Jerry en mange

Strawberry Daifuku, the second challenge

2008-04-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

There were a few things I learned from my first experiment making strawberry Daifuku.
First of all I had too much mochi and it got harder to form as it got colder. Besides that it was simply difficult to form and took too much time for each daifuku.

This is the modified version but it'll still need to be adjusted, so don't follow quite yet...
-mochi
1 cup glutenous rice flour
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup water
-bean paste
1 can of white bean (Lazy me! Next time I should do this properly by cooking my own bean, preferably Azuki bean )
1/4 cup white sugar

8 strawberries

-Steps
1. Canned bean has to go through a strainer. (this took some time)
2. In a pot, melt the sugar with some water at medium heat, adding the bean. Mix well.
3. Keep stirring until it reaches to the desired consistent (in this case, it could be quite dry)
4. Move to another container and place a plastic wrap to avoid drying the surface, wait to cool.
(540 ml can gave me about 1 1/2 cup of bean paste this time. I ended up using the half for 8 daifuku. The other half is in a freezer)

5. Wash and dry strawberries.
6. Make a ball with some cooled bean paste (about 1 Tbsp) and a strawberry.
7. Prepare Mochi.
8. Form each Daifuku.

----After thoughts: Over all it was good, but the skin tasted too thick. I ended up with 8 Daifuku but it could've been 10 instead. Mochi stayed warm until I finished forming, adding two more wouldn't be too much of a problem. The bean paste tasted alright, but it's not my favorite. I think I should just get some Azuki bean and prepare it by myself next time. Hopefully after the third try I will have a final recipe which is "perfect"...

Strawberry Daifuku with chestnut cream

2008-03-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't made cupcakes lately...

Last month I had a dinner with some friends. One of them brought Strawberry Daifuku. She didn't make them but her Japanese friend did, who makes Japanese sweets for her friends as a small/private business. I don't know how much she paid for them but what a great idea. The strawberry daifuku was heavenly! It was tiny (two bites size) and delicate. It was very good. Since then I had the idea of making one by myself, but I was in Brazil for two weeks soon after that dinner, then I've been sick for a week since I came back from the trip, and finally I had some time to try.

For the filling, I was too lazy to make or even go to the China town to buy "anko" (sweet azuki bean paste). Instead I decided to use this half emptied jar of chestnut puree. White anko could taste like this when flavored, maybe? This was my impression when tasted it for the fist time. I love this cream but at the same time I don't know any better way to consume it very well. Sometimes I spread it on my toast, and the other week I used the half of jar to make a cheesecake which was very good. But I wish to know more recipes...

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup Glutenous rice flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup water
some potato starch

1 cup anko, red or white (for traditional style) but I used a sweetened chestnut puree (about 1/4 cup)
10 strawberries, washed and dried

Preparing Mochi (glutenous rice dough):
1. Mix rice flour, sugar and water in a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, microwave for 4 minutes.
2. Take it out immediately (at this point, the middle is still liquid) then mix it well with a spoon until smooth.

3. Cover it again then microwave for another 2 minutes.
4. Mix the mochi well again. It is ready when it is slightly transparent-like color. Also taste a small piece. If it tastes "flour" or "powder-ish", it is not ready yet, try another 1 minute. (or repeat until it's ready)

5. Spread some potato starch on your hands and on a working table, then place the mochi. Roll it to form a log, then divide into 10. Sprinkle the starch whenever it is sticky.

Up to this stage, it didn't take much time, but then...

Forming Daifuku:
I find it was very hard to form a perfectly evenly round daifuku. I can't explain how to do it. There got to be some tricks. There are professional people who make their living doing this, so this probably requires some practice. There are many websites with the instruction so I will need to do some more study/practice.

Keep the strawberry daifuku refrigerated and consume within the same day, they don't keep well.

The next time when I make this, I think I will try to make my own anko or mix the chestnut puree with white anko. It is probably easier to fold if used rounder strawberries as well. The real strawberry season will come in a few months!!!

Vegan Smoothy Muffin-Strawberry Banana

2008-03-28T16:37:00.000-07:00

A few days ago at a grocery store, there was 2 strawberry packages for $2 deal. I love strawberries. I know it is not the season but whenever I see those really cheap deals, I have to grab them and so I did. But then I forgot about them for a while in my fridge. I know I'm supposed to finish those liquidation stuffs within the same day or so. When I realized that I had them, I selected good ones for the Daifuku. Some were bruised, but still eatable.

I had one banana in my freezer. So I decided to bake some muffins. Not cupcakes? I know that making muffins is a bit more tricky but I can just mix everything with a single fork. I was too lazy to take out my electric beater...

Preheat the oven at 375 F degree. Place papers in a muffin tin. Makes 9 muffins.

Dry ingredients:
150 ml flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp brown sugar

1. Place all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix, leave it aside.

Wet ingredients: Place the following in a measuring cup in this order,
50 ml oil (I use canola oil)
3 Tbsp maple syrup
1 banana mashed
some strawberries mashed, make the whole thing reaching at 300 ml

2. Combine the wet to the dry, do not over-mix. (Over-mixing will create heavy, rubbery, hard and flat muffins that you will not love) Fill the muffin papers to 2/3 full.
Bake for 20 minutes or until they are done.

Chocolate Chip Cookies I want to try, and I did

2008-03-21T14:36:00.000-07:00

I'm not a fan of Martha Stewart, but her new book on cookies is looking really good. The cookies are categorized by textures. I'm tempted to order from Amazon because it is only $15 rather than $27 at a bookshop.
Anyway, I was doing some random search on cookies then I came across with this recipe:

Unbelievably Good Chocolate Chunk Cookies
http://wordstoeatby.blogspot.com/2004/12/best-homemade-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

I did try the recipe, just now.
I came up with about 40 something cookies, each is about 2 inches diameter (much smaller than the recipe).
Just before putting the last tray in the oven (with nine cookies on), I realized that I might have been baking them too long (about 10 minutes in my oven), dahh, wake up, me! They are just slightly chewy but more crunchy side.

The cookies puff up at about 7 to 8 minutes, and then eventually spread to be flat (2 to 3 minutes) then turn to be golden brown throughout. I decided to take them out while they were still puffed up (at about 8 minutes), before they went flat. They first looked under-baked and super soft, but eventually they set. It is very chewy in the middle (somewhat creamy and condenced), crunchy outside.

I've eaten chocolate chip cookies like this before and I used to love it! (They came in a box and each was individually wrapped. A Japanese company made them-forgot the product name but probably made by a major sweets company)

So, 8 minutes in my oven, and they have to be taken out from the oven while puffed up. This is the way it's supposed to be. I feel like I wasted most of the cookie dough for over-baking :(
Anyway, it was very easy so I will make them again. I think it is a very good recipe, it uses a lot of sugar but relatively less butter, it is failure-free. The importance is to watch out for the baking time, I think.

Instruction copied from wordstoeatby.blogspot.com
Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ t. baking soda
½ t. salt
¼ pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
½ cup sugar
¾ cup tightly packed light brown sugar
1 ½ t. vanilla extract
1 large egg, at room temperature, lightly beaten
7 oz bittersweet chocolate, cut into 1/2 inch chunks [I just used half a 12-oz bag of bittersweet Ghiardelli chocolate chips]

1) Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

2) Using a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugars on low speed until it is smooth and lump free, about 3 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.

3) Add the vanilla and egg and beat on low speed for 15 seconds, or until fully incorporated. Do not overbeat. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.

4) On low speed, add the flour mixture. Beat until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the chocolate chunks and mix until they are just incorporated. If using a hand mixer, use a wooden spoon to stir them in. Refrigerate dough for at least an hour.

5) Preheat oven to 350. Adjust racks to lower and upper thirds of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats. Spoon the dough using a cookie scooper 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. (makes about 23 3-inch round cookies)

6) Bake for 11-13 minutes [it’s 13 in my oven] or until golden brown around the edges, turning the sheets front to back and switching racks halfway through.

Remove the sheet from the oven and carefully slide the parchment or Silpats directly onto a work surface. When cookies are set, remove them to a cooling rack. Wait at least 5 minutes before serving or 20 minutes before storing in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature.

Holy Fucking Shit, these are good.

Holiday Baking Summary

2008-01-02T08:41:00.000-08:00

I had an urge to perfect my cookie baking skill over the holiday. I was specifically looking for a recipe for a super thin and crisp cookies that required no rolling dough. Simply due to my laziness, I hate cleaning mess on the table afterward, for that reason, I hardly make pies. Although I'm proud of my pie crust that is layered and flaky. Anyway, maybe someday I'll be making more pies.

So, I did some search on cookie recipes. I couldn't find exactly I was dreaming of.
Here are the cookies I made during the holiday (they are not all vegan, some could be vegan, I think):

1. Buckwheat butter cookies (modified, original recipe and the instruction found at http://orangette.blogspot.com/)

This cookie is super good. I baked twice in two weeks. The original recipe calls for "cocoa nib". I don't know where to get it. So I added some bitter sweet chocolate chips instead for the first time. It was still good but I found it too sweet. So the second round, I left out the chocolate, reduced the sugar, and increased the buckwheat ratio. The taste is more simple, but I like this way better. I'm thinking the next time I bake this, I can even reduce more sugar, probably to 1/3 cup sugar.

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
½ lb. unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Bake at 350°F for 12 minutes

2. Almond Blondie
I was feeling kind of scared how fast my sugar jar was going down because of all the cookies I have been making. The original recipe calls for 1 cup sugar, and I reduced to the half, which was a big mistake. I like the flavor of whatever it turned out, but to be honest, it is far from what blondie is supposed to be, in my opinion.

8 Tbsp Margarine, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 cup sliced almond
1 tsp almond extract

Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes

3. Almond Lace Cookie (Oatflakes - "Havreflarn") http://www.pasht.net/scandinavian/Fav3.html

Now, this one was really fun to bake. I came across to this when I was looking for a thin crisp cookies that I can drop and bake.(no rolling) I followed the recipe carefully this time except that I didn't have "oat flake" so "rolled oats" was replaced, and that I only had a half cup of it, so the recipe was reduced to the half. When it is in the oven, it really spreads fast as it bubbles like crazy. I was glued to the oven, fun to watch. I like the texture and all but find it too sweet. It is almost like caramel. I wonder if there is any way to reduce sugar without affecting the end result...probably there isn't...

1/4 cup melted margarine
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg (lightly beaten)
1 Tbsp of flour
1 tsp of baking powder

Bake at 350°F for 6 minutes

4. Swedish Lace Cookies (which I modified so much that it wasn't no longer what it was supposed to be)
But anyhow, I really liked the taste. The cardamon is the key, really a nice touch. I can't even remember how I modified, but I know that since I didn't have bran flakes, I just added 1 cup of flour instead, or something stupid. Oh, also added was 1/4 cup of sliced almond. The cookie turned out flat and a bit soft. I wanted to be flat and crisp...

The original recipe is at http://www.cooksrecipes.com/cookie/swedish_lace_cookies_recipe.html
1/2 cup margarine
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
3/4 cup bran flakes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5. Peanut butter cookies (I can not find any photo of it...)
The original recipe is at http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Oatmeal-Peanut-Butter-Cookies-III/Detail.aspx

This is a good recipe, very easy and quick. The cookies are light and very good, resulting eating too much of them.
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup quick cooking oats

Vegan Jasmine Tea Cupcake

2007-12-01T11:28:00.000-08:00

I have eaten Jasmine flavored ice cream long time ago, and if I remember correctly the texture was between ice cream and sorbet. It was extremely delicious. I like jasmine tea served with DimSum, but at home when I make some for myself, I always add some a bit of vanilla added soy milk.

The cake turned out ok, but I'm not too crazy about it. I was expecting more intense Jasmine flavor.
The cake sticks to the paper and does not come out easily. Maybe the tea should be less than half a cup, it seems that it lacks in fat. Maybe more oil to add...The recipe needs a serious improvements!

Cake:
Basic vanilla cake recipe, replacing only the liquid>3/4 cup strongly brewed tea + 1 Tbsp vinegar + milk makes 1 cup
Also added was 1 tsp Orange Blossom water, but the flavor seemed somewhat disappeared...

Icing:
1 Tbsp strongly brewed tea
1 Tbsp flour
5 Tbsp Almond milk (or other milk)
3 Tbsp Vegetarian Shortening
5 Tbsp Powdered sugar
2 tsp crushed Jasmine tea

Cook the first three ingredient over at low heat, constantly mixing. Eventually it becomes like custard cream. Remove from heat and wait to cool down a bit. Add the rest and with an electric mixer, beat until it is hard and creamy.

Vegan White Sesame and Rosewater Strawberry Cupcake with Strawberry Glaze

2007-11-24T11:16:00.000-08:00

I love strawberry & rosewater combo. This time with some white sesame seeds to add some rich flavor, but to be honest I'm not sure if it really fits. I think this could go without it. Dried strawberries are added to the dough.

The glaze is made by:
1Tbsp margarine
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp rosewater
2 Tbsp of strawberry syrup (my friend gave me a jar of strawberry jam which was very watery, but delicious)

The pink glaze is girly, and tastes good...

Vegan Black Sesame Cupcake with Vanilla Icing topped with White Chocolate

2007-11-11T11:06:00.000-08:00

Very long title...

I made this when I had some friends over for dinner. A day earlier, I stopped for a church bazzar in my neighborhood. This two layered plate thing (thought it was perfect for English afternoon tea themed party) for $2! Wow, cheap. I brought it home and my boyfriend told me this was for a religious ceremony...is that so? in anyhow, the cakes looked very cute.

Vegan Lemon Cupcake with Lemon Tarragon Icing

2007-11-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

Tarragon?! It does go well with lemon! Delicious.

Vegan Gluten-Free Chinese Five Spice Cupcake with Crystal Ginger Frosting

2007-10-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt baking gluten-free cupcakes. The dough turned out to be a little thick, but the cake came out of the oven beautifully. The only thing I'm concerned; the unsmooth top! I wonder, should the liquid need to be more, or is it because of the buckwheat flour again? I have baked gluten-free cakes (without buckwheat flour) before and the dough was usually more watery. I will have to readjust this for the future, but anyway, the cake is fluffy and moist, with a little chewy feeling. It is not very sweet and so the sugar could be 1/2 cup or more, instead of 1/3 cup.

*The sponge became much harder the next day. So, this is something to be adjusted for the next time, I don't know how yet...

Cupcake (makes 12):
-dry
3/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
2 Tbsp Arrowroot flour
2 tsp xanthan gum
1/3 cup coco
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp Chinese Five Spice
-wet
1/3 cup sugar
100 ml olive oil (a little less than 1/2 cup)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1Tbsp vinegar + rice milk = 1 1/4 cup

Direction:
preheat the oven at 350 degree.
Place papers.
1. Mix vinegar and milk, leave it aside.
2. Measure all the dry ingredients, mix well, leave it aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine sugar, oil, and vanilla. Beat well with an electric mixer.
4. Slowly introduce the milk mixture into "3". This will be very watery, but keep beating.
5. Add the flour mixture at once, beat well. There is no gluten so no worry for over-beating. The batter will be smooth.
6. Divide the batter into 12, filling about 2/3 each cup. Bake for about 20 minutes.
Frosting:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp shortening-room temperature
2 Tbsp margarine-room temperature
roughly 6 crystal ginger (leave 2 for the topping-each cut in 6)
a few drops vanilla essence
1 to 2 Tbsp milk

Direction:
1. Mix shortening and margarine with a fork, add the powdered sugar.
2. Add vanilla. Mix well while introducing a little bit of milk at a time.
3. When it reaches at a nice creamy texture, mix in the chopped crystal ginger.
4. Decorate the cakes when cooled.

Vegan Banana Cupcake with Chocolate Almond Butter Glaze

2007-10-08T10:58:00.000-07:00

I was expecting this cake to be more dense and heavy but it turned out to be very very light. I even feel it is rather dry a little.
The buckwheat might have contributed greatly for this light texture. I hardly smell any cardamon, so the next time I will add more of it, or cinnamon could be a good replacement. The batter was very thick, compared to my other ones.

Cupcakes: (makes 12, 350 degree for 18 to 20 minutes)
1 cup flour
2/3 cup buckwheat flour (2 Tbsp tapioca flour)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cardamon

1/3 sugar
1/3 olive oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp almond essence

1 1/2 banana mashed + rice milk + 1 Tbsp vinegar = 1 1/4 cup
1/4 cup dried coconut

Chocolate Glaze:
40 g chocolate
1 Tbsp almond butter
2 tsp shortening
2 Tbsp powdered sugar
a few drops of Vanilla and almond essence

Vegan Orange Cranberry Cupcake with Rum Glaze

2007-10-03T10:52:00.000-07:00

Cranberry and Orange combo is my favorite.
This cupcake is very fluffy and moist.
It tastes even better a day later as the dried cranberries becomes more moist.

Cupcakes:(makes 12, 350 degree for 18 to 20 minutes)
1/3 cup almond four
1 1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup olive oil

1 Tbsp vinegar + rice milk = 1 1/4 cup

Grated orange rind (1 orange)
1/4 cup dried cranberry

The rum glaze...

Vegan Strawberry Basil Cupcake

2007-09-30T13:44:00.001-07:00

I followed the Basic vanilla vegan cupcake recipe, substituting 1/3 cup with cornmeal, and about half a cup of sliced strawberries & 1 tsp dried basil were added.

Very moist and fluffy. No frosting this time...

Vegan Black Sesame Cupcake with Fake Cheese Frosting with Green Tea

2007-09-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

I love black sesame. I'm trying to find what could go well with it, though. I looked some Japanese dessert sites, and there were some with green tea, hmm, maybe they are a good match. There are other recipes with chocolate. That could be good too. I think I just have to do some experiments.

ingredients for the cupcake (makes 12):

1/3 cup black sesame (roughly ground) + flour makes 1 and 2/3 cup
1 tsp Baking Soda and Baking Powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Vinegar + Rice milk makes 1 and 1/4 cup
100 ml oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

direction:
preheat the oven at 350 degree.
Place papers.
1. Mix vinegar and milk, leave it aside.
2. Measure all the dry ingredients, mix well, leave it aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine sugar, oil, vanilla, beat well with an electric mixer.
4. Slowly introduce the milk mixture into "3". This will be very watery, but keep beating.
5. Add the flour mixture at once, beat quickly for about 10 seconds, scrape off the side once and then beat for another 5 seconds. The batter will be smooth.
6. Divide the batter into 12, filling about 2/3 each cup. Bake for about 18 to 20 minutes.

The cake turned out to be amazingly soft and fluffy, full of sesame flavor. I like it as it is, this doesn't really need any frosting, in my opinion. But to make it a little fancy, a thin layer of dark or white chocolate might be good...
===
The fake cheese frosting turned out to be somewhat acceptable, but not sure if I like it or not. Definitely the choice of tofu was wrong; I used the hard tofu because that was all I had. The result was too rough. And maybe the lemon should be reduced, or not used at all. I list what I did with it anyway for my own purpose, but this really needs more experiments, so please don't follow the recipe yet...

ingredients for the vegan cheese icing with green tea:
1/4 cup hard tofu
1/2 cup powder sugar
1/4 lard
1 to 2 Tbsp lemon juice (or just plain soy milk might be better)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp green tea/sencha (+ 1/2 tsp matcha)

direction:
Blend tofu with some lemon using a hand blender. Then in a separate bowl, with a fork, mix lard and sugar, slowy adding the tofu mixture until the right consistency.

Vegan Vanilla Cupcake for BD

2007-09-03T11:42:00.000-07:00

This was almost a month ago, I went to my friend's BD party.
One cupcake with a stick of candle, that was a small gift for him. We never got to fire up the candle, sing the BD song nor made him blow it. I missed the right moment to do any of it, as I knew nobody there except the BD boy and two of my friends. Oh well...

For the first time I got to use the piping tube kit thing I just got recently. It is fun. I used to use it when I was small but it was such a long time ago.

The icing is a standard vanilla icing:

1/4 cup margarine (room temperature)
1/4 cup vegetarian lard (room temperature)
1 cup powder sugar
some vanilla
(and I like some almond essence and a bit of rum added)
and some soy milk

Just mix everything above with a fork and gradually add the milk until the right consistency.

Piping Tube

2007-08-10T11:58:00.000-07:00

After baking vegan cupcakes for more than half a year, I decided that I wanted good looking cupcakes.
I got tired of using the ziplock bags, or just a plain bumpy looking icing top.

So I went in to a store on St-Laurent, near Prince-Arthur. They look very old and junky but they sell a lot of cooking utilities.
Just behind the cashier I found what I wanted. There were individual piping bags (fabric) that were about $6, rings for $1 to 2, also many choices of tips from $2 to 5, depending on sizes, it seemed. I knew I wouldn't need too many kinds of tips, but even with the bag and one kind of tip would cost me close to $10. Then I found this small kit thing for $7 which seemed to be a good deal. I decided to give it a try.

Vegan Rosewater Pistachio Cupcake with Velvet Vanilla Frosting

2007-07-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

This recipe comes from the book called "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World", the book just arrived last week. I modified a bit as I did not have any soy yogurt. Even though I already knew how to bake vagan cupcakes, I enjoy this book very much. I brought it with me to my boyfriend's aunt's cottage one weekend, and read through the whole thing by the lake! There are a lot of mouth-watering beautiful cupcakes introduced in this small book. The frosting is also from the book, I find the process was very interesting. It is sort of like, first you prepare eggless custard and then beat with butter(vegan, of course!) and sugar. Surprisingly, it works. The great thing about this is that it is less sweet, has larger volume, and super creamy.

I don't know what happened but the cake did not rise enough. :(
Anyway, the rosewater & pistachio combo gives a special romantic flavor, perfect for a small cake like this.

Vegan Raisins Cupcake

2007-07-06T09:21:00.000-07:00

This reminded me of the steamed cupcakes I had when I was small.
Very simple, but I loved them. There weren't many fancy sweets out there that time.

I added 1 Tbsp rum, to give some flavor. But this could've been 2 Tbsp.
I'm a little self conscious on my waist these days. I love my yoga pants for its amazing stretchyness and comfyness. I get used to this over the weekend, then when Monday comes, all my jeans feel too tight, I hate this.

So, sadly, I'm skipping the frosting to cut down some calories.

red surprise

2007-06-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

The pea plant has this red thing!

Soon later, these red things opened...!!!

When you buy some green onions from supermarket, they usually have their roots growing. My friend told me to plant the bottom part, like the part you usually toss if you do not have a compost. It works! They are growing, well, slowly. I'm hoping that I do not have to buy any more green onions during the summer!

Vegan Rosemary Cupcake

2007-06-23T05:02:00.000-07:00

The cake came out somewhat dense, not very fluffy :(
The cake usually reaches to the edge of the paper and rise over, but it didn't :(
I might have mixed the dough too long since the lumps didn't seem disappearing. It was my mistake. It's been a while and I could easily forget how small details should be adjusted.

Nonetheless, the flavor is very settle and pleasing.

(After learning that I could grow baby rosemary by just planting its branches into soil, I cut off three branches (about 20 cm) and took off the bottom leaves, leaving about 1/3. The branches are still in water since yesterday, I have to get a proper pot. )

I added about 1Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary and lemon zest into the basic vanilla recipe. The rosemary leaves could be added more, maybe. I didn't use any lemon juice, but could be used as well.

growing high

2007-06-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

The thundershower this afternoon was like the one we see in tropical islands. It showered at 45 degrees really hard for about 20 minutes, gradually slowed down, then soon after the sun appeared again. It's been very hot so it was a nice surprise, well, for me at least. I was luckily being at home and watched people running hard toward the gazebo in park across from my apartment. It seemed very crowded there.

The pea is growing very fast. It is growing at least 10 cm everyday.
The tomato plant has two tomatoes coming up, finally.

The herbs seem to be doing fine.
The seeds I got from my friend; the mix salad is coming up, though I am not sure what exactly they are, they are looking very fragile. It will take some time till I get to eat them. The weeds are growing with them too.
The radish is growing quick, but it looks too crowded and so I'm worried that there's not enough space for them to grow big.
The other herbs; only a few seeds actually sprouted.

Vegan Vanilla Almond Cupcake

2007-06-07T16:52:00.000-07:00

The mint plant in my small balcony garden is growing crazy! Why don't I use some for decoration?
It's been a bit cool these days and the temperature yesterday was very low, for the season. I thought of baking something with an interesting flavor, but then I was too tired from my day job to think of anything exciting. So yes, vanilla! It is always safe to be basic.
I used the slightly larger cupcake recipe. This is now my basic recipe to follow, as it gives me the 12 perfect cakes. The cake volume came out beautifully. I baked for 21 minutes at 350 F, the color looks good this time. While in the oven, they rose like mountain but then came down, the surface is somewhat flat when cooled. The 1/3 cup of 1 + 2/3 cup flour is almond flour. The sugar I added is 1/3 cup. The cake itself (without the frosting) is not really sweet.

I used the electric hand mixer for the first time to whip the frosting, worked well without having a tired arm.

The texture is very fluffy and moist!

St-Viateur Street Festival Cupcake

2007-06-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

They are probably not vegan. The girls had them on big plates walking in the crowed at St-Viateur street festival. $2 each.
Mine was with the blackberry, chocolate with coconut frosting. The cake texture was rather hard and dry, but I enjoyed it anyway.

deadly!

2007-05-26T19:42:00.000-07:00

Deadly hot!
In this heat, there is no way that I turn the oven ON. No way.
I don't even turn on the stove top. I haven't cooked much in the last few days.
They say the temperature will drop down a little in a few days, then I can go back to my cupcake baking again, maybe.

something to grow

2007-05-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

My friend and I exchanged some seeds, these are what I got from her, very pretty. From the left, mix salad, chinese mustard leaves, and radish. I planted then in soil yesterday, I hope they will come out.
The couple who used to live here left us some very pretty peas. These are what I gave to my friend.They started to come out after 2 weeks, and it is just over 3 weeks now.
I also found some old seeds from Japan. I bet they are expired long time ago, but I planted them anyway, to see if they are still alive.

My boyfriend and I moved in together in December and this is our first spring to spend at this apartment. It has two sunny balconies!! which I never had for the last few years. I'm very excited to see how they will grow.
I started some pots of herbs.
and also a small cherry tomato plant.

Not Vegan Cupcakes in Town!!

2007-05-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

I had to try these popular cupcakes in town. I know they are not vegan, but I needed to try them and taste them, I have a huge curiosity : )

This one is from Coco Local on Ave. du Parc. I read about it in a free paper. It is a cute little place run by a cute lady.
There were a few different flavors of cupcakes and also some larger cakes of ring shape, they all had some kind of cute flower decorations. With tax I paid $3.45 or so for a chocolate cupcake. A bit too pricey for a cupcake I thought. Am I being too cheep?

The cupcake was good, really light and the texture was very fragile! It was like eating air. It melted on my tongue. It had a very nice icing, not too sweet or sugary. I'm not too sure if I will go back there again or ever have a crave for it in the future, but it is a very good cupcake. I understand how some people can be crazy about this.

This one is from a rather new store, Petits Gateaux on Mont-Royal. This one is vanilla, $3.14 with tax.

The interior is very cute and spacious. There are tables so you can sit and eat your cupcake with coffee. They had about 7 flavors on the day of my visit, they were all orthodox flavors, like lemon, carrot, chocolate, etc., nothing unusual or mysterious. It was rather easier for me to pick one. I usually take way too long time making decisions over sweets, and my boyfriend would know about it too well. The cake texture is rather dense or heavy side, very well (or over) baked, but good. I find it very fulfilling. It really reminded me of home-made sponge cakes, especially which my mother used to make at home when I was very small. The icing looked overwhelming but it was actually good, not too greasy.
Again, it was good and I probably recommend my friends to try at least once, but not too sure if I go back again. There is a Premiere Moison across the street, and I might be just tempted to get a cheesecake for the same price...

Another one to mention is the Fusia. I don't have any photo of it. It is a tiny restaurant on Duluth, closer to St-Laurent. Their products all contain some kind of flower. It is not a cupcake specialty place. I happened to pass by and picked up the last cupcake on the counter. I was expecting that there were more sweets to choose from but that day, there weren't many sweets left at all, in fact all there were were the cupcake and a few rose cookies. Anyway, the cupcake was gluten-free chocolate lavender! The lady handed me the cake with whipping cream and a piece of strawberry on top. It was $3. It had a very nice light texture and the lavender flavor was very special! It was very good. The rose cookie was very nice too. Is it good enough to make me go back? Yes, definitely! and I will take photos next time.

Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cupcake

2007-05-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

Another freezing day! I hate this weather. I miss the sun, hanging out on a sunny balcony with a beer...
I was so annoyed about yesterday's failure. So I had to bake again (and also to heat up this place! )
Ok, so this time I only used one kind of measuring cup, and I measured carefully.

I modified the basic vanilla recipe a bit;
For the liquid part, 1/2 lemon juice + 1 Tbs Vinegar + Rice Milk + 1/4 cup Soy milk = 1 1/4 cup
One lemon zest
about 1/2 cup frozen blueberry

This time the batter consistency was right. They came out great, just as I hoped to be, fluffy and moist are back again : )
The baking time was about 18 minutes (a little longer for the frozen fruits). The cakes are done but looking pale, so the next time I should just leave them in the oven for 20 minutes.

Vegan Earl Grey Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting

2007-05-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

It is freezing here in my apartment! so I decided to bake, to heat up.

This one was a disaster.
It didn't rise well and turned out very dense.
The only thing I could think of what went wrong was that it might be the temperature of tea. I made 1/4 cup tea (3 tsp of earl grey). It might not have been cooled down enough when added to the oil & sugar mixture, resulting melting the sugar? Not sure. But I wonder if the sugar helps keeping some air, which is the case when using creaming-butter method.
Anyway, to think of this now, I might also have just mismeasured liquid as well. I used two kinds of measuring cups. The batter felt too thick when the flour was combined, I had a bad feeling then. It is not sweet at all. This recipe needs more sugar to be added. To compensate the lack of sweetness, I put a bit more frosting. Some melted chocolate and brandy were added to the basic frosting recipe. This turned out to be fine.

Vegan Lime Cupcake with Coconut Lime Frosting

2007-05-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

Last week it was getting very hot and I was giving up on the idea of baking for a while. But then, it is cooling down and I'm on vacation this week.
So I tried the recipe for slightly larger cupcakes (see previous post).

Firstly, I realized that I needed to use a larger bowl. The batter before adding flour was splashing a lot!
Then, when I was filling 12 cakes, I thought I had too much to fill in. Each was filled up to 1 cm to the edge. I wondered if it was too much or too heavy to rise properly.

The lime I had was huge, the same size to lemon. I would have prepared to use one lime to the batter and another one for the frosting. Instead, I used only one lime for both.

Ingredients for Cupcake:
1 Tbsp Vinegar + juice of 1/2 lime + milk = 1 1/4 cup

1 2/3 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp and 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
2/5 cup oil (or 100 ml)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 to 1 lime zest

Baking at 350F degree was fine too. I took them out at about 17 minutes. They rose well, then went down a little.

I actually forgot to add the zest to the batter :(
so I simply used all the zest for the frosting, which I also added shredded sugared coconut and a bit of rum. I only used the lime juice instead of milk. The zest was not too much. This frosting is a little sour and refreshing.

Ingredients for Frosting:
1 Tbsp Margarin
1 Tbsp + 2 tsp coconut oil
1/2 cup confection sugar
1 to 3 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp rum
1/2 to 1 lime Zest
1/3 cup shredded coconut with sugar

So, does the slightly larger cupcake recipe work?
Yes. It turned out to be great. I do not see much difference from others, fluffy and moist. The sugar is much reduced compared to other recipes around but it works. Still sweet but not too sweet.

review

2007-05-02T15:19:00.000-07:00

I'm quite happy with these cakes, but there are a few things to improve;

1. the height
I read that if the oven temperature is too high, the middle tends to rise. I guess I could have flatter top, so maybe I can reduce the oven to 350F, which is the average baking setting. The only thing is that I can not really trust my oven, sometimes it seems to act like it is lower than the dial says.

2. volume
The batter usually fills about 2/3 for 12 cupcakes. When they come out, I feel they are a little low. So, for the next time, I will try the modified version.

3. sugar
The cupcakes could be less sweet. I wonder if I can reduce some sugar.

ingredients for (slightly larger)12 cupcakes:

1Tbs vinegar + milk (soy, rice, almond) makes 1 1/4 cup

1 2/3 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup sugar
2/5 cup or 100ml oil (I use olive oil)
1 tsp vanilla

Vegan Chocolate Orange Spice Cupcake

2007-04-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

This one turned out really nice, good fluffy light body, bitter coco mixed with orange. I also added a bit of cinnamon and cayenne pepper so it is a little spicy, but subtle. The icing is flavored with a touch of cinnamon and brandy, it goes well with the chocolate cake very much.
I feel this could be less sweet, I like when chocolate has intense bitter taste. Maybe for the next time I will try reducing some sugar and see what happens....

ingredients for 12 cupcakes:

1Tbs vinegar + milk (soy, rice, almond) makes 1 cup

1 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 cayenne pepper

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 oil (I use olive oil)
1 tsp vanilla
zest of one orange

direction:
preheat the oven at 375 degree.
Grease pan and flour, or place papers.
1. Mix vinegar and milk, leave it aside.
2. Measure all the dry ingredients, mix well, leave it aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine sugar, oil, vanilla, beat well with an electric mixer.
4. Slowly introduce the milk mixture into "3". This will be very watery, but keep beating.
5. Add the flour mixture at once, beat quickly for about 10 seconds, scrape off the side once and then beat for another 5 seconds. The batter will be smooth.
6. Divide the batter into 12, filling about 2/3 each cup. Bake for about 17 to 20 minutes.

For the icing:(I only put about 1 tsp icing on each cake, if you like LOTS of icing on, you might want to double or triple this recipe)
1 tsp margarin
2 tsp coconut oil
roughly 1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp brandy
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1 Tbs or less soy milk to adjust

mix margarin, coconut oil and sugar well with a fork, introducing other liquid a little by little, until it is doubled in volume and fluffy .

observation so far

2007-04-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

So far, I am quite amazed how well these vegan cupcakes come out.

I baked so much since I was small, baked so many un-vegan cakes.
I also baked vegan cakes for my vegan boyfriend in the last three years. I used egg replacer wondering if it was really worth using, even though one box of $5 was equivalent to 500 eggs or so (what a deal?!). These vegan cupcakes don't even use any special product from a health food store, or use bananas, but come out beautifully. This is also practical when missing some eggs in fridge. There is no complication of how much to beat eggs or butter, which requires some experience.

I am not a vegan, but these cupcake making is fun, easy, fast, and most importantly, failure-free. I do not think the recipe is good if you decide to bake as one whole cake though, but who cares. I have to stop at a dollarama quite often to get the cake papers (150 muffin papers for $1 is a steal) but anyway, cupcakes are cute and handy to eat.

Vegan Almond Cupcake

2007-04-28T17:12:00.000-07:00

So, I modified the basic recipe which is for 22 cupcakes (vegan vanilla cupcake) for 12 so that it'd suit to my 12 muffins pan. I added some ground almond to give some nice nutty flavor.

Very moist and fluffy, it does not taste much almond, but has nice light crumbs. Orange blossom water in the icing adds an interesting flavor, but it could go without it too...

ingredients for 12 cupcakes:

1Tbs vinegar + milk (soy, rice, almond) makes 1 cup

1 cup flour
1/3 cup ground almond
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 oil (I use olive oil)
2 tsp amaretto
1 tsp vanilla

direction:
preheat the oven at 375 degree.
Grease pan and flour, or place papers.
1. Mix vinegar and milk, leave it aside.
2. Measure all the dry ingredients, mix well, leave it aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine sugar, oil, vanilla, and amaratto, beat well with an electric mixer.
4. Slowly introduce the milk mixture into "3". This will be very watery, but keep beating.
5. Add the flour mixture at once, beat quickly for about 10 seconds, scrape off the side once and then beat for another 5 seconds. The batter will be smooth.
6. Divide the batter into 12, filling about 2/3 each cup. Bake for about 17 to 20 minutes.

For the icing:
1 tsp margarin
2 to 3 tsp coconut oil
roughly 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp amaretto
1/4 tsp orange blossom water
1 to 2 Tbs soy milk to adjust

mix margarin, coconut oil and sugar well with a fork, introducing other liquid a little by little, until it is doubled in volume and fluffy .

Vegan Orange Cardamon Cupcake with Vanilla frosting

2007-04-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

I used the vegan vanilla cupcake recipe as a base and added 1tsp of ground cardamon and orange zest of one orange.
I did not measure sugar nor oil precisely, I got lazy. The texture came out a little dry, and I know it was because of the amount of oil, perhaps.

The frosting is made of margarin, coconut oil (this is like lard. I got the jar at an asian grocery store), vanilla essence and powered sugar.
I did not measure, but roughly,

2 tsp margarin (room temperature)
1 Tbs coconut oil (room temperature)
1 cup powdered sugar

Just mix the above really well and whip with fork.
Then add 1/2 tsp vanilla and some soy milk (about 1 to 2 Tbs) a little by little. The more milk you add the texture becomes softer. The volume should double up by the end.....

Vegan Vanilla Cupcake

2007-04-28T16:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this is my second try.
The recipe is from here, this is for 22 cupcakes but I only have a 12 muffins pan so I reduced the recipe roughly in half, came up with 10 cakes.

This was a success, very fluffy and moist!
This is a good recipe and I highly recommend to anybody who wants to bake vegan cupcakes.
I used an electric mixer to mix the oil and the milk, for about 3 minutes, even though it did not look like making much difference as it was so watery it was making a lot of splashing. But it seems like an important process. I used rice milk instead of soy milk which did not curdle with vinegar. After the dry ingredients were combined, I used again the electric mixer to quickly mix everything together. The batter should not be tough or dry, the consistency should be like tomato ketchup or apple sauce or something like that.

Vegan Chai Tea Cupcake

2007-04-28T15:55:00.000-07:00

This is my first try, a vegan cupcake baking!
The recipe comes from here:

This tastes really nice and has a very good chai flavor, but it is a little too sugary for me. I wonder if I can reduce some sugar without affecting the result. The texture needs to be improved. I did not over mix it but it is very heavy and super dense. The recipe was for 12 cupcakes but I came up with 9, so I may have filled too full which resulted in heavy body.