Something Familiar

Sometimes you grow tired of trying something new.  Sometimes you just want to do something that you've done several hundred times before.  It's more than just cognitive memory, it's kinesthetic, muscle memory.

That's just what I did this past weekend.  After 3 weekends of vegan baking, I decided to bake some non-vegan triple chocolate chip cookies.

And all was right in the world.  More vegan baking experiments to come, including another recipe from Vegan Cookies.

A Certain Chocolate Sandwich Cookie is Vegan?

So, I wanted to do another recipe from Vegan Cupcakes, and I came across a variation of the chocolate ones I made last week.  Cookies and Cream cupcakes.  Sounds awesome I thought, but the authors recommended a vegan brand of chocolate sandwich cookie, so out of curiosity I looked at the ingredients of the popular brand, and they're vegan!

This recipe is the same as last week, with one variation.  Add 1 cup of cut/crushed cookies to the batter.  Bake as normal.

Now for the icing, I used the vegan vanilla buttercream recipe in the book.  Same as the other recipe, but more vanilla extract and no cocoa powder.

Stir in crushed cookies (I used my mini food processor) and now it's ready for cupcakes.

Once they're cooled.

I decided to ice with a knife, make it look good and rustic.

And the taste was pretty good.  I put too much sugar in the icing, but hey, it was still pretty tasty!  Enjoy everybody!

Baking for Profit

Money.  Can it buy happiness, no, but it can buy something very tasty.  Whenever I go out for food, or shopping and I notice that someone is selling cupcakes, I am intrigued.  For one thing, they always look beautiful, for another they can range from $3-$5, and finally, sometimes, the flavor isn't all that great.  I have frequently bought a cupcake because it looked fabulous, only to be disappointed by the taste.  I have also frequently in those situations thought "I could make this so much better at home," or "Whomever baked this used too much or not enough of X or Y."  Or, I taste cupcakes to see if I can reproduce the flavors I like in my own recipe.  I have been told by friends, family and coworkers alike that I should sell my cupcakes, or as one friend told me "Buy a food truck, I'll drive it around Albany, profit!"

Ever since I started this blog, I have been thinking more and more into baking more professionally.  Actually, to be fair, before I moved to Albany, I considered going back to school not for my current professional path (teaching), but for pastry.  I have never baked anything for money, except for bake sales.  However, in this industry, cupcakes seem to be a popular medium, and it's something that's easy to decorate and deliver.

I already work full time, and I certainly can't afford to open a bakery, nor can I buy a food truck for the purposes of a cupcake delivery system.  But lately I've been thinking of adding a section to this blog so my readers could place an order if they wanted to.  And with the vegan baking I've been doing, I could even provide tasty treats to those with dietary restrictions as well!

There's just one problem...my kitchen.

It's small.  There isn't a lot of counter space, and I don't need an inspection to know it's not up to code for food service.  However, there's also the option of renting a space for the purposes of baking.

Churches and community centers are an option, as well as non-profit groups who might have a home base for food prep.  I asked a friend of mine if one of the kitchens where she is staying is up to code for the purposes of baking as food service.  Hopefully I could rent this space for whenever I have an order, and then I could have a part time baking business.  Let's see if anyone is interested in acquiring baked goodies from me first, then I guess it's time to think of a business plan.

Vegan Baking take 2.

A cupcake.  This is the first vegan baked good I tried from my sister.  I've had vegan cakes in the past, and they had been dry.  Very dry, like you need a tall glass of soy milk dry.  But these cupcakes were moist, fluffy, and didn't taste vegan in the slightest.  The recipe I'm using for my second vegan baking experiment is the "Basic Chocolate Cupcake" from this book.  The icing is from it too!

I did a double recipe, so I started with 2 cups of soy milk

and whisked in 2 Tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar.

This had to sit for a couple of minutes so the soy milk cold curdle.  I didn't know soy milk could curdle, and it curdled in 30 seconds.

Mix in 1 1/2 cups white sugar

2/3 cup canola oil and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

Beat until it's frothy.

In another bowl, sift 2 cups of flour

2/3 cups coca powder

1 tsp baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt.

Combine the dry and the wet, I did it in three batches.

Looks like cake batter!

Pour into muffin pans lined with cupcake liners, and bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Can I say that these are the prettiest cupcakes I have ever made?  Seriously, they are the most perfect looking cupcakes I have pulled out of the oven that DIDN'T come from a box mix (it was a dark time in my life...I try not to think about it).

Now for the icing.  This is also vegan, and from the same book.  I decided to make chocolate icing.  Beat together 1/2 cup each of vegetable shortening, and vegan margarine.  Yes, margarine sometimes has whey in it, which is NOT vegan.

Beat in 1 cup cocoa powder.

Then gradually add a box of confectioner's sugar.  While beating this in, mix in 6 Tbsp of soy milk so it remains an icing.

Perfection, and it tastes like pudding!

Time to ice the cakes, and I decided this was the moment to try out one of my new baking toys!

Let's see, load it up, and squeeze.

A little extra came out, making some cup cakes look like they were covered in poos.

And others looked nice!

And the taste?

Excellent!  They don't taste vegan!  They are rich, chocolatey, and so awesome to eat.  My latest vegan baking adventure was definitely much smoother than the first.

I hope you're enjoying the vegan baking as much as I am, and I hope you like this recipe!