Saturday, December 8, 2012

Weekend Cooking: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World

Title: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World
Author: Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Release date: October 2006
Length: 144 pages
I got this book: from my own collection.


Summary:
From Goodreads:
"The hosts of the vegan cooking show The Post Punk Kitchen are back with a vengeance — and this time, dessert. A companion volume to Vegan with a Vengeance, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World is a sweet and sassy guide to baking everyone's favorite treat without using any animal products. This unique cookbook contains over 50 recipes for cupcakes and frostings — some innovative, some classics — with beautiful full color photographs. Isa and Terry offer delicious, cheap, dairy-free, egg-free and vegan-friendly recipes like Classic Vanilla Cupcakes (with chocolate frosting), Crimson Velveteen Cupcakes (red velvet with creamy white frosting), Linzer Torte Cupcakes (hazelnut with raspberry and chocolate ganache), Chai Latte Cupcakes (with powdered sugar) and Banana Split Cupcakes (banana-chocolate chip-pineapple with fluffy frosting). Included also are gluten-free recipes, decorating tips, baking guidelines, vegan shopping advice, and Isa's true cupcake anecdotes from the trenches. When Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, no dessert lover can resist."

Personal opinion:
This is such a cute book! When I got interested in vegan baking, I just knew I had to have this book. I heard good reviews about how fail proof the recipes from this book were, so for me as a newbie in the vegan kitchen, this seems like a good choice. The book is filled with pretty pictures and there is something for everyone. From the most basic cupcakes to cupcakes I never heard of. In the front of the book is everything you need to know about vegan baking and ingredients. Those ingredients are the only downfall for me, because some things are still a bit hard to come by. That is the reason that I haven't used this book as much as I wanted. But I am sure this will be much less of an issue in the USA. I am really happy that I got this book and I hope to make many more delicious vegan treats from it because the Lychee cupcakes with coconut glaze I made, were so good! I dare to say they were even better than a lot of non vegan cupcakes I made in the past. So don't be shy! Give it a try :)
Other cupcakes I want to try include the pistachio rosewater cupcakes, coconut lime cupcakes, chocolate and vanilla marble cupcakes and chocolate cherry creme cupcakes.

Purchase links: The Book Depository
Challenges: Foodies Reading Challenge, Cookbook Challenge.
Other reviews: The Broke and the Bookish,
If you have reviewed this book and want your link here, please leave a comment with the link, and I will add it :)

And of course here is the recipe for those delicious Lychee Cupcakes!


Lychee Cupcakes with Coconut Glaze (makes 12)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 5 tbsp ground flaxseeds
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1/4 cup coconut milk
- 1 can (115gr) lychee fruit, drained and chopped, syrup reserved
- 1/4 cup lychee syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla extract

Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners (I forgot to do this ;) ) In a large bowl sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. In a separate bowl beat ground flaxseeds with 6 tbsp water with a fork until gelatinous. Add oil, coconut milk, chopped lychees and lychee syrup to the flaxseeds and mix to combine. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients, mix to combine. Fill the cupcakes liners full and bake for 22 to 25 minutes in a pre heated oven at 350F (175C) until a toothpick comes out clean.

Coconut glaze:
- 2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
- 1/4 cup coconut milk

Mix sugar and coconutmilk until smooth. Pour over the completely cooled cupcakes.

This post is part of Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Hop over to get inspired by a lot of yummy food posts.

18 comments:

  1. These cupcakes look beautiful! The Pisatchio Rosewater Cupcakes, as well as the others mentioned, sound amazing also. This cookbook sounds like it takes cupcakes to a sophisticated dessert. Thanks for sharing! Hope you enjoy your week.
    Rebecca @ The Key to the Gate

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  2. Those are beautiful! I love lychees but never thought to bake them in a cupcake. I bet they are delicious with the coconut flavors.

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  3. Your cupcakes look so cute!! I don't like lychees but the book sounds great and the list of cupcakes you mentioned made my mouth water :)

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  4. This is very cool and I'm pinning it. I've just discovered one of my new friends is vegan (I'm not), and I want her to be able to eat at our friend gatherings, too! Thanks so much.

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    1. I am not vegan either but I do like to experiment with vegan recipes. And I figured that if I can do some vegan baking every now and then, it saves a lot of eggs :)

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  5. Pretty! I love your little stars on top.

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  6. The lychee cupcakes look wonderful. I'm not a vegan, but the Pistachio Rosewater Cupcakes sound amazing.

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  7. the chai latte ones call to me. Great sprinkles. They are my favourite part of baking or any dessert.

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  8. Lychee cupcakes -- never imagined those before. Yours look yummy!

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    1. To be honest I wouldnt have either. But I like lychee and I like coconut so I thought, why not try it :) Also because it is one of the easiest recipes in the book :)

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  9. Lovely post - love lychees. Have a great week.

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  10. I have never tried vegan baking, but these cupcakes sound tasty. What a unique flavor!

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  11. Okay those cupcakes look and sound perfectly delicious--I love exotic flavors. And would you believe I have all of the ingredients on hand?!? Trying to think of a good excuse to make these...

    The Pistachio Rosewater ones sound equally divine.

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    1. I hope that if you make them, you will enjoy these as much as I did :)

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  12. Everyone likes cupcakes! That hazelnut raspberry combo sounds good.

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  13. Ah, cupcakes. I've never tried vegan baking, but I'm glad those lychee cupcakes worked out. The flavor combinations in this sound amazing! Thanks for sharing.

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  14. These are so darn cute! I've never tried vegan baking before either. Do you need the flax seeds?

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    1. Yes you really need them. Flaxseeds combined with water replace the eggs in the recipe. But I didn't taste the seeds at all :)

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