Blueberry and Vanilla Cupcakes

I was invited to lunch with some vegan friends recently, so decided to take along my zucchini falafel for a snack and these blueberry cupcakes for dessert. Lynette, who was hosting the lunch at her beautiful home, was the one who gave me her ticket to the Cupcake Richard vegan baking class. So I promised I'd bring her some cupcakes in return.
 

 These could easily pass as muffins as well, but I wanted to top them with a delicious coconut cream frosting and pretty blueberries.

 

 Ingredients:

1 ¾ cup cake flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
100ml coconut oil
120ml apple sauce
125ml warm water
15 ml lemon juice (juice of half a lemon)
3-4 vanilla pods
1/4 cup water
1 cup + 3 tbs icing sugar
250g blueberries

Begin by making a vanilla syrup. Scrape the vanilla pods and add the seeds and empty husks to the a small pot along with the icing sugar and 1/4 cup water. Boil until the sugar is dissolved and the syrup is fairly thick. Remove the vanilla husks with a fork (don't touch the syrup, it's very hot!)

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line a cupcake pan with twelve paper cupcake wrappers. Sift all the dry ingredients together and mix thoroughly. Add the coconut oil, apple sauce and vanilla syrup and mix well with a metal spoon until fully combined.

Add the lemon juice to the warm water and pour half into the batter. Stir until it is completely incorporated, then add the remaining lemon water and repeat.

Pour the batter into the cupcake pan, you can fill the wrappers about 3/4 of the way as they don't rise too much. Drop about 5 blueberries into each cupcake and using a wooden skewer, gently push them into the batter.





Bake for 20 minutes, then allow to cool completely on a cake rack. Don't ice them if they are still warm, as the coconut cream will melt.

For the frosting, drain a can of coconut cream of all its water. I use my wooden skewer to poke two holes through the cream and then pour out the water that is usually trapped at the bottom. Add the cream, 1/2 cup blueberries and 3 tbs icing sugar to a bowl and combine using a stick blender. Allow to set in the fridge for about an hour.

Note: I let my frosting set overnight and the beautiful lilac colour turned a little brown from oxidation. Next time I'll try adding a little lemon juice to avoid this, although I'm not sure if that will make it curdle. It might be worth experimenting with a little bit separately. 

Once you have iced your cupcakes, sprinkle them with a few more blueberries and enjoy sharing them with your friends!

xxx

Soba Noodles with Broccoli and Peanut Sauce

I know I've been awfully quiet on the blog lately, but it seems that the Festive Season is catching up with me! I've been so busy I haven't had the time to cook anything new! Anyway, today I am sick in bed so thought I'd catch up with a little recipe or two.

I made this delicious soba noodle dish over the weekend. Soba noodes are made from buckwheat flour and have many great health benefits. They are naturally gluten free, low GI, low in fat and cholesterol and fairly high in protein compared to other grains.

 I buy my soba noodles at the local Chinese supermarket, but I have also seen them at Pick 'n Pay. If you are following a gluten free diet, be sure to check that they are 100% buckwheat, as some do contain wheat.

Ingredients:

2 blocks soft tofu, cut into bite size pieces (squares about 1cm thick)
1/2 pack soba noodles
1 medium head broccoli, cleaned and cut into florets
1 tbs coconut oil
1 large spring onion, white part thinly sliced - set green part aside for garnish
1 red chilli, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1 handful peanuts
1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari
1/4 cup mirin
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp corn flour
1 tbs sesame oil
2 tbs crunchy peanut butter
1/8 cup boiling water
5-6 radishes
pinch salt

Bring a medium pot of water to boil and add your noodles and a pinch of salt. Boil for 5-6 minutes. If you have a bamboo steamer, use it to cook the broccoli atop the pot of water. Otherwise, put the broccoli in the boiling water 2 minutes before the noodles are done and then drain the whole lot through a colander and rinse with cold water.

In a large saucepan on medium to high heat, fry the tofu pieces in coconut oil until they are crispy. Turn the tofu and repeat on the other side. Once the tofu is done, add the sliced garlic, spring onion and chilli and stir fry for about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat.

For the sauce, use a fork to dissolve the peanut butter into the boiling water. Add the soy sauce/tamari, mirin, corn flour, sugar and sesame oil and stir.

Return the saucepan with the tofu to the heat, add the noodles, broccoli and the sauce and stir fry for 3-4 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and coated all the ingredients.

Serve with thinly sliced radish, chopped spring onion greens and a sprinkling of peanuts.

Makes about 4 servings. Enjoy!

Black Forest Cupcakes

I recently did a vegan baking course with the wonderful Wida from Cupcake Richard (@cupcakerichard on Instagram) and my sweet tooth has been feeling inspired ever since. I have always wanted to give vegan baking a try, but I tend to sway from recipes and make them up as I go, which doesn't always cut it with baked goods. So, it was fantastic to do a hands-on class and learn from someone with many years experience. Plus, her course is so beautifully presented in her very pretty home, and the gift bags and champagne made it all the more exciting!

In the course, Wida teaches you how to make a basic cake batter, which can then be adapted to various cupcake flavours, cakes and muffins. In the class we made two delicious cupcake variations and were given a recipe guide with an additional three flavours.

I found some cherries at a very good price this weekend, so decided to give the recipe my own Black Forest spin. They are decadently chocolatey and would make a wonderful vegan Christmas dessert.

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cup cake flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup cocoa powder
175ml agave nectar or xylitol syrup
100ml coconut oil
120ml apple sauce
½ tsp vanilla extract
125ml warm water
15 ml lemon juice (juice of half a lemon)
24-30 fresh cherries, pitted and halved (keep 12 whole for topping)

For the topping:

80g dark chocolate
1/4 cup coconut cream
30ml agave nectar/xylitol syrup (only if you are using unsweetened dark chocolate)

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line a cupcake pan with twelve paper cupcake wrappers. Sift all the dry ingredients together and mix thoroughly. Add the coconut oil, apple sauce, vanilla extract and agave nectar/xylitol syrup (if you have xylitol granules, dissolve 1 cup granules in 1/2 cup water in a small pan) and mix well with a metal spoon until fully combined.

Add the lemon juice to the warm water and pour half into the batter. Stir until it is completely incorporated, then add the remaining lemon water and repeat.

Pour the batter into the cupcake pan, you can fill the wrappers about 3/4 of the way as they don't rise too much. Drop about 3 cherry halves into each cupcake and using a wooden skewer, gently push them into the batter.

Bake for 20 minutes, then allow to cool completely on a cake rack.

Melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler, or in the microwave and stir the coconut cream and syrup in until it is completely smooth. If it is a little lumpy, pop it back in the microwave for a few seconds and stir a little more.

Pour the chocolate topping over the cool cupcakes and top each one with a whole cherry.

xxx