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Friday, September 16, 2011

Simple vegan cupcakes-you can lick the bowl!

When I first wanted to bake for someone who was on the low iodine diet, I searched the net for vegan recipes knowing I could use non iodized salt in anything out there.
Immature female Eastern Bluebird at my "vegan restaurant"
I came across this Allrecipes Vegan Cupcake.  I adapted the recipe to suit my tastes, what lived in my pantry, and my temporary diet restriction.   Packaged nut "milks" include sea salt.  So I made my own cashew nut "milk" adapted from here.
One of the good things about vegan batter is you can lick the bowl and utensils with no worries.  If your cupcakes are under done, they are still okay to eat! This recipe makes a moist, delicious cupcake. The flavor reminds me of a breakfast food for some reason.  You can frost them or eat them plain.  I usually drizzle them with a delicious lemon glaze recipe I found on Cookie Madness.  Anna used it on her pumpkin molasses loaves.   This time because I'm on a low iodine diet and I can't have dairy (and I was lazy!), they remained naked.  
 The "flashy" picture

Here is my adapted recipe:
1 tablespoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar (I used lemon juice)
1 1/2 cups cashew milk or other nut milk
2 cups all-purpose flour (I use 1 cup AP and one cup whole wheat pastry)
3/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon orange extract (I've only used one half so far, but I think they could use more)

Preheat oven to 350°.  This recipe makes approximately 18 cupcakes so you will need two greased 12 cup muffin pans or you can use 18 liners.

Female Ruby Throat Hummingbird at my "vegan restaurant"
Put the one tablespoon of lemon juice into a 2 cup measuring cup. Fill with nut milk to make one and a half cups. Let stand until curdled or about 10 minutes. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  In a separate bowl whisk together the nut milk lemon mixture, oil, and extract.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups filling at least two thirds of the cup.

Bake in the preheated oven until the top springs back when lightly pressed-15 to 20 minutes. (I baked mine for 17 minutes in an oven set at 345° because my oven runs a little hot)  Cool in the pan on wire rack.
Frost with your favorite frosting or icing-I like the lemon icing because it complements the orange extract in the cupcakes.

8 comments:

  1. I lick the bowl with reckless abandon regardless of the recipe (unless in some alternate reality I'm on Iron Chef making a muffin with raw chicken or something). The fear mongering that the media promotes regarding salmonella and raw eggs is astounding. In truth only 0.003 percent of eggs have any traces of salmonella (1 in 30,000). Not to mention that normal salmonella poisoning in a healthy individual is little more than a stomach flu. I would go nuts if I couldn't lick the bowl, or whisk, or shove the entire spoon in my mouth :). To me it's half the fun of baking :).

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  2. Adam, I hear you! I lick the bowls, beaters, spoons, etc also, but unlike you I always experience some trepidation..not so with this recipe!

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  3. I find it incredible that you can make something delicious with so many restrictions! You must be a genius!

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  4. Genius? Not so much, but thanks anyways!- just desperate for cupcakes!!!

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  5. Hi...just a small question, can I replace white sugar for brown sugar or honey ? any suggestions ? thanks

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  6. Hi Anonymous: I think you could use light or golden brown sugar. If you want to use a liquid sugar, you would need to reduce the other liquids in the recipe. You could try using 1/2 cup of agave light nectar (I think agave and honey are a bit sweeter than granulated sugar) or 1/2 cup honey and reduce the nut milk to 1 1/4 cups? Experiment! Agave is a good sugar substitute for some recipes and it has a low glycemic index which means it is supposed to be better for diabetics.

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  7. Hey Gloria, thanks for checking out my blog! These look soo amazing, and I have my birthday coming up this weekend--maybe I can convince one of my roommates to make these for me hehe! Thanks for showing me your veg recipes, hope we can trade more in the future!

    -Emma

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