipe is adapted from How it All Vegan!, & I used it to bake a kinda-similar cake to my birthday one. No vegan lemon curd though, since I began baking this thing two hours before the bbq started. Whew!
Lemon Cake & Frosting
*1 1/2 cups flour
*2 teaspoons baking powder
*1/4 teaspoon salt
*3/4 cup sugar
*3/4 cup vegan milk
*2 teaspoons lemon extract
*zest of one lemon
*1/4 cup oil
*1 egg replacer (I use Ener-G)
Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease & flour an 8" or 9" cake pan & set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together the dry ingredients; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Beat in the dry ingredients, until just combined. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a cake rack to cool completely.
I sliced mine in half, similar to the birthday cake, then spread homemade strawberry jam on the bottom layer.
Prepare the frosting by beating together:
*1/4 cup margarine, softened
*2 1/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy
*2 tablespoons vegan milk
*1 teaspoon lemon extract
I was in a hurry, so I just went "rustic" on the cake's ass, by spreading the frosting over the top & letting it run down the sides, before placing raspberries & lemon slices on the top.
It was devoured by the people at the bbq before I could take shots of the inside. Scott was so thankful that I baked it for him. I'll miss you, Scott!!
Here are some random recent pictures...
$3 goes far at Limbo:
A hunk of fancy gianduja from Smels! Help me figure out what to do with it, before I eat it all!
A lovely sun hat from my sister.
The Grand Central cookbook, which I've been drooling over for months, also from Smels (she even got me wooden Portland Farmer's Market coins, so I can buy fresh ingredients for the G.C. recipes!!!!).
Ethan is taking me camping a.s.a.p. & got me a bouquet of sunflowers & a cheesy, singing, Twilight card, as sort of an inside joke. :)
The cute, vintage apron that Coral made me! She's amazingly crafty & sweet! And her boyfriend, Ryan, even fixed my car's leaky trunk (He also fixed my Gran's sewing machine a month ago. I feel so fortunate to have so many great people in my life!)
Gorgeous pink poppies that my sister & I saw in Northeast.
Has anyone else gotten one of these in the mail?! This came awhile back, but it was sort of funny. I thought someone had it sent to me as a joke, since I just turned 31, ha ha. Oy.
Sorry for the ginormosity of this one. Ruben thanks you for your time...snore!
