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!

Plants: Succulent, Cilantro, and a Cactus

Plant update:  4 surviving, 2 dying.

The shiso plant I bought earlier is dying of consumption by caterpillars, and the chives plant is dying of unknown causes.  They do not look like they are going to be able to make the trip to college with me.

In order to give my remaining succulent some company, I bought another succulent, cilantro, and a cactus with one of my many Target Gift Cards.  I'll have to see how they fare.  However, I hear that succulents and cacti are extremely hard to kill.  I just hope that the cilantro lasts long enough for me to eat with some instant ramen noodles!

Chinese Scallion Pancakes

I first tried these delicious Chinese Scallion Pancakes sometime in my early childhood.  After having them again at a friend's Dumpling party for which I made animal cracker cupcakes, I decided to try to make them on my own.  It's a really simple recipe that tastes so deliciously fried.

Chinese Scallion Pancakes:

Makes 1 pancake

Ingredients:

1 cup flour 

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup chopped scallions

canola oil for frying

Directions:

Mix together water and flour.  Knead dough until soft.  Let dough sit in bowl for at least 30 minutes.

Roll dough flat with a rolling pin.  I rolled on wax paper for easy cleanup.  Sprinkle on scallions and a drizzle of oil.  Knead again, making sure to press in escaping scallions.  Roll flat, into a circular pancake shape.

Coat the bottom of a frying pan with a thin layer of oil.  Place thin pancake into pan and sprinkle on some salt.  Fry on first side for about 3 minutes, flip and continue frying for another 2 minutes.  I then removed the pancake from the frying pan and let some of the oil drain out on a paper towel.  Enjoy!

Rice with Mushrooms, Cuttlefish, and Artichokes

This delicious recipe is what I made for dinner a couple of weekends ago as part of the Daring Kitchen challenge dishes. The Daring Kitchen is a society of bakers and cooks that agree to make a special challenge dish determined monthly and post about their struggles and successes on their blogs. I heard about the Daring Kitchen when I was reading different cookbook reviews, and thought it sounded like a lot of fun.

The August Daring Cooks Challenge is Rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish, and artichokes from José Andrés’s TV show called Made in Spain.

Rice with Mushrooms, Cuttlefish, and Artichokes

serves 4

Ingredients:

4 artichoke bottoms (I got mine from a can)
12 mushrooms (button or Portobello)
1 bay leaf
1 glass of white wine

Sofregit (see recipe below)
2 cuttlefish
2 cups of rice (short grain preferred)
4 ½ cups water
Saffron Threads OR 1/4 teaspoon tumeric

Sofregit - (a well cooked and fragrant sauce made of olive oil, tomatoes, garlic and onions; it would also work well as a spaghetti sauce)

Ingredients:

5 large tomatoes, chopped
2 small onions, chopped
5 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 bay leaf
Salt
Cumin
Dried Oregano

Directions:

Put all the ingredients together in a frying pan and sauté slowly until all vegetables are soft. Taste and salt if necessary.

Make the Sofregit before you start preparing the cuttlefish.

It was really a challenge for me to figure out how to cut up and prepare the two cuttlefish I purchased from my nearest Japanese supermarket, but luckily my sister’s Cooking Mama Nintendo DS videogaming expertise helped me out. After pouring over dozens of online squid cleaning tutorials, my sister simply tells me to:

1. pull off the head,
2. pull out the backbone,
3. cut off the top fin

4. peel off the skin

5. cut flesh/prepare as deisred

because that's how we do it in Cooking Mama!

Now I have a lot more respect for Cooking Mama! It’s more than just a fun game for kids; it can teach you how to cook!

Back to the recipe:

Cut the cuttlefish in little strips. Add 1 or 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and put the cuttlefish in the pan. Cut artichokes in eights. Clean the mushrooms and cut them in fourths. Add a bay leaf, artichokes, and mushrooms to the pan. Sauté until artichokes turn golden. Add white wine so all the solids in the bottom of the get mixed. Add a couple or three tablespoons of sofregit and mix to make sure everything gets impregnated with the sofregit.

Add water/fish stock and bring it to boil. Add all the rice. Let boil for about 5 minutes in heavy heat. Add some saffron thread to enrich the dish with its flavor and color. Stir a little bit so the rice and the other ingredients get the entire flavor. If you’re using turmeric or yellow coloring, use only 1/4 teaspoon. Turn to low heat and boil for another 8 minutes (or until rice is a little softer than “al dente”) Put the pan away from heat and let the rice stand a couple of minutes.

Allioli - (Spicy Garlic Sauce – A really great non-butter garlic bread spread!)

I actually made this sauce before I started cooking the cuttlefish. It takes a while longer than one might think if you do it by hand with a mortar and pestle; however, some people have made this using a food processor and that seems to work, too!

Ingredients:

4 garlic cloves, peeled
Salt
Fresh lemon juice
1 cup of olive oil

Directions:
Place the garlic in a mortar along with the salt. Using a pestle, smash the garlic cloves to a smooth paste. (The salt stops the garlic from slipping at the bottom of the mortar as you pound it down.) Add the lemon juice to the garlic.

Drop by drop; pour the olive oil into the mortar slowly as you continue to crush the paste with your pestle. Keep turning your pestle in a slow, continuous circular motion in the mortar. The drip needs to be slow and steady. Make sure the paste soaks up the olive oil as you go. Keep adding the oil, drop by drop, until you have the consistency of a very thick mayonnaise. If your allioli gets too dense, add water to thin it out. This takes time—around 20 minutes of slow motion around the mortar—to create a dense, rich sauce.

To plate this dish, give a generous helping of rice with extra sofregit and Allioli sauce on the side!

Keryn's Kale Chips

Today Keryn showed me a recipe for tasty Kale Chips! They're crunchy, salty, delicious, and nutritious!

Keryn's Kale Chips:

Ingredients:

1 head of Kale

Sea Salt

Olive Oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250°F. Wash Kale.

Remove leaves from stem and place on large baking sheet. Lightly sprinkle on sea salt. Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil on hands and mix into the salted kale. Put baking sheet in oven and bake for 40 minutes or until crispy.

Mushi Manju (Steamed Japanese Pastries)

I made Mushi Manju with my grandmother with our secret family recipe. While I can't give away the recipe on my blog, I wanted to share the manju-making technique.

Make walnut sized balls of azuki bean (sweet red bean that you can find canned or in pouches in a local asian market or cook yourself).
Mix together manju ingredients. (Secret recipe, but at least I have a picture)
I also have my first instructional video that shows my manju making technique!

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

No doubt you've heard me mention the cupcake cookbook titled Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World in several of my past posts, from the green tea cupcakes to a classic chocolate cupcake, and several others yet to come. I highly recommend buying this cupcake cookbook, even if you are not vegan because it has some truly great recipes and ideas mixed in with other mediocre ones.

The chocolate cupcake and green tea cupcake recipes are definite keepers, while the golden vanilla cupcake and carrot cake cupcake recipes still need some tweaking. I haven't had a chance to work through all these recipes yet, but the first few chapters about exciting cupcake ingredients like agave syrup and experimentation with different soy, rice, and almond milks is a reason in itself to buy this book. The chocolate tofu mousse recipe is another one of those odd gems that you find in this book. Some people will love it and others will hate it, but it's one of those recipes that you can tell people about for years to come.

If you need any further urging to go out and buy this cookbook, just take a look at any one of the amazing visuals that accompany most cupcake recipes. Cupcakes in these pictures look so delicious that you'll instantly forget any vegan labels and feast your eyes on the mouthwatering delights before your eyes.

This is a must have cookbook for all cupcake bakers.

Green Tea Poppy Seed Cupcakes

This recipe is another variation on the green tea cupcakes I made earlier. I didn't bother with frosting since I'm trying what I can to perfect the cake part of the recipe to add to my list of favorites. This time, I used a slightly different recipe, modeled after the tangerine-almond cupcakes. Unfortunately I didn't have any soda on hand; I'd like to try green tea cupcakes with either 7-up, Sprite, or Ginger Ale.

Green Tea Poppy Seed Cupcakes
Makes 11 cupcakes

Ingredients:

¾ cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup soy yogurt
1/3 cup soymilk
3 teaspoons matcha powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°F. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, stir together sugar, yogurt, and soymilk. Add matcha powder and vanilla. Sift in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in two batches, mixing well after each addition. Fold in poppy seeds.

Fill cupcake liners ¾ full, and bake for 20 minutes.