Zombie Cupcakes

Today Leryn and I tried our hand at making up an Okinawan Sweet Potato cupcake recipe. Okinawan Sweet Potatoes are special because they are naturally purple, but they taste similar to the average sweet potato you can find at your local supermarket. To put it simply, these cupcakes did not turn out as planned, but with some tweaking, I'm sure I can get the recipe right in a few more tries!

1 cup Okinawan Sweet Potatoes, mashed
4 oz vanilla soy yogurt

I started with baked Okinawan Sweet Potatoes. After removing their skins, I mashed them with a fork. Then, I added 4 oz soy yogurt to make a light purple mixture with the consistency of mashed potatoes.
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup applesauce
1/6 cup canola oil

I added this purple mixture to 2/3 cup flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup applesauce, and 1/6 cup canola oil. Up until this point, the recipe was turning out as expected. Leryn and I were quite excited to sample the batter which tasted delicious!
A connundrum awaits.

Most of the vegan cupcake recipes that I have made use baking soda to give the cupcakes a cakey texture, in the absence of eggs. Baking soda releases CO2 gas when reacted with acid, creating the desired cakey texture. Thus, I decided to add 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar to 1/2 cup soymilk in order to balance out the baking soda.

The fridge had just been stocked with rice milk, so I decided to make an experiment. After adding 2 teaspoons of baking soda and 1 teaspoon of baking powder to the batter, I separated my purple mixture into three portions.

The first:
Straight up okinawan sweet potato cupcake batter.

The second:
Batter with 1/2 cup soymilk, 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar added.

The third:
Batter with 1/2 cup ricemilk/rice drink, 1/2 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar added.

It was after mixing these three side batches that the trouble began.

Leryn noticed that the batter was reacting with something I had just added and turning a deep green color. Surprised, I realized it was the baking soda. However, I'm not sure why our cupcakes changed color; I just know they did. Dismayed as we were, we trudged on.

The muffin tin in the oven holds rice milk cupcakes on the left, soymilk cupcakes in the middle, and no milk cupcakes on the right.


And this is how they ended up. Cupcake graveyard status. They are green zombies that taste a lot better than they look.

Starting at the far left, going clockwise we have: Okinawan Sweet Potato cupcake with no milk; soymilk cupcake with extra flour; soymilk cupcake; rice milk cupcake; rice milk cupcake with extra flour.

Obviously the addition of milk was a problem, as these cupcakes exhibit classic no-egg swamp sinkage vegan cupcake syndrome.

That, and the slight problem of my cupcakes turning from purple to green. Perhaps next time I will try without baking soda and only baking powder. Or perhaps I will try with less of each.

But there will be a next time, and it will be better.
I can assure you of that!