Where the Wild Things Are Cupcakes

In honor of the movie, Where the Wild Things Are, and for a friend who sold me a mini-fridge, I created these lovely little Max's and wild things.

Because sometimes it seems like dorm kitchen=fail, especially when you try to bake vegan cupcakes, and someone is roasting steak on the oven rack below (but more on this later), I went over to CCA to bake. Since the CCA kids are expected to cook all their own meals, they have an amazing kitchen setup.

The recipe is my usual altered chocolate cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, with peanutbutter-based frosting, cashews, and twizzler candies as hair.

September 2009 Daring Cooks Challenge

Indian Dosas

Serves 4

This month's challenge was hosted by Debyi from The Healthy Vegan Kitchen. Thus, the major requirement was that this dish had to be free of animal products. That means no cows milk, butter, meat, poultry, fish, chicken/beef broth, etc. This dish is also 99% oil free, using only what you need to keep the dosas from sticking, which isn't too bad with a nonstick pan. It's healthy, vegan, and delicious!

This recipe comes in 3 parts, the dosas, the filling and the sauce. It does take awhile to make, but the filling and sauce can be made ahead and frozen if need be. You can serve them as a main course with rice and veggies, or as an appetizer.

Ingredients:

Dosa Pancakes
1 cup (120gm/8oz) spelt flour (or all-purpose, gluten free flour)
½ tsp (2½ gm) salt
½ tsp (2½ gm) baking powder
½ tsp (2½ gm) curry powder
½ cup (125ml/4oz) almond milk (or soy, or rice, etc.)
¾ cup (175ml/6oz) water
cooking spray, if needed

Dosa Filling

5 cloves garlic
1 onion, peeled and finely diced
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 green pepper, finely diced (red, yellow or orange are fine too)
2 medium hot banana chilies, minced
2 TBSP (16gm) cumin, ground
1 TBSP (8gm) oregano
1 TBSP (8gm) sea salt (coarse)
1 TBSP (8gm) turmeric
4 cups (850gm/30oz) cooked or canned chick peas (about 2 cans)
½ cup (125gm/4oz) tomato paste

Coconut Curry Sauce

1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic
½ (2½ gm) tsp cumin, ground
¾ (3¾ gm) tsp sea salt (coarse)
3 TBSP (30gm) curry powder
3 TBSP (30gm) spelt flour (or all-purpose GF flour)
3 cups (750ml/24oz) vegetable broth
2 cups (500ml/24oz) coconut milk
3 large tomatoes, diced

Dosa Pancakes
1.Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, slowly adding the almond milk and water, whisking until smooth.
2.Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Spray your pan with a thin layer of cooking spray, if needed.
3.Ladle 2 tablespoons of batter into the center of your pan in a circular motion until it is a thin, round pancake. When bubbles appear on the surface and it no longer looks wet, flip it over and cook for a few seconds. Remove from heat and repeat with remaining batter. Makes 8 pancakes.

Coconut Curry Sauce

1.Heat a saucepan over medium heat, add the onion and garlic, cooking for 5 minutes, or until soft.
2.Add the spices, cooking for 1 minutes more. Add the flour and cook for 1 additional minute.
3.Gradually stir in the vegetable broth to prevent lumps. Once the flour has been incorporated, add the coconut milk and tomatoes, stirring occasionally.
4.Let it simmer for half an hour.

Garbanzo Bean Dosa Filling

1.Heat a large saucepan over medium to low heat. Add the garlic, veggies, and spices, cooking until soft, stirring occasionally.
2.Mash the chickpeas by hand, or in a food processor. Add the chickpeas and tomato paste to the saucepan, stirring until heated through.

Use coconut and cucumbers as garnishes, and enjoy!

Cooking in the Dorms - A Delicious Chocolate/Kidney Bean/Tofu Cake

Continuing to blog while living in the college dorms was more concerning to me than fears of going somewhere new to start a new chapter of my life.  Where would I obtain access to a stove and oven?  It all seemed like a lot of fuss and hassle.

However, it can be done.  Using the communal kitchenette on the first floor of my dorm building, some friends and I had a delicious experience baking a chocolate vegan cake using a modified version of the Black bean chocolate cupcakes with tofu frosting based on the ingredients we could find.

How we obtained our ingredients is rather exciting.

We bought miniature sized four, sugar, and canola oil from the store, along with baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips.  Confectioner's sugar, vanilla, and maple syrup was borrowed from fellow college students.  Visiting friends were able to provide cake pans, spatulas, utensils, and pots in which to mix our ingredients.

In order to save money, we used my meal points to buy takeout from the dining commons.  Unfortunately, the dining commons was all out of black beans by the time we got there, so as a last minute decision, we decided to substitute kidney beans.  (Our options were: kidney, soy, or garbanzo beans)  We filled a box full of tofu and kidney beans, and a cup full of soymilk.  I couldn't help but smile at the other college kids shooting us funny looks.

We did have access to a food processor, but we forgot to bring it with us when a group of us, en masse regrouped in my dorm room.  Thus, we decided to mash the kidney beans by hand, instead of in a blender.

Mashed kidney beans plus wet ingredients. (above)

(below) Dry ingredients and wet ingredients.

While the cake was in the oven, we started on the chocolate tofu frosting.  

Again, sans-blender/food processor, we had to resort to mashing the tofu by hand.  It took significantly longer than expected to achieve a fine enough texture.

At this point, we realized we didn't have enough pots and pans to set up a double broiler for the chocolate chips AND hold the tofu, so we switched over to a tupperware.

Double broiler on the stove, full of melted chocolate.

The cake was such a hit that I didn't even have a chance to take a picture of it before people started eating.  You wouldn't be able to guess that the secret ingredients are kidney beans and tofu.  This cake is perfect for a late night dormitory snack, coupled with some delicious vegan ice cream!

Both my vegan and non-vegan friends present absolutely loved this recipe.  Although I was initially a little concerned about using kidney beans as replacement for black beans, it worked out well!

Kiwi-Raspberry Smoothie

A delicious treat on a hot summer day.

Makes 1 smoothie

Ingredients:

1 cup seedless grapes

2 kiwis, halved, and quartered.

2 scoops Raspberry Sorbet

5 ice cubes

Puree grapes in blender.  Add kiwis, and blend again.  Add Raspberry Sorbet and ice cubes and blend until desired consistency is reached.  Add a kiwi slice on top as a garnish.

Daring Bakers August Challenge: Dobos Torte

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus:  Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

The Dobos Torta is a five-layer sponge cake, filled with a rich chocolate buttercream and topped with thin wedges of caramel.  It was invented in 1885 by József C. Dobos, a Hungarian baker, and it rapidly became famous throughout Europe for both its extraordinary taste and its keeping properties. I made this recipe with a good friend of mine who is an extremely experienced baker.  While I liked its rich chocolate flavor, this recipe was almost too labor intensive for the two of us to complete.  Needless to say, it's a great recipe to try once, but perhaps only once.

Dobos Torte:

Serves 12

Ingredients:

Sponge Cake Layers:

6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature

1 1/3 cup confectioner's sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

pinch of salt

Chocolate Buttercream:

4 large eggs at room temperature

1 cup sugar

4 oz baker's chocolate, finely chopped

2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

Caramel Topping:

1 cup sugar

12 tablespoons water

8 teaspoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon neutral oil (sunflower, grapeseed, rice bran, etc)

Finishing Touches:

Hazelnuts, some whole, some chopped.

Directions for the Sponge Layers:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Cut six pieces of parchment paper to fit on your baking sheet.  Trace the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan to create a template for pouring a layer of sponge cake.  Flip parchment paper over, so that food does not touch the ink of the tracing.

Beat egg yolks and 2/3 cup confectioner's sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl with a mixer for about 3 minutes, or until the mixture is thick and pale yellow.  In another bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form.  At this time, beat in remaining confectioner's sugar until stiff peaks form.  Stir 1/4 of this mixture into the egg yolk mixture.  After completely mixed, fold in remaining egg whites.  Combine flour and salt and sift into bowl in two parts, folding flour into batter.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, and use 3/4 cup of batter to fill in each template.  Place in oven for 5 minutes, or until cake is no longer sticky.  The lower baking sheet will need to bake longer than the upper sheet.  If you take out the sheets too early, the cake layers will stick to the parchment paper.  Once you remove a cookie sheet from the oven, invert cake onto a flat surface and peel off the parchment paper.  Place upside-down back onto the parchment paper to cool.  Quickly rinse cookie sheet in cold water to cool off before putting on another traced sheet of parchment paper and more batter.  Repeat for all 6 layers.

Instructions for Chocolate Buttercream:

Whisk eggs with sugar, until thickened.  Cook egg mixture in a double broiler for 2-3 minutes.  Whisk in chocolate and continue stirring for another 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat and scrape into another bowl to cool to room temperature.  When cool, beat in butter with a spatula.

Instructions for Caramel Topping:

Choose the best looking cake layer for the top, and cut into 12 slices.  Place onto another cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.

Stir sugar, water, and lemon in a sauce pan, and evaporate out the water, forming a sticky caramel sauce.  Oil a spoon to help spread hot caramel sauce over cake layer pieces and let harden.  Once completely cooled, use an oiled knife to break apart the caramel topping at the previously cut lines.  This was the hardest step for us to accomplish; the caramel just did not want to cut!

To Assemble the Dobos Torte:

On your serving platter, place a small dab of chocolate buttercream to prevent cake from sliding.  Place a layer of cake down, and cover with frosting.  Continue laying down remaining layers of cake and frosting.  Completely cover the top and sides of the cake with the chocolate buttercream, and top with the caramel topping wedges, propped up by extra frosting and hazelnuts.  Sprinkle on chopped hazelnuts for a richer flavor.

Is it candy or is it a puzzle?

During my last trip to Japan, I bought this chocolate candy themed puzzle. If you carefully read the packaging in Japanese, it states that this is a puzzle; however if you're familiar with the chocolate takenoko mushroom shaped snacks, you'll notice the box looks very similar to that of a Japanese snack.

Basically this is the coolest puzzle in the world.

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

These beautiful cupcakes honor Sesame Street's Cookie Monster.  His fur texture is perfected with shredded coconut, and he even has a chocolate chip cookie in his mouth!

I used a different chocolate cupcake recipe for these cupcakes that didn't turn out as well as my usual chocolate cupcakes.  Whatever kind of chocolate cupcake recipe you decide on, add 1 - 1/2 cup of shredded coconut to your batter for an interesting texture and delicious flavor.

Once you finish baking your cupcakes, let them cool completely before decorating.

These Cookie Monster Cupcakes were assembled very quickly because we used storebought Chips Ahoy Cookies cut in half, and canned white frosting which we turned blue.  You can, of course, make your own mini chocolate chip cookies and frosting, but in a time crunch, going storebought was simplest.

Ingredients for decorating:

1 can of white frosting

1 blue food coloring bottle

1 bag of shredded coconut

1 box of chocolate chip cookies (Chips Ahoy works well)

1 bag of miniature marshmallows

chocolate frosting

Mix white frosting and blue food coloring to create an appropriate hue of blue frosting.  Mix in shredded coconut, as needed, stopping when the mixture looks sufficiently hair-like.  Frost the top of cupcakes.  Cut chocolate chip cookies in half and prop up on cupcake top with extra frosting.  Place two miniature marshmallows for eyeballs, and dot pupils with chocolate frosting.

Voila!  Cookie Monster Cupcakes, great for kids of all age groups!