Cupcakes!

For Christmas, my mom got me the best little $3 gift a wannabe baker could ask for: a cupcake de-middler!  Yes, I'm sure there is a more official/proper name, but I like mine.  I am always looking for reasons to bake and what better reason than this little gadget to take on a couple of filled cupcake recipes.  I knew immediately I wanted to make apple pie cupcakes, as those are my favorite from this little gem of a cupcake shop we frequented in Chicago called Molly's; if you happen to find yourself in Chicago near Fullerton & Clark, give one a try.  Unfortunately, they don't always have said favorite cupcake, as they claim it is seasonal.  I thought I could make these and then it might be a nice little treat to take with me when I visited David and his family in Iowa at the end of our break.  Then I remembered his sister is vegan, and we are always taking/sending things there that aren't vegan.  How rude of us.  So then I decided to take on a little vegan baking challenge.  I figured there was a could chance this could go horribly wrong, so I better try another recipe too, non-vegan.  I was going to go with my other favorite, chocolate raspberry, until I found a recipe for Irish Car Bomb cupcakes and I was sold.  The vegan recipe took a little piecing together as my "vegan apple pie cupcake recipe" Google search turned up few usable results.  I adapted recipes from several sites and searches that can be found by clicking on the heading of each cupcake component.  So here's what it took:

 

 

Cinnamon Cupcake

• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup + 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Apple Filling

• 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• Honey Crisp apples (about 4 medium), peeled, cored, and finely diced
• 1 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon water

Caramel Buttercream Frosting

• 2 cups vegetable shortening baking sticks
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• Caramel syrup
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 6 tbsp vegetable shortening baking sticks
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt

You might notice that the frosting links to an apple pie recipe, the same one in fact that I made for Thanksgiving at school.  My mom and I used that recipe for the caramel because the vegan caramel buttercream recipe we tried first gave a insanely complicated caramel recipe that resulted in a kitchen and living room full of smoke and having to take down the smoke detector.  We couldn't actually get the detector to turn off, which lead to my mom probably losing partial hearing in one ear and eventually I think we ended up putting it outside until the smoke had cleared.  I thought maybe the caramel might still taste OK.  It didn't.  Won't make that mistake again.  Once these were all put together, they were in fact quite scrumptious if I do say so myself.  My dad couldn't tell any difference (until I told him they were vegan and had soy milk in them, he was not happy about being "tricked").  I even topped them off with a little slice of apple.  Delish.

The Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes (click to view recipe) were slightly less complicated, except for deciding whether or not it was worth it to buy a whole bottle of Jameson and Baileys for 24 little cupcakes (it wasn't).  So they weren't technically car bombs, but close enough.  I bought the Baileys as I decided it was essential for the frosting and I also ended up substituting it in the ganache for the 2 tsp of Irish whiskey it called for.  Considering what eventually happened to the cupcakes (I may or may not share this later) and said extra Guinness and Baileys, I'm glad I didn't spend the extra $20 on whiskey too.  These were topped off with just a sprinkle of chocolate baking powder, and were by far the heaviest cupcake I've ever felt, making it all the more delicious. 

I can't wait to take on another yummy cupcake recipe soon and share them with friends down here.  I even brought back some yellow, red and blue cupcake holders!