Category: Vegan Desserts

by betsy

SpryLiving.com Features The Blooming Platter’s Vegan Peaches-and-Cream Cupcakes with Peach Butter Whip Frosting as One of the “Best”!

 

Vegan Cupcakes--Spry Living--2013Spry magazine is America’s largest health magazine, reaching 9 million readers via 600 newspaper partners across the US including the New York Daily News, Denver Post and LA Times.
As I was told when they contacted me, “Think Parade or USA Weekend with a health and wellness focus.”   The focus is positive, inspirational messages covering nutrition, fitness and beauty.
A while back, they contacted me about including my Vegan Peaches-and-cream Cupcakes with Peach Butter Whip Frosting  in “Spry Serves Up,” a feature of “best vegan cupcakes” on their companion website SpryLiving.com. It is”an extension of the print publication as well as a highly trafficked stand-alone health and wellness hub offering fresh daily content, an enormous healthy recipe database, health and wellness resources, inspiring stories and more. We currently have 7 million unique visitors (and growing) per month.”
I’m honored to be included in their list of  “bests” and thrilled to be able to share the link with you where you will find not only my photo and recipe, but about 10 other vegan irresistables.  I have my eye on the Champagne Cupcakes in particular.  I have seen those made on Cupcake Wars and wondered if they really taste like Champagne, which I adore.  And I pledge to find out…soon!
Thanks to writer Haley Marshall and to Spry magazine and SpryLiving.com for including The Blooming Platter in their line-up!
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by betsy

The Blooming Platter’s Vegan Single-Serving Microwave “Brownikins” (My Take on a Microwaved Brownie-in-a-Mug)

Brownikins--Microwave Brownie in a MugYield: 1 serving

Okay, don’t even try to convince me that every once in a while you aren’t dying for a tiny taste of something sinful, and wish you could make a miniature little confection that is quick, easy, and not a killer in the calorie department.

Well, now you can!

NPR was where I first heard about these microwaved brownies-in-a-mug, so I certainly didn’t invent them.  But I do think I have perfected a recipe that needed a little somethin’-somethin’.  I heard the program weeks ago, but I was having a powerful craving last night, so I did a little internet research and gave it a whirl.

I inadvertently overcooked my brownie a little–it keeps cooking for a bit even after you remove it from the microwave–so go easy.  But, even so, I wasn’t 100% sold, despite the fact that the recipe I tried had something like 5,000 “likes.”

I sent the recipe to my sister, Ginny, and she made one for our brownie-loving Papa, but he thought it was a little too rich in the chocolate department.  So, back to my kitchen I went this evening, this time armed with some ideas for how to improve the brownie’s taste and texture, along with some So Delicious Almond Milk Ice Cream (vegan) and a fresh strawberry to perch on top.

YUM!  A winner!  All I needed was a name.  My dear friend Sonya Harmon calls our “little” Great Dane (she’s smaller than her mate, Huff!) “Minnikins,” and I think that is the cutest name for our little gal.  So, since these “mini” brownies are almost as cute, I thought they should be called “Brownikins.”  Thank you, Sonya-kins!

Whatever you call them, you will love them!

And, by the way, you can certainly bake them in a mug as intended, but this recipe doesn’t begin to fill the mug, and I don’t like the brownie batter smeared on the sides after whisking the ingredients together.  So, I whisk it up in a small cup and then transfer into a mini-ramekin (about 1/3 cup) for the cutest presentation ever with a melon ball size scoop of ice cream and baby strawberry.  What’s one more mug to wash?

1 tablespoon canola oil or vegan butter melted

2 tablespoons water

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour (I use white whole wheat)

2 tablespoons natural sugar

2 teaspoons cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon or less sea salt (I love that little crunch of salt with the sugar.  You won’t need much if you use salted vegan butter, but don’t omit, as it is needed for flavor.)

Accompaniments: vegan ice cream, a fresh strawberry, plus optional vegan chocolate sauce and vegan whipped topping

In a small cup (microwave safe if you plan to cook the brownie in the cup), whisk together melted butter or oil, water, and vanilla.  Then whisk in all remaining dry ingredients.  Whisk until smooth.  If desired, transfer to a ceramic mini-ramekin and cook in a microwave oven on full power for 45 seconds or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or ever-so-slightly moist.  Let sit for a couple of minutes before garnishing and serving.

Photo Note:  Sorry about the quality of the photo.  I was so excited with my creation, that I just snapped it with my phone sitting on the kitchen counter at 8 p.m.: no waiting for optimum lighting conditions!

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by betsy

Spicy Vegan Gingerbread-Cola Bundt Cake with Cinnamon-Sour Cream Glaze

DSCN0808Yield: 1 bundt cake

As I said in the card that accompanied this cake when I dropped it off to Independence Veterinary Hospital, where we have taken our pets for MANY years, “Thank you for many years of setting my mind at ease and easing me through when the news was unsettling.”

I decided to make them a little token of appreciation following my frantic Facebook message to our vet’s wife, Kim, who manages the practice, in which I said, “Minnie just ate about 10 olive pits before I took them out to compost!  Is she going to be okay?”  The answer was, “She’ll be fine,” and led to a funny–and disgusting–exchange about what our dogs have gotten into.

According to the thank you note  she wrote, “the guys”– make that our vet, Brian Hastings, and his vet tech, son and one of our beloved dog-sitters, Dusten Keith–were dubious about eating a vegan cake.  The horror!  But evidently, “they loved it too.”

And so will you!  The complex caramel-y notes of the organic cola adds depth to the flavor while the carbonation does wonderful things to the texture.  Enjoy!

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I use white whole wheat)

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon five spice powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup molasses

1 cup real maple syrup

1/2 cup unsweeted soymilk (plain would also be fine)

1/4 cup soy sour cream

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

1 cup canola oil (or other mild vegetable oil)

1 cup organic cola, such as Blue Sky Cola or China Cola (Stout beer is a tasty alternative to cola)

1 teaspoon baking soda

Cinnamon-Sour Cream Glaze (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a bundt pan.  In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, except baking soda, make a well in center, and add all wet ingredients, except cola.  Whisk to completely combine.  In a small bowl or cup, whisk soda into cola.  It will fizz up.  Quickly whisk into batter until completely incorporated.  Transfer the batter into prepared bundt pan and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove to a wire rack, and cool for about 15 minutes.  Loosen around all edges with a knife, being careful not to slice into the cake.  (I use a plastic knife, as my pan has a non-stick surface, but I still grease and flour it!)  Place serving plate over the top of pan and invert the cake onto the plate.  Let cool and then glaze if desired.

Cinnamon-Sour Cream Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon orange juice (preferably, fresh squeezed) + additional for thinning if necessary

1 tablespoon vegan sour cream

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon grated orange zest (optional)

In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients until very smooth.  Thin with additional orange juice if necessary.  Using a spoon, drizzle over cake.  Garnish with a sprinkling of grated orange zest if desired.

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by betsy

Classic Vegan Gingerbread Cake

DSCN0753Yield: 1 9-inch bundt cake

I think  I am obsessed with veganizing Cook’s Country/Cook’s Illustrated recipes!

My latest redux is their Classic Gingerbread Cake.  And it is special!

It may well be the moistest and most deeply  and complexly flavored cakes you will ever enjoy.  I credit the Guinness Stout and the fresh grated ginger, among other things.

Find my recipe HERE at One Green Planet!

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by betsy

The Best Vegan Flourless Chocolate Cake with Revolutionary Vegan Whipped Cream–my first recipe published on VegNews!

Okay, I didn’t call my Flourless Chocolate Cake with Whipped Cream the best.  Someone else did…

The Praise

When my new long-distance friend and fellow (amazing) Vegan Heritage Press cookbook author, Bryanna Clark Grogan (World Vegan Feast and others), was helping me test the recipes for this dessert, she served it to friends, one of whom said, “This is the best ——- cake I’ve ever eaten!”  That’s good enough for me!  And I trust it will be for you too.

The Back Story

Back in my pre-vegan years in Nashville, I did some moonlighting as a catering assistant for my dear friend Monica Holmes at her award winning Clean Plate Club.  She made what can only be described as a transcendent Flourless Chocolate Cake.  Since this type of cake contains no flour, the batter relies on eggs for structure and lift.

I knew there had to be a way to veganize it, but the recipes I’d researched, including from people I respect in the field, looked and sounded like vegan chocolate cheesecakes made with tofu or they contained beans and appeared a bit dry with a crackly top, or they actually included some flour.  I’m sure all are delicious, but they aren’t what I wanted.

The Cake

I wanted something as dense, moist, silky and rich as the original.  And that’s what I got, but not until I had baked the cake about 5 times (and made the cream about 7)!  At least. The first try was an unmitigated disaster.  But it had potential, and that just spurred me on to redouble my efforts.  Meanwhile, the generous Bryanna, in British Columbia, was doing the same with the recipe revisions I’d send her, and we were comparing notes.  Bry, I love you for many reasons, including your help with this feat o’ chocolate and cream!

My version of the cake is, indeed, based on tofu, but it has some “secret” ingredients responsible for its fabulousness which you are sure not to confuse with cheesecake.  It’s its own brand of wonderful.

The Revolutionary Whipped Cream

And the cream, well, it is truly revolutionary.  At least, I could find no similar recipes online.  As you can see in the photo, it is a beautiful thing to behold. Plus, it is fat-free, cholesterol-free, soy-free, gluten-free (if your extracts are gluten-free), and low calorie!  Not only that, but it is delicious and a breeze to make.

For a very long time, I had been thinking that there had to be a way to make homemade vegan whipped cream from one of the vegan creamers.  I love both savory and sweet cashew cream, but it is a little heavy and thick, calorie laden, and distinctively flavored.  Ditto coconut cream aerated in one of those n2o cartridge-powered whippers. 

My cream is delicious with a creamy-fluffy, even billowy texture, and a more neutral flavor (but by neutral, I don’t mean bland!).  You will love it on all of your desserts that call for a whipped topping. The base is coconut milk creamer.  But can you guess the secret ingredient that makes the magic happen?  Funny story about the coconut milk creamer: I purchased it, disappointed that my grocery store was out of soymilk creamer.  But what a happy accident!  It turns out that the recipe ONLY works with the coconut milk creamer.  With soymilk creamer, you get something akin to pastry cream instead.

The Recipe and Thanks to VegNews

Many thanks to the brilliantly talented and generous food editors et al at VegNews for publishing these recipes in “What’s Cooking” online.  Please click right HERE to be taken directly to their site for both.  And while you’re there, if you haven’t already, enjoy all the good things VegNews offers its readers on a daily basis.

Happy Thanksgiving

I’m posting this recipe now just in case you, like me, are offering chocolate for the first time for Thanksgiving.  But, personally, I think the winter holidays are the dessert’s time to shine, dressed up with a little pomegranate seed bling, as in the photo, or a bit of crushed peppermint.  In the summer, it has to be raspberries.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

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by betsy

Red Wine Reduction for Grilled Peaches

Yield:  8 servings (1/2 to 3/4 cup sauce)

In August, Joe and I joined his sisters, Terri Ann and Tina, and their families for a short vacation in Ocean City, N.J.  (Our 14 year old niece, Gabriella, who is about as far removed from “Snooki” as one can get–thankfully!–does a great imitation.)  The DiJulios spent part of the summers there throughout their lives and, now that both of their parents are deceased, have vowed to keep the tradition alive.

Family dinners are part of the tradition so, late one afternoon on the way home from a bike ride, Terri Ann and I couldn’t resist the Jersey peaches at a local market.  Dinner was a grilled affair (marinated tofu for me) with my husband, Joe, in charge, so he put the peach halves on while we enjoyed dinner including Jersey corn and tomatoes plus sauteed kale from who knows where.

Before we sat down, I joined forces with Terri Ann (a good cook in her own right) and her husband’s son, Curt (a partner with Bonefish Grill who knows his way around a kitchen) and created a luscious, glistening, and not-too-sweet Cabernet sauce for the peaches.  We all gave it a can-I-please-have-some-more? enthusiastic thumb’s up!

I served it over a plain grilled peach for me, but added a little scoop of peach yogurt that was in the fridge for everyone else, omnivores all.  But, if you like, you can forget all the formalities and just eat it from a spoon!

Hopefully there are still a few summer peaches available in your neck of the woods, but if not, the sauce would be delicious over, say, grilled bananas, perhaps pears, vegan pound cake or ice cream (or both!), etc.

1 1 /2 cups Red wine (we used Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet)

2/3 cup sugar

Bring both ingredients to a gentle boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat, and simmer gently until reduced by about one-half to two-thirds.  You should have about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sauce.  Remove from heat.  Reduction will thicken more as it cools.

Serve over grilled peaches with or without a dollop of vanilla or peach vegan yogurt.

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by betsy

Fresh Raspberry-Champagne Vegan Buttercream Frosting

Yield: enough to generously frost 12 regular cupcakes or a single-layer cake

School started on Monday with an in-service week for teachers, so I made these beauties for a few of my teacher friends to wish them a “sweet” start to a new school year.

What a hit they were!  One teacher wanted the recipe, one said they were “three minutes of uninterrupted heaven,” another sent me a text saying, “Awesome cupcake,” and still another said he was quite sure it was the best cupcake he had ever eaten!  And, by the way, all of these teachers are omnivores.

What makes them so special?  Well, the vanilla cupcakes from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World are darn good.  But the cupcake-frosting combination is out of this world.  Truly, it was the frosting that sent everyone over the moon: fresh raspberries that I marinated in champagne!  Actually, they were from a sangria recipe I created with Prosecco (I was testing a recipe for a major project that, fingers crossed, will come to fruition).  But, for the purpose of recreating the frosting without having to make sangria first, I figured out the correct proportion of Prosecco and sugar.  The flavor is bursting with berry freshness and a little tangy zip, but there is a subtle depth and complexity about it too.

These cupcakes are pretty enough for a wedding, but it would be a shame to save them for such rare occasions.  Bake up a batch and make any day special!

1/2 cup sparkling wine (I use Prosecco, but champagne would be lovely too)

3 tablespoons natural sugar

1 cup fresh raspberries

2 tablespoons vegan butter

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

2 tablespoons vegan cream cheese

5 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

The day before you plan to make the frosting, marinate the berries: in a small bowl, dissolve sugar in the sparkling wine, add berries, stir well, cover, and refrigerate for 24 hours.  To make frosting, cream butter, shortening, and cream cheese with an electric mixer until fluffy.  Add the powdered sugar, a cup at a time, starting the mixer on slow and gradually increasing the speed so that you don’t coat yourself in sugar.  After you’ve added about 2 cups of the sugar, drain berries and add all of them with another cup of sugar, beating well.  Don’t be alarmed if mixture looks curdled; it will smooth out as the remaining sugar is added.  Continue beating and adding remaining sugar and vanilla until the frosting is thick and creamy.  You may find that you need more or less of the sugar in the marinade, as well as in the frosting, depending on how sweet and moist the berries are, respectively.  So adjust as you see fit.  Use the frosting immediately or refrigerate until ready to use.  I like to pipe swirls of frosting on top of the cupcakes using a pastry bag before garnishing with white nonpareil pearls for a very feminine look (I purchase the pearls at our local Kroger).  However, a fresh raspberry perched on top , perhaps with a mint leaf, would also be lovely.

Note: I recently saw some Oreos (they’re vegan in the U.S.!) with a berry filling!  So pretty in pink.  I’m thinking that the frosting would be absolutely scrumptious between two chocolate wafer cookies, no?

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by betsy

Go Dairy Free Just Published My Vegan Lemon Verbena Cupcakes with Orange-Almond Butter Cream Frosting!

Find the back-story and simple recipe for these cupcakes  HERE. 

And if  you don’t have lemon verbena growing in your garden, run, don’t walk, to the nearest garden center or farmer’s market.  It has become one of my favorite herbs: pretty, versatile, and easy to grow!

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by betsy

Vegan Kahlua-Spiked Chocolate-Almond Cupcakes with Coconut-Espresso Buttercream Frosting

Yield: 2 1/2 dozen miniature cupcakes

Where did May go?  I feel that I’ve been out of touch for so long, and that was not my intention!

I had the flu for the first two weeks of the month, and it was all I could do to get myself to school and home.  And, I guess, by the middle of the month, we were deep into testing, final assignments, end of year celebrations and, come the first of June, the creation of exams and oh-so-much-more in preparation for graduation which is only a week from tomorrow!  The last days of school are absolutely breathless!

Speaking of breathless, these fabulously decadent cupcakes will take your breath away!

They were inspired by the irrepressible Kisha Marie, Starbucks barista and beaded jewelry designer extraordinaire.  I love starting my day with an exchange of greetings, ideas, and news with Kisha.  Her exuberance is infectious.  And, I swear, she has my Green Tea Soy  No Syrup Frappuccino started before I even arrive!

Every so often, my local Starbucks where she works offers free tastes from a big carafe.  A recent Kisha Marie concoction gave rise to my newest favorite cupcake: a blend of iced Via concentrate, coconut syrup, and soymilk.  Mmmm…  She always gets the balance of flavors,  consistency, and color exactly right.

Though there is no chocolate in her signature beverage, I thought the chocolate cupcakes would be a perfect foil for the coffee and coconut in the frosting.  Yes, indeed! And the Kahlua?  Well, who needs to justify coffee liqueur?  I just have to remember not to spike them when I share with my students!

But I did share them with all my pals at Starbucks.  The cupcakes received a latte praise (sorry, I couldn’t resist), though Kisha recommended that I use Via instead of my standard espresso powder.  I’m sure she’s right about that.  Next time!

1 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup natural sugar

1/3 cup finely ground almonds, plain or toasted for deeper flavor (use a food processor to achieve the consistency of an almond meal)

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt (table salt is fine, but I love sea salt even in baked goods)

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (or canola oil)

1 cup chocolate almond milk (chocolate soymilk may be substituted)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

5 tablespoons Kahlua or other coffee flavored liqueur for brushing tops

Coconut-Espresso Buttercream Frosting (recipe follows)

Optional garnish: 30 chocolate-covered coffee beans, sliced almonds, or a pinch of plain or toasted coconut

Line 30 mini-muffin cups with mini-muffin papers.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl, stir together all dry ingredients.  In a small bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients except Kahlua.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture.  Stir both together until the batter is smooth, though a few small lumps may remain.  Using a small scoop, divide batter evenly among the lined muffin cups.  Bake for 20 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted in the center of one cupcake comes out clean.  Check at 18 minutes to avoid over-baking.  Remove muffin tins to wire racks to cool.  When cool enough to handle, remove cupcakes from the tins onto the racks in order to prevent them from continuing to cook.  Prick each cupcake a few times with a toothpick and brush the tops with up to 1/2 teaspoon Kahlua each.  Spoon the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a star tip and pipe in swirls on top of each cupcake.  Or simply spread the frosting on each cupcake with a dinner knife, spoon or offset spatula.  Garnish as desired and serve immediately or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Coconut Espresso Buttercream Frosting:

6 tablespoons vegan butter (I like Earth Balance)

6 tablespoons vegetable shortening

3 cups powdered sugar

4 teaspoons espresso powder dissolved in 4 teaspoons unsweetened or plain soymilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons coconut extract (extract is preferred over coconut flavor, though the flavor will do if you can’t find extract)

Cream together butter and shortening until smooth.  Beat in powdered sugar, one cup at a time, alternating with the espresso and soymilk mixture, until smooth and creamy.  Start electric mixer on low so as not to coat yourself in sugar.  Beat in vanilla and coconut extracts until completely incorporated.

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