Vegan Cupcakes

Over Thanksgiving, I had to plan for a vegan guest, which led to find this vegan cupcake recipe. They’re pretty damn good, and for having never made cupcakes before, I thought they turned out pretty well! The one thing to note is that you should definitely find some cupcake/muffin tin liners so that the delicate cake comes out of the tin easily. You can also use parchment paper to line each of the cupcakes which not only will help you get the cake out of the muffin tin easier, but also serve as a nice little way to keep a ton of frosting on top of these things like Baked & Wired does.

Cupcakes:

• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract or more vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, I prefer King Arthur brand
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with paper or parchment paper liners.
2. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. You won't see it curdle, but give it about 5 minutes to let it work itself out. Add the rest of the wet ingredients – sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and other extract, to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients – the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain.
4. Pour into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

This is where using the parchment paper can come in handy. Initially I tried halving the amount of frosting, but it wouldn't be enough to cover all 12 cupcakes. So just be forewarned that you’ll have a little bit of frosting leftover with this (oh right, as if that’s a bad thing).

Frosting:

• 1/2 cup non-hydrogenated shortening
• 1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine like Smart Balance
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup soy milk

Directions:

1. Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
2. Add the vanilla and soy milk, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluffy.

There you have it! Cupcake goodness, right at home. Be careful and make sure you hide these the day after you've made them, or someone in your home might be having a few of them first thing in the morning for breakfast…

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As a disclaimer, I’ve covered this place before, but I felt it deserved it’s own writeup.

Baked & Wired is a little shop just off M St., the main road that cuts through Georgetown in DC. It doesn’t particularly stand out with its storefront sign, mostly discernible with the bright ass neon Barbie pink Huffy parked out front. How the hell can you miss that thing? If aliens decided to attach Earth starting with Georgetown (if aliens attacked Earth the should start with Georgetown), they’d probably see how bright this bike is and get scurred off from the intensity.

Baked & Wired's storefront. Check for cryptic Masonic writings in chalk on the brick outside.

Once you’re inside, you’ll notice that the place is split into the coffee bar on the right, and the baked goods extravaganza on the left. The coffee bar offers every sort of caffeinated drink you could want, and a host of quiches as well.

The real draw of this place, though, are the cupcakes. Pharaohs have traveled halfway across the world for these cupcakes. Michael Jackson gave up the other white rhinestone glove for the last Pretty Bitchin’ Cupcake before his passing. Axl Rose was given a charity cupcake if he promised to never to release another Guns’N'Roses album after Chinese Democracy.

True stories. That’s how good these things are.

Cupcakes make a better display that severed heads. Happy Halloween!

Jen and I popped in for our Sunday morning cupcakes. We split two between us, the Spice cupcake, which had hints of Chai, and the Pumpkin cupcake, both of which are seasonal cupcakes that aren’t in the regular rotation.

Spice Cupcake

Both of the cupcakes were phenomenal, although the Pumpkin cupcake had a better serving of frosting on top, and a much moister cake base. The Spice cupcake held it’s own, although was slightly less satisfying of the two.

If you’re ever in Georgetown or are looking for a good cupcake, I would say you’d be pretty hard pressed to find a better one that the ones at Baked and Wired. You can view them on a map here.

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Berko Bakery is one of the few places that dishes out cupcakes to Paris. The bakery, nestled deep in La Marais, boasts a raft of baked goods including cheesecakes and various tartlettes for your devouring. The bakery is attractive and modern, and everything in the store are in glass display cases, showing off their sugary sweetness.

La Marais, once known for its strong Jewish neighborhood roots, now also has the reputation of being the gay district of Paris. Rainbow flags are abundant, and Jen caught several men giving me the eyef*ck. She threatened me at several points to pawn me off to one of these men for a good baguette and some bougie brie, although luckily, I avoided being a jerk for the day, which in itself, is an incredible feat.

The mini cupcakes at Berko look amazing, with numerous flavors to entice you. However, I’d recommend against the cupcakes and getting a selection of the various other desserts at this bakery. While the cupcakes weren’t terrible, they definitely don’t hold up to the ones I’ve had here in America. The cake is a bit dry and could use a bit more butter, only remedied if you’re lucky enough to pick one of the cupcakes with an additional filling underneath the cream cheese frosting.

American Cupcakes. F*ck yeah!

The mini cheesecakes there, however, look artery clogging good, and in retrospect I wish I had been more greedy and ordered the other desserts there. If you’re passing by, definitely eat in, as the cupcake carriers don’t do a good job of ensuring your baked goods get home with even the most careful carrying back home. Seriously. It was a nine cupcake pileup in the box when we got back to our hotel. The owner at Berko has a pretty good sense of humor, so be prepared for a little test of your French speaking skills. We were only treated to being spoken to in English once we agreed to purchase a nine pack of mini cupcakes, but it’s all in good fun because, really, who the fuck can be serious hawking cupcakes?

If you’re Paris and you’re walking off a tidy lunch in La Marais, stop by for coffee and dessert at Berko. View a map of Berko here.

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Let’s get to the brass tacks. Crumbs is a major player in the cupcake game, as far as I’m concerned. That’s right, I said the cupcake game. If you haven’t been paying attention to the food industry in this country right now, cupcakes have become the new hot commodity in baked sweeties, and we’re not just talking your grandmother who does it for her ‘glaucoma’. DC has seen a proliferation of cupcake and related bakeries, with names like Cakelove offering locations in Shirlington, Tyson’s Corner, and DC, while smaller shops such as Georgetown Cupcake, Hello Cupcake!, Red Velvet, TangySweet, and Baked&Wired (the omnomnivores cupcakery of choice) who each have their own rabid followers (don’t ever put your fingers in between me and a Pretty Bitchin’ from B&W).

So many choices, so little stomach space.

So it was no suprise that on this trip to NYC, we made it a point to break into the Gotham cupcake scene. The first choice was Magnolia on the West side, but promises of long lines (thanks to a featured episode on Sex & The City) with basic flavors had me searching out other places. While talking to concierge at our hotel, I noticed that there were several exchanges of cupcakes from Crumbs, who already have 13 locations in Gotham, as well as storefronts in New Jersey, California, and Connecticut. I wouldn’t say it’s a stretch that we’ll see a Crumbs opening in DC within the next few years as well. What I really liked about this shop was the uniqueness of their cupcake flavors. 30 flavors to suit pretty much anybody’s tastes, and if you can’t find one you like, well, you should just go back to sucking rocks and slurping mud with the other cave dwellers. I instantly targeted the Signature size Key Lime cupcake, which I estimated to be about 1000 calories of artery clogging ecstasy, while Jen opted for the 12 mini-cupcake “Sampler of Dietary Doom”.

The 501 Madison Avenue shop has a convenient public seating place just around the corner, seated next to a soothing public waterfall. Just ask the staff and they’ll gladly direct you there with your baked goods. And don’t tell them that the omnomnivores sent you, because they’ll have absolutely no clue what the hell you’re talking about. Just go, and enjoy the ride.

A Key Lime Signature Cupcake, about to meet its OMNOMNOMNOM