Baking Season is Back!

This may or may not be a good thing. I do love baking but I actually think I may have a problem... sometimes I end up baking just to bake! My recent obsession with foodgawker has led to finding several new recipes, so this weekend I picked two to try out: White Spice Walnut Orange Cupcakes and Brie and Pear Tarts.

It's not often that I follow a recipe exactly, especially when it includes a seasoning that I don't think I like (such as cardamom) but I decided to give it a shot with these cupcakes. I don't often bake with eggs either, but I thought I'd really try to hold true to the recipe. To be honest? They were ok, but not fantastic. Sometimes I feel like I must be missing out on something great by not eating eggs in baked goods (i.e. typically eating vegan baked goods) but whenever I step outside of those restrictions I usually feel let down. Truthfully - I think eggless baking is just as good, and it creeps me out so much less!

The absolute best part of this recipe is the frosting though - it is absolutely delicious! Although I do recommend cutting the frosting recipe in half - I have no idea who would need so much frosting! I think I was pretty generous and I still had a bunch left with only half of the recipe! Next time I think I will just make vanilla cupcakes and use this frosting.

This Brie and Pear Tart was one of the first recipes I added to my favorites on foodgawker and I have been itching to make it ever since then. I don't have a real tart pan, so I decided to make two individual tarts with these ceramic dishes I have instead. I pretty much followed this recipe exactly too (other than changing the dimensions of the tart)! I used a basic butter pie dough (minus the sugar) for the crust, Willamette Valley Brie, and two different kinds of pears. I couldn't get mine to look as pretty as the picture in the recipe, but I think it turned out pretty well in the end! Next time I'd use a little less sugar (I skimped a little already with this recipe) and definitely more brie - the piece we bought was really kind of small for this recipe.

Hope I'm not alone in my baking inspiration now that the weather is colder! If you're in need of new recipe ideas I highly recommend foodgawker - such a fantastic way to browse!

-C

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Yesterday while browsing The Pioneer Woman's website I saw she had posted a recipe for Red Velvet Cake and with it a link to The Best Frosting Ever. I'd recently had a long conversation with my coworker about frosting and how sometimes it can be a little gritty or overly sugary even with powdered sugar, so I was really intrigued by the fact that this frosting recipe used granulated sugar and claimed to be exceptionally creamy and smooth. How could that be? I kept thinking about this frosting recipe for the rest of the afternoon.

Then, while flipping through my Joy of Vegan Baking cooking, Jonathan pointed to the recipe for chocolate cake and asked if I would make that. Perfect! Now I have a valid excuse for making frosting too! Of course I said yes (who says no to chocolate cake!?) and got started. This chocolate cake recipe really is insanely easy. It didn't require me to do any weird egg substitutes or even to use soy milk! I don't always have soy milk around because I usually eat oatmeal for breakfast and not cereal so this deters me from a lot of recipes. I also didn't need an electric mixer to mix it which I thought was convenient. I'll get to the recipe in a minute though. Now on to the frosting - it truly was smooth and creamy with no hint of the sugar granules! It did require an awful lot of beating (15 minutes?) and I'm still not positive I did it long enough, but the taste was very good! It was almost whip cream like and not overly sweet. I'm not a huge frosting fan, so I really enjoyed that. You can find the recipe on Tasty Kitchen here.

As for the chocolate cake - it was moist, not crumbly (which I find happens with a lot of vegan baking), and delicious. I can't believe I hadn't made this sooner - it will now be my go to chocolate cake recipe!

Vegan Chocolate Cake
From: The Joy of Vegan  Baking
1 1/2 Cups Flour
3/4 Cups Sugar
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Cup Cold Water
1/3 Cup Canola Oil
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
1 Tbs White Distilled Vinegar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (or if your oven likes to burn things, like mine, heat it to ~325 degrees).
2. Grease and flour a 9" cake pan - I used a springform pan to ensure the cake would come out without breaking - set aside. You could skip this step by using muffin liners and making cupcakes too.
3. Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt until well combined.
4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the water, oil, vanilla, and vinegar in the center. Whisk until just combined.
5. Pour into your prepared cake pan and put it in the oven - bake for 25-30 minutes. (The recipe says 30 minutes, but even with my oven turned down mine was done at 25 - just keep an eye on it).
6. If you have the patience to let it cool and you like frosting, frost it with the best frosting ever recipe linked above! I realize this would no longer make it vegan - but if you eat dairy products and are still terrified at the sight of raw eggs then this whole recipe should work out great for you.  :)
7. If your frosting looks a little suspicious still and you're not sure if you should keep beating it you can sprinkle on chocolate chips like I did to detract from it!