#17 Raspberry and Chocolate

First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Frequent Commenter and Friend RJ! YAAY BIRTHDAY.

I made these cos I was told Raspberry are her favourites. Also, I'm making only chocolate cupcakes this month and will submit the best one for CH. IMO, these are not the best, but they are RJ's favourite, so maybe I am wrong.

Were I to remake them, I would up the dry ingredients, as I find them much too moist.

Also, the best thing ever happened. Mz. Savage was in my office when I got these IMs:

constructive criticism :P
ok, when it comes to food, and pretty much anything, there needs to be a point
so the emphesis needs to be on something
but not sure where it was on these ones, where was it?

This led to _literally_ a fifteen minute discussion in my office between Ms Savage and Mr. IM about the relative merits of this batch, including some lovely poutine analogies ("Ok, in the poutine, the focus is the gravy. The fries are a vessel - they're like the bread of the cupcake!") and some other hilarious moments. Times like these I wish I had a tape recorder.

I do get the point which was trying to get made - there does need to be a cohesive thing that holds cupcakes together, but I maintain that chocolate, raspberries, and cream is a classic pairing, though perhaps not perfectly executed by me on this. RJ disagrees, and since she's the birthday girl, that's all that matters!




Cupcakes (perfect 24!)

375 g raspberries (fresh or frozen)
6 eggs
1 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. ground almonds
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1/4 c. cocoa nibs
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda

Simmer raspberries with 1/4 c of sugar and a dash of lemon juice or water until soft. Whizz up in food processor or blender.

Mix ingredients in a bowl in no particular order. Pour into cupcake tin and bake for 30ish minutes at 350C.

Topping:
Mascarpone Cream
Raspberries, and their juice.

This is based on the Clementine Cakes from Nigella which I made earlier this year, but with added cocoa, nibs, and subbing clementines for raspberries. Since raspberries are wetter than clementines, which didn't occur to me when I was making them, I should've used less of that or more dry. Bake and Learn!

#16 Chipotle Chocolate

I know, nothing for a month and then three in one day! For these I decided to go with the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World recipe, cos I know it's simple and delicious. I just threw in some chipotle powder, enough that I could taste it but it didn't burn my mouth right off. I'm not into spicy, so I'm sure some people can add more.

I made these minis cos they did come out quite spicy.

Mini-Cupcakes (18)

1/2 c soymilk
1/2 t vinegar
5/8 c sugar
1/6 c oil
1/2 t vanilla
1/4 t vanilla
1/2 c flour
1/6 c cocoa
5/8 t baking soda
1/4 t baking powder
1/8 t salt
1 t chilli

Add vinegar to soymilk, set aside.
I tend to just dump everything in the mixer for the VCTOTW cakes, and they come out perfect every time. Do that.
Bake 20 odd minutes at 350.


These are glazed with Rootham's Irresistable Chocolate Sauce which is not vegan, but is tasty. I wanted something to cut the spice a bit, and this does the trick!

Because I'm doing three entries all in a row, I realize how repeaty these baking instructions are. I should just have a 'default cooking instructions' in the sidebar or something.

#15 Flourless Chocolate Chiffon Cake

I had originally planned to make these in time for Passover, but that didn't work out, because I'm lazy. I made them yesterday, and they're really good! Really! Light and fluffy, not too chocolatey.

Recipe comes from the back of the cake meal.

Cupcakes (9)
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C cake meal
1 T matzoh meal
1/8 c cocoa
1/4 t salt
3/4 t baking powder
3 eggs, separated
1/8 c oil
1/4 c water
1/2 t vanilla

Whip egg whites until light and fluffy. Set aside.
Mix together dry ingredients. Make a well in the middle, add eggs, oil, vanilla, water to the well. Mix well.
Fold eggwhites into the chocolate mixture. This part is tricky, I ended up collapsing a lot of the eggwhite cos I was too rough with it.
Bake 20-odd minutes at 350. They will rise a little but not much.

Blood Orange Glaze
1 blood orange
cocoa

Boil together orange juice and cocoa. Brush overtop of cupcakes. Mmm, glaaze.

#14 - Mango Spice Cake

Finally settled in the new place! My new oven is proper temperature, too, so I don't need to rely on the thermometre so much.

I didn't want to go shopping for ingredients, so I looked around the kitchen to see what I had for these. I figured a spice cake, and looked around for a recipe. The one I found called for apple juice, which I didn't have, so I subbed mango juice. It really takes it from a plain old spice cake to something completely different and fresh tasting. These are my new favourite cupcakes:

Cupcakes (9)
1/4 C butter
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 t. nutmeg
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. allspice
1/4 t. ginger
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. baking powder
1 egg
5/8 C flour
3/4 C mango juice

Beat butter, sugar. Add egg, add spices/bp. Alternating, add juice & flour, finish with flour. Bake 20 minutes @ 350.

These haven't been tasted by the office yet, so no word on whether others like them, but I really do.