Vegan Almond Cupcakes with Lemony Buttercream and Lime-Ginger Drizzle!

Hello Everyone!

I am sorry I've been so MIA! I don't know if anything really exciting has been going on that I should report...honestly...I'm more excited about this one thing I have to tell you...

I have found your new soul mate. He's sweet, he's vegan, and he's covered in frosting. Oh, yeah, he's a cupcake...

      You see,  a couple of weeks ago, I saw a Broadway show called It Shoulda Been You that knocked my socks off. Seriously. I laughed. I cried (well, sobbed, actually, but I cry all the time) and I had an incredible time. Even my roommate, who does not enjoy musicals, loved this show. I mean, actually. She actually had a great time! I mean, yes, we have friends in it, too, so we might be a tad biased...but honestly, I've seen really good friends in terrible shows and had to leave them with the dreaded words, "you looked like you were having so much fun out there!"

This is the musical! Buy tickets here: http://www.itshouldabeenyou.com/ Believe me, take your grandma, she'll love it!

            Anyway, I was so inspired by the story and the music, and most of all, the message of the piece that I knew I needed to bake in its honor. I decided (since I’m trying to teach myself how to cook. I know, it sounds crazy but I also recently learned how to French braid my own hair and make a proper glass of iced tea) that I would go a bit further than the usual dessert, and make a whole meal inspired by the show.

            Since the show does surround a Jewish family, and, being a Jew myself, I decided to go the “Jews on Christmas” route, and make an Asian-Takeout-Inspired Menu for my dinner. I grabbed my inspiration from my new favorite VEGAN cookbook Chloe’s Kitchen by Chloe Coscarelli (she is an incredible cook book writer and her recipes were super fun to make and the ingredients behave exactly how she says they will) I made a Mandarin Orange Salad, Wontons with Orange-Mustard Sauce, & a Szechuan Seitan dish served over brown rice. I also mixed together a super refreshing mock-tail using coconut milk, mint, and blackberries (it would also be a great cocktail with the addition of some dark rum)

Salad!

some very serious plating going on here

The Final Product! TADA!

            I finished it all off with a dessert of my own creation: Vegan Almond Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream & Lime-Ginger Syrup. I concocted this recipe because A) all three flavors are used in Asian cuisine, and B) (the deeper reason) It Shoulda Been You centers around a pretty stressful wedding day, where not everything goes to plan. However, even through all that, the central message of true love winning in the best of ways shines through loud and clear. So, by picking three main flavors that on their own can be sour, bitter, or bland, I hoped to convey that even when life seems to be made up of the least appetizing moments, sometimes everything will come together and in the end all will be perfectly sweet.

            And let me tell you something, these cupcakes? Are AMAZING! The cake itself was super moist and fluffy and perfect, and the almond flavor makes you think of Christmas cookies and happiness! The frosting is an entire experience of it’s own, it’s like eating lemon velvet! It was so smooth and sweet and melty and perfect, and the lime-ginger syrup cuts through the sweetness with this little bit of bite that brings everything together! I know I’m going on and on and on, but literally, I cannot explain how absolutely incredible this cupcake is! And after a meal so incredibly savory and spicy, the refreshing taste of lemon is exactly what you need!

I think I just turned Wayne the Chow-Retriever vegan! Just kidding.

            So go see the show! And make these cupcakes! Better yet, go see the show and bring these cupcakes to share with everyone there!

L’Chaim!

(Til Next Time)

Dani

VEGAN Almond Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream & Lime-Ginger Syrup

Ingredients:

Almond Cupcakes:

1/3 cup vegetable oil

¾ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup plain coconut milk yogurt (or soy, or almond milk, go crazy)

2/3 cup non-dairy milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp almond extract

1 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1/3 cup almond meal (you can either buy almond meal OR blanched almonds, which you can then grind down in a food processor until it’s all flour-like)

Lemon Buttercream:

¼ cup shortening

¼ cup vegan butter softened (I’m all about that Earth Balance…and that bass, no treble…sorry…God, I am such a mom-joke-maker…my kids are gonna hate me)

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp vanilla extract

Lime-Ginger Syrup

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup water

3 slices of fresh gingers

2 tsp lime zest

Directions:

Almond Cupcakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a cupcake tin with liners
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, yogurt, milk, vanilla, and almond extracts.
3. In a medium sized bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt. Then gently whisk together.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the large bowl and whisk them all together until the mixture is smooth and all the dry ingredients have been incorporated into the wet mixture.
5. Fill each cupcake line about 2/3 of the way, otherwise you will have some seriously ghastly muffin tops.
6. Bake for 25-27 minutes until the top of the muffin springs back when you tap it with your finger.
7. Let stand in the tins for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Lemon Buttercream:

This is super easy: Mix the vegan butter and shortening in a bowl using a hand mixer. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat it all together, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until it all becomes one gorgeous, fluffy, beautiful, swirly mound of frosting!

Lime-Ginger Syrup:

Super easy peasy! Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Just let the mixture sit there until the sugar dissolves. It will do this on it’s own! Stirring actually causes a chemical reaction in the sugar crystals and causes them to stick together and crystallize, which stops them from dissolving easily. So, yes, it can take a few minutes, but be patient and just wait (not too long, though, you don’t want caramel) Once the sugar has dissolved, remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the ingredients into a heatproof bowl to cool completely.

Assembling the cupcakes!

Using a Ziploc with the corner cut off, a pastry bag with a piping tip of your choosing attached, or a simple butter knife waiting to spread, get that frosting on those cupcakes! Then, either using a squeeze bottle, or the tines of a fork, gently drizzle the syrup over the frosting on the cupcakes. Feel free to add some sprinkles for some extra pizzazz!

Now eat them! They will make your day!

Me, having my day made!