Vegan with a Vengeance

I could never be a vegan. I like cheese, milk, and butter way to much to cut them out of my life forever. I even tried being a vegetarian for a few years in high school, but on a family vacation to California we stopped at an In-N-Out Burger and all bets were off (that's right, I ended a year-long red meat ban for a double-double and a strawberry milkshake). Regardless of how strong my love of meat and dairy may be, there is something so sexy about vegan to me. It screams healthy, green, and downright cool. Perhaps this desire to be vegan is what prompted me to buy Vegan Cupcakes. Aside from getting pretty good reviews and adding enough to my amazon.com cart for free shipping, I was enticed by the idea of vegan baking. This week, Julia is spending the week with us and it seemed like an idea time to bust out the vegan cupcakes.

We decided to try the "Sexy Low-Fat Vanilla" cupcakes with raspberry topping. Unfortunately, our spirits were crushed when the first pan came out looking like runny craters. We were so mad and slowly went through the recipe trying to figure out where we went wrong.
As it turns out, we added 1 2/3 c. milk instead of 2/3 cup, a mistake made more than once in my pyrex measuring cup (last time it resulted in watery, weak taco meat). Determined that we could do better, we tried another batch. This time everything came together and we ended up with perfectly cooked cupcakes.

As much as I love baking and art, ne'er the two shall meet in the form of cake decoration. I have no icing skills whatsoever and usually end up with the usual made from mix, canned icing, crummily iced cupcakes that the 2nd string room mother might bring to the valentine's party. I also hate frosting, so when the book suggested using a fruit topping, I thought it was brilliant! After the cupcakes cooled, we spread a thin layer of fruit preserves, then stuck raspberries on the top. We then drizzles a confectioner's sugar and soymilk glaze over the top and, voila! Beautiful cupcakes that wouldn't be too embarrassing to take to work!

Truthfully, if pressed for time, you could even make cupcakes from a mix and just decorate them with the fruit (I'm thinking kiwis and strawberries next time), but the vegan came through on flavor as well. The cupcakes were much moister and had more depth of flavor than a Betty Crocker could provide. Adding fresh fruit to the top also adds a really fresh, summery taste to the dessert. We're trying the Cookies and Cream cupcakes later this week :).

Product recommendations: Vegan Cupcakes