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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
My mother bought me this book for my birthday, and I would highly recommend it to anyone! All the batches I have made thus far have turned out perfectly. The cupcakes are moist, delicious, and flavourful. I would advise that unless you REALLY eat a lot of frosting on your cupcakes, halve the recipes for the buttercream frosting. I did a lot of fancy piping but I still always wound up with way too much frosting left over. Also, if you are looking for healthy cupcakes, this is not the book for you. There are a few delicious-looking 'healthy' recipes (sexy low-fat vanilla, agave nectar, etc.), but the majority probably aren't so good for you. Overall, I think this is a truly lovely book. It would make a super holiday present!!
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Yay! I'm meeting my boyfriend's mother for the first time when we go to visit in a couple weeks, and she asked if I would tell her a couple things I would like for Christmas, and I asked for this book and an immersion blender. I'm pretty sure she's already going to think I'm nuts just for being vegan...now she's going to think I'm obsessed with food...which is pretty accurate :)
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Made my first recipe from the book today!
I made the chocolate-cherry ones, with the basic chocolate cupcakes, which were easy enough to make, although slighty plain on their own & the recipes made too much (closer to 15 cupcakes each 3/4 full). I tried to make up half the recipe for the buttercream frosting (I used the yellow Pure marg & flora white for shortening), but forgot to halve the amount of vanilla extract! And I cheated with the cherry sauce and used canned cherry pie filling! :rolleyes: I got to use my new icing bag set to do the icing.
But they turned out lovely! :) Quite rich, but luckily the over-vanilla buttercream worked fine in that.
I'll have to take a picture of them! I'm glad they worked out so well! :D
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
just ordered this book. i'm soo badly looking foreward to recieving it:)
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
wish me luck - I'm on a mission today and tommorrow, to get three different batches made!! :eek:
I'm making the basic vanilla, which will just have a little buttercream icing and a chocolate lentil (a smartie to anyone else! :) ) decoration - those are for anyone not so adventurous,
and some of the coconut & lime ones,
and the chocolate cherry ones (it's like a tallcake?), which I have actually made before and I hope they are just as good.
It's for our going away party tommorrow. I hope that a) it all goes OK and b) people actually eat them!!
I'm starting out with the basic cakes, as you do!, and then I suppose make the icing if I have time tonight, and do the plain ones tonight and the fancy ones tommorrow morning, ready for just after lunch when I have to take them over. I have no idea how I will transport them all! But I will take photos to show how they turn out! :D
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
I ordered this book and still haven't got it yet. Hopefully it will be there when I get home. I can't wait to try it out.
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
I want this cookbook but I'm afraid I'll balloon to 300lbs or something. :p
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
you need to get a hula hoop or an exercise dvd at the same time ;)
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
good luck jaime! i can't wait to see pics...
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
i just recieved mine yesterday. it looks so good. can't wait to start baking 'em cupcakes:D
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Quote:
Tigerlily
I want this cookbook but I'm afraid I'll balloon to 300lbs or something. :p
So you didn't get it for Christmas then?
They do have a lowfat cupcake recipe, which is the one I have actually been making because 1) i really liked it 2) all the others look so good i can't decide what else to make :D
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
my cakemaking went ok - although all up it took much much longer than I'd thought (but I'm not very good at guessing how long things will take!).
I had some photos although they are on someone else's camera so I can't post them for a little while. The cakes didn't look as good as the pictures, although I was in rush and so didn't have enough time to perfect them.
I had an issue with my chocolate cherry tallcakes - that I couldn't use the cherry pie filling I was planning to use, the best I could come up with last minute was some icing in the 'well' with a really small dollop of strawberry jam, then the 'lid' back on (upside down) and and a twirl of icing on top - I even had to improvise on the chocolate shavings because I didn't have time to make the shavings - I ended up sprinkling on some green & blacks hot chocolate granules!!! :o I tasted it and it was a bit like tiny chocolate ants - I thought it would do!
The only prob I had was that for some reason my icing was a bit runny. I didn't think it was particularly warm in the house to cause this, and I didn't have the problem last time I made it.
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Quote:
Wildflower
So you didn't get it for Christmas then?
They do have a lowfat cupcake recipe, which is the one I have actually been making because 1) i really liked it 2) all the others look so good i can't decide what else to make :D
No, I forgot to specially order it from the bookstore.
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
I LOVE this book!!! I made the lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream icing and the gingerbread cupcakes with lemon buttercream icing. They were great!
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
I'm kind of new to the vegan scene so this question might seem kind of dumb. Would cupcakes made with vegan ingrediants be lower in fat than regular cupcakes? Would they generally have less calories than regular cupcakes? A big part of the reason I am experimenting with a vegan diet is to keep my weight down and stay healthy.
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
The difference in fat/calories would vary depending on the recipe, whether vegan or not. Vegan cupcakes wouldn't be significantly lower in calories or fat (though they would have no cholesterol.. but the amount of cholesterol in non-vegan cupcakes is likely minimal as well). Junk food is junk food, whether it's vegan or not. Best to have cupcakes in moderation :)
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
I finally gave in and got this off Amazon. I had been looking for it at last year's Animal Aid fayre and everyone seemed to think I was a bit odd when I asked for it by name!
Here in the uk, we just have fairy cakes with a little bit of icing on top. These cupcakes seem to be a bit of cake with a whole dessert on top! Not that I object to this, but must keep to making them less often! Luckily I have cup measures already so I won't have to try and convert to grams.
I haven't made any yet, but it looks really well written and lots of good advice.
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Wow.. I want some vegan cupcakes! :eek::D
I might go have a look at this book on Amazon now, thanks!
p.s. good luck with the baking!
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
My copy of this arrived this morning from amazon.
Im a bit confused as to what UK bakers would class as "all purpose" flour, as I thought we just had self raising or plain..
any ideas anyone ?
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
I've just been using ordinary plain flour and they seem to turn out okay; I'm pretty sure this is what they mean. I've made the Gingerbread, Toasted Coconut and Golden Vanilla ones so far. The Gingerbread and Toasted Coconut ones are AMAZING; I don't like so much the ones where you have to curdle soya milk with cider vinegar :eek: , I think it gives the cupcakes quite an odd texture, while ones like the Gingerbread cupcakes are more "cake-like" in texture. I'd love to try out some of these incredible icing techniques, but normally my cupcakes don't last that long!!! :p
Good luck.
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Thanks for that. I can't wait to get baking. Its a lovely little book and the icing does look very professional.
I've seen a lot of pics on the Post Punk Kitchen forum and there are some very clever cooks there. Im like you though probably - doubt the cakes will last long enough to ice.
I'm going to try the Toasted Coconut ones first ..
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
i think it's just the plain flour. that's what I use, and it works
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
All purpose flour is plain flour.
Self rising flour has baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) already added. For these recipes, you need to add this seperately, per the instructions in the recipe.
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
I don't mind curdling the soy milk - although I don't like to tell people that it has curdled soy milk in it!! :D I think it's really interesting the way it makes it go all thick and yoghurty. It doesn't seem to affect the texture of my cakes though. Have you tried with a different brand of soy milk? :)
I'm going to make the coconut and lime cakes again soon but will probably try some of the others mentioned here soon too! :D
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Don't you find it more difficult to get the cider vinegar ones off the paper? Half of the cupcakes seems to stay stuck to the paper :(
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Quote:
fiamma
Don't you find it more difficult to get the cider vinegar ones off the paper? Half of the cupcakes seems to stay stuck to the paper :(
Haven't had that problem... but I have crappy cupcake papers that practically fall off the cupcake. :mad:
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
In the book it says to spray the cupcake cases with that spray oil you can get, maybe that would help.
I have another ingredient question though - what in the UK would be classed as "shortening" ?
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
This has already been discussed in this thread - scroll up to Jamie's post, around number 20.
Thanks for the spray oil tip, BTW :)
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
I made the vanilla ones last night but with a bit less sugar, spelt flour and no topping as they were intended for the childrens breakfast ! I've made many cakes in my time as a vegan. I used to use this curldled milk type version before but then went over to flour and oil and water type method. I was pretty impressed with these and no probs with sticking to the case.
I intend to do a full on frosted version for next weekend.
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
oh yeah, they do stick to the cups, but it doesn't bother me that much! When I was young I used to chew on the paper cups at the end to extract the crumbs! :D I wouldn't go that far now but I do pull it flat and bite off the cake remains :o
I made the coconut & lime base cakes the other day, and started trying to make the frosting, using nuttlex marg and copha for veg shortening - but it went horribly because the copha was so solid it wouldn't mix at all - I spent ages try to shave ribbons off the block with my mixing spoon. Then I asked my hubby to take over while I went to check on the cakes, and he'd just broken up the big block and given me huge lumps of copha instead of more mixable ribbons!!! I even tried sitting the bowl in the sink in warm water to melt it a bit, but it just melted the marg. It was just horrible! I don't know if you are supposed to leave the copha out at room temp to go soft, or what, but I never had to do that with flora white. Also I don't think copha is unhydrogenated, and so really it just puts me off using it because I imagine what that fat will do when it's in my arteries!
But in the end, the cakes were wonderful without any topping!! In our fan oven in our new flat, they never seem to brown on the top, even though a skewer comes out clean - so I end up putting the grill element on for 5 minutes at the end to brown them up nicely so they look cooked! But they were AMAZINGLY light, really yum! So I totally recommend them on their own! :)
I also use self-raising flour in place of plain & adding in baking soda and powder.
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
That's interesting Jamie cos I got some trex last night to use instead of shortening and it does seem really hard (hard non hydrog veg oil). I might see if I can get it a bit softer before I mix it with marg and use all marg if not.
Flora white here in the uk doesn't say it's vegan and when I checked it has vitamin D in which I tend to avoid unless it specifically says its the vegan type.
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
when I bought it a few months ago it definately said it was vegan on the packaging! :eek: that's why I bought it!
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
I made a few batches of the chocolate cupcakes last week, which calls for the curdled soymilk.
Question - my soymilk did not seem to curdle? I mixed in the cider vinegar and let it sit while I mixed together the dry ingredients - so...10 minutes or so. It just looked about the same.
Also made the chocolate mousse - which I had serious doubts as it is made with tofu - but it was AWESOME. And the buttercream frosting turned out great (i used all margarine instead of margarine and shortening) and threw in some Newman Os (like a vegan oreo). AMAZING.
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
I think the Soya milk only curdles a bit cos the amount of vinegar used is quite small. As long as they turn out right it doesn't matter!
I made the skinny vanilla ones this week to eat tiday. The first lot I put in too hot and oven which had other things in and they were getting dark on top but still squdgy in the middle. Found my conversion from degrees F to gas and realised they should have been on mark 4 not 7! Still didn't rise too much, but less goey inside.
Made vanilla buttercream frosting with half trex,half pure marg. Put this in before the icing sugar then realised how much 3 1/2 cups of icing sugar is and didn't have enough! So couldn't add the soya milk cos it would have been too soft! As someone said before, definately far too much frosting even with creative thinking and pilling it on thick. I would def make less next time.
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Wildflower when I curdled the soyamilk it went like yogurt. However I made another very similar recipe from the Candle Cafe Cookbook which uses cider vinegar but you didn't have to curdle the soya milk and the vinegar and the result was exactly the same. Maybe you could try a different brand of soya milk?
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
I still haven't got this cookbook...can't afford it either. :(
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
You could ask your local library to get it in for you...?
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Yeah, maybe, I haven't been to the library in ages. lol
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Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
Quote:
xwitchymagicx
I still haven't got this cookbook...can't afford it either. :(
There was a copy on ebay the other day if that helps