Cooking with Abandon

from How It All Vegan! by Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer

Charming Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup molasses
1 cup soy milk (I used 1/2 cup plain, 1/2 chocolate)
2 cups chocolate or carob chips (use more if you like a really chocolatey cupcake)
6 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract (since I have a deep love of vanilla, I usually use twice the called for amount)
4 Tbsp cornstarch
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
cupcake liners

Directions: Preheat oven to 375˚F. In a small saucepan, whisk together the molasses, 1/2 cup of the milk, and the chips. Cook on medium heat until chips have melted, stirring constantly with a spoon. Add the oil, vanilla, cornstarch, and stir until well mixed. Remove from heat and set aside. In a medium bowl, sift the flour and baking soda together. Add the remaining milk and the chocolate mixture and stir. Spoon into cupcake paper liners and bake for 15-20 minutes (for me, it was closer to 15 minutes than 20, so start checking at 15 mins). Test with a knife to see if done. Cool and frost.

Other bits o' stuff: The original recipe says it makes 6 cupcakes, but it definitely made more like 20 for me. I'm pretty sure I followed the recipe perfectly except for the vanilla. If I had to, and probably will, do it again, I would definitely add more molasses and more chocolate chips (maybe even some cocoa powder). I'd also reduce cooking time since I burned half of them from cooking them 17 mins.

Now onto the frosting!

Nut Butter Icing (doubled)
6 Tbsp margarine
1 cup dry sweetener (I used sugar in a food processor to make powdered sugar. Sugar is a vegan no-no because it's filtered with animal carbon. I didn't have any other choice though since sugar was all we had. Boo.)
2/3 cup peanut butter or other nut butter
4 Tbsp soy milk
2/3 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Mix together the margarine, sweetener, and nut butter. Add milk and mix well. Stir in nuts last, if using.

I used the whipping blade on my stand mixer to make it all nice and fluffy. And I usually have to play with the sweetener/milk combination a lot to get it the consistency and flavor that I like.

Final thoughts: I wanted to see how my father-in-law reacted to the cupcakes since he's already stated that he's not into vegan foods. So I didn't tell him they were vegan and let him help himself to the cupcakes. After he took a big ole bite and said that he thought they were really tasty, I said, "They're vegan! Woo!" He was surprised. Later he came downstairs and said, "You sneaked me that vegan stuff. It was pretty good though."

p.s. I'll add a pic of the cupcakes when the camera battery isn't dead! :(