My sweet Audrey

My little big one, Audrey turned 2 on November 28th. Unfortunately her and Ava had been sick with a nasty cold for a few days so it was a little miserable for her. She had zero interest in her dinner and spit it all out or wiped it all over her face. And when the delicious Boston cream cupcake came out, she didn’t even taste it. So I thought I would share a couple of my favorite pictures from that night and a recipe!

Here’s my little messy faced Audrey and Ava, who looks a little devilish after the candles are blown out. This picture just makes me smile because Audrey is just SO out of it, and Ava just looks……kind of evil.

And here she is with her cupcake and no idea what to do with it. It comes from partially being sick and us not feeding them sweets very often.  But Ava is old enough to know what to do with a cupcake, after all she has been around the birthday block more than Audrey.

Brooklyn vs Boston Cream Cupcakes
Recipe from ‘Vegan cupcakes take over the world’ by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

Cupcake ingredients:

1 C soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 C all purpose flour
2 TB cornstarch
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C non-hydrogenated margarine softened or 1/3 C canola oil
3/4 C granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract, caramel extract or more vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Whisk soy milk and vinegar together in a measuring cup and set aside for a few minutes to curdle.

Sift flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl and mix.

In a separate bowl use a hand-held mixer at medium speed to cream the margarine and sugar for about 2 minutes until fluffy. Beat in vanilla and other extracts, if using. Then alternate beating in the soy milk mixture and dry ingredients, stopping to scrape the bowl a few times.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake 20-22 minutes until done. Transfer to a cooling rack.

Vanilla Vegan Pastry Creme:

1/2 C soy milk
1/2 tsp agar powder, or 1 1/2 tsp agar flakes (this is a sea vegetable and can be found in the Asian aisle at the store near sushi supplies and tofu)
4 tsp arrowroot
6 ounces soft silken tofu (about half a package of Mori-nu) gently pressed to remove excess water
1/3 C superfine sugar
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Pour 1/3 C soy milk into a small saucepan, keep the remaining milk in the measuring cup. Sprinkle agar powder over the top of the soy milk in the sauce pan and cook mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and reduce heat and continue for about 4 minutes. The agar will be dissolved and the soy milk will be smooth and a spoon dipped into the mixture doesn’t have any undissolved agar flakes or powder sticking to the spoon.

Whisk the powdered arrowroot into the remaining soy milk in the measuring cup. Pour the arrowroot mixture into the agar mixture in a steady stream, stirring the whole time. The mixture will cook and get very thick in 1 to 2 minutes and when done it will look like thick pudding. Remove from heat and set aside. Place it in the refrigerator and allow it to set for at least one hour.

Crumble the tofu into a blender, add the sugar, salt and cooked arrowroot mixture. Blend til creamy. Add vanilla extract and blend again. Scrape the micture into a covered container  and put in the refrigerator to chill and firm up, at least one hour.

Chocolate ganache topping:

1/4 C soy milk
4 ounces semisweet chocolate chopped
2 TB pure maple syrup

Bring the soy milk to a gentle boil in a small sauce pan. Immediately remove from heat and add chocolate and maple syrup. Use a rubber heatproof spatula to mix the chocolate until it is fully melted and smooth. Set aside at room temperature until ready to use.

Assembly of cupcakes:

Make a hole in the center of each cupcake by poking with your finger. Very gentle wiggle your finger inside the cupcake to make the hole larger.

Fit a pastry bag with a large round or star tipped nozzle, then fill bag with firmed Vegan Vanilla Pastry Creme. Fill the bag only halfway to make it easy to handle.

Fill each cupcake with pastry creme, trying to get as much filling as possible into the cupcakes. The cupcakes should feel heavier when filled. Remove any excess filling on top by wiping with a knife or your finger. Spread the tops of cupcakes with the chocolate ganache topping. Chill for an hour before serving.

**If you have any questions about the ingredients or about making these, feel free to email me or leave a comment here. These are SUPER yummy, fluffy, rich, dense and just plain good! I hope you try them, and if you do then let me know!**

Filed under Audrey, Ava, Family |