Vanilla and blackberry
May 17, 2011 Cupcakes Bakery
This weekend was filled with baking! First on Saturday, I went to a friends house and we spent the afternoon baking. I learned how to make focaccia bread (thanks Heather!) and then we made lemon-meringue cookies from Joy the baker. I love her blog, its awesome! Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures. I know, for shame!
My friends are very supportive of my cupcake baking. I really appreciate their encouragements, advice and constructive criticism. One of my friends (*cough* Jacob *cough*) has been asking and bugging me to make this particular cupcake for another friend, Evelyne. Since she’s leaving Vancouver, I caved agreed and finally did it. So here it is, Evelyne’s Cupcake: vanilla and blackberry! Below is the recipe for 16 cupcakes.
cake:
- 3/4 cup of butter
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbs + 1 tsp of vanilla extract
- 2 cups of flour
- 2 tsp of baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup of cream
- 1/2 cup of milk
method:
- preheat the oven to 350
- beat the butter until it is light and fluffy
- add the sugar and beat thoroughly
- add the eggs one at a time and beat in between each addition, then beat on high for 30 seconds
- add the vanilla and combine
- sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and combine with the butter/sugar mix
- add the cream and milk and combine until smooth
- line a cupcake pan with paper cups
- bake for 20 minutes
icing:
- 3 egg whites
- 140g of sugar
- 1 1/4 cup of butter cut in 1 inch cubes
- 1/4 cup of blackberry puree
method:
- combine the egg whites and sugar in a double boiler
- whisk a little until all the sugar is melted away and the mix is body temperature
- take off the double boiler and beat on high until cooled and turned into a firm meringue, touch the bottom of the bowl to make sure its at least body temperature
- add the butter one cube at a time while beating on a lower speed
- beat on high until you get a nice fluffy texture (it will turn to a cottage cheese kind of texture about half way through, just keep beating)
- add the blackberry puree
Look at the colour of the icing, I didn’t add any food colouring or touch it up on my computer! That’s really how it turned out!
Enjoy 
Tags: 2 Eggs, Baking Powder, Body Temperature, Constructive Criticism, Cottage Cheese, Cup Sugar, Cupcake, Cupcakes, Double Boiler, Egg Whites, Evelyne, Fluffy Texture, Inch Cubes, Lemon Meringue Cookies, Paper Cups, Pinch Of Salt, Puree, Smooth Line, Sugar Mix, Tsp
A vegan twist on a traditional soup
Jan 27, 2011 Uncategorized
An old friend of mine used to make Split Pea Soup for New Year’s Day…I think it was the Yankee equivalent of Hoppin’ John.
He stood over his giant, steaming pot of green for hours on New Year’s Eve. Stirring, testing, spicing, testing, crushing, testing…it was a labor of love for sure. At the center of this recipe, however, was a pound of salt pork.
He would cook that chunk of fat down slowly before anything else could begin. It took hours to draw all the flavor and fat out of that hunk. Even before I became a vegetarian, I thought that was just way too much work. I couldn’t be bothered.
So, I worked up my own version of Jerry’s New Years Soup.
It’s a creamy and a little spicy. It tastes great without even a hint of yucky pig parts. For those who really like the salt pork taste (some people do, ya know), you can add a couple of drops of Worcestershire Sauce and, perhaps, an extra half teaspoon of salt.
So, we’ve made what sounds like it would be a vegetarian or vegan treat into a real vegan soup and it’s ready to go in time for dinner.
Vegan Split Pea Soup
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of dried split green peas, picked over and rinsed
5 cups of water
a few pinches of smoked paprika, cayenne pepper and/or cajun spices
- Add the olive oil to a big pot over medim-high heat. Stir in the onions and salt and cook for a minute or two – until the onions are softened.
- Add the split peas and the water to the pot and bring it all to a boil. Turn it all down and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the peas are cooked through.
- Ladle half of the soup into a blender and puree that part of the soup.
- Stir the chunky soup back into the puree.
- If you need to thin the soup out with more water (or stock) do so a bit at a time.
- Ladle into bowls or cups, and serve each drizzled with olive oil and topped with a good pinch of spices. Add some lemon zest for a summery flavor.
Vegan.
Tags: Cajun Spices, Cayenne Pepper, Chunky Soup, Green Peas, High Heat, Hoppin John, Hunk, Labor Of Love, Ladle, Lemon Zest, Olive Oil, Onions, Pinches, Puree, Salt 2, Salt Pork, Smoked Paprika, Split Pea Soup, Split Peas, Vegan Soup
Mango and pomegranate
Jul 5, 2010 Cupcakes Bakery
I tried something different this week: yogurt cake. I found the recipe in Cooking from Above – Baking. It basically replaces butter with yogurt and sunflower seed oil. It was very good. I added some pomegranate seeds in the mix. It was my first time working with this fruit. I wasn’t expecting it to be so much work to get the seeds out of the fruit. I’m still not sure if I like the fruit. The seeds gave the cupcakes a strange texture and I’m not sure I will use it again. I flavoured the icing with mango puree and sprinkled some chocolate on top for decoration.
Cheers
Tags: Cheers, Chocolate, Cupcakes, Mango, Pomegranate Seeds, Puree, Seed Oil, Strange Texture, Sunflower Oil, Sunflower Seed, Yogurt
