Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

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Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

As my heart beats for dark chocolate, my father's heart beats for milk chocolate. Milk chocolate is a soft spot for him, a weakness he owns up to with his head held high. He is the man who pours too much chocolate syrup onto his ice cream, sneaks handfuls of chocolate chips from the freezer when he thinks no one is looking, and enjoys his version of s'mores when we sit around a bonfire—Hershey's chocolate sans marshmallows and graham crackers. After dinner, my father and I dig through the cupboards like addicts, seeking out chocolate in any and every form to satisfy our cravings.

Perhaps the chocolate gene is inherited.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

When I started baking, my father was excited about all the chocolate treats that would line the countertops. The chocolate cake and cookies and ice cream would bring a smile to his face so wide that when I look back on it I'm reminded of a child at Christmas time. However, the period of bliss was temporary. Looking to expand my repertoire, I started branching out and the baked goods that lined the counter tops were suddenly without chocolate.

With the scent of baking in the air, he'd come home from work and bound up the stairs to see what I had created. More often than not, his smile would falter as soon as he'd see what I had made. He would turn away to cover his obvious disappointment—heartbreaking for any daughter to see—and suggest that next time I make him a nice chocolate cake.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

After moving out of my parent's house, with the entire world of baking at my feet, I found myself making chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. I'm didn't think anything of it at first, not questioning where this urge suddenly came from. It wasn't until after I saw the cupcakes resting on the countertop that I suddenly felt guilty for creating the very dessert my father so often looked forward to (and was so often denied) when now I couldn't share them with him. I never knew it was possible to feel guilty about cupcakes without eating them.

I called up my father and confessed about the cupcakes I had baked, promising that the next time I came home I would make him the ultimate chocolate cake. He told me he was already looking forward to it. I swear I could feel that childlike smile begin to spread across his face again.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

These Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes are a chocolate lover's dream. The chocolate cupcakes are moist and light, supporting the weight of a whipped chocolate glaze. The glaze is made with coconut milk so it does lend the faintest coconut flavor, but most people won't be able to detect it (alternatively, for a non-vegan version, you could easily substitute the coconut milk for heavy cream). These cupcakes are perfect to feed to those with dairy/egg allergies, vegans, or for anyone who loves a rich chocolate cupcake.

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Vanilla Cupcakes

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Vanilla Cupcakes

Vanilla Cupcakes

Today marks my 24th year of life. Twenty-four seems like one of those unusual ages that's neither here nor there. I'm not old (though some days I may feel it), but I'm not so young anymore either. I have a bit of that sneaky thing called life experience that only career changes, extensive traveling, and a familiarity with the "real world" can bring. Even so, every year when my special day rolls around, I'm not sure whether I feel old enough to embrace that extra number.

Happy birthday to me.

Vanilla Cupcakes Vanilla Cupcakes

Since becoming a baker, I've grown acquainted with a phenomenon known as The Baker's Dilemma. The dilemma poses a simple, but curious question: should a baker be expected to make his or her own birthday cake? It's true that a baker may bake a better cake than a friend or family member. It's also true that if they do make the cake themselves, they can have precisely the flavor they would like, elaborate or otherwise. I've debated this question back and forth with friends and fellow bakers alike.

Family and friends tend to agree that it is not only okay for a baker to make his or her own cake, but it's encouraged. I've heard confessions ranging everywhere from "I want to eat good cake, not my cake" to whispered fears that their own cakes wouldn't live up to a baker's expectations ("It's too much pressure to bake for a baker").

Vanilla Cupcakes

On the other hand, professional bakers seem to come to the opposite conclusion. After making a thousand cakes, baking a cake is no longer a novelty. It's work (with the added pressure to meet everyone else's expectations of what a baker's birthday cake should be). To a baker, it's the thought that counts, not the taste. It doesn't matter whether the cake is homemade or a boxed mix with canned frosting—both are loved and equally appreciated.

This year my mother and sister got together to make me my favorite cake, strawberry shortcake. It's a cake I've requested on my birthday a dozen times in my life and I couldn't be more excited to take a fork after it.

Vanilla Cupcakes

It took me two years to find this reliable, light, and moist vanilla cupcake recipe, but it is definitely a keeper. The cupcakes have a delicate crumb, but are tough enough to frost or fill with whatever delights that may strike your fancy. This is a true vanilla cupcake, made with pure vanilla extract (though if you are lucky enough to have vanilla beans on hand, a bean can certainly be used in place of one tablespoon of the extract). Watch the oven closely around 12 minutes; these cupcakes can over-bake rather quickly.

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Honey Wheat Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

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Honey Wheat Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Honey Wheat Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

It's a common practice, when one is feeling under the weather, to partake in retail therapy. Buying expensive shoes or a new shirt, in those moody moments, makes the weight of the world seem a little lighter. It's hard to say exactly why spending loose change can turn a mood from blue to bright. For some reason, it's easier to face the world with a cheery face when you're working a new pair of blue jeans. Whenever my mood is headed toward melancholy, I like to go food prop shopping.

I doubt you will find anyone get more excited about dirty, thrift store silverware than me.

Honey Wheat Cake with Cream Cheese Icing Honey Wheat Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Thrift stores and yard sales are the holy grail of food prop shopping. Not only is everything exceptionally inexpensive (as a young woman, extra cash is something I do not have), but the kitchen tools and dinnerware are each a unique find. Certainly this type of shopping can be the definition of hit-or-miss, but when you stumble across something you didn't know you'd been searching for, the union feels fated.

I've recently been caught up in old bakeware. Scratched and blackened, only years of dedicated cookie making could have turned these baking sheets into the perfect state of used. Old jam jars become glasses for milk and vases for stray wildflowers. Glass candle holders become cups for serving puddings or containers for jam.

Honey Wheat Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Though I have an entire closet filled with baking gear and food props, I find myself using the same things over and over again. The old cotton sugar sack in the photos above is used so often, you could easily spot it in every other post (go play a game of I Spy—I wish I was joking). The white rimmed plate holding the honey cake is another find that frequents the pages of this blog whenever a slice of cake or a stack of cookies need to be held. Lately I've been wondering why all my photographs seem to look the same. I think I have my answer.

Last weekend I found myself on a food prop shopping spree. I came home with so many bags of old dishware, I began to wonder if I'd need another closet to hold it all. Plates so old they have the appearance of broken egg shells and colorful silverware now fill the shelves of my closet. Now to wait for inspiration to strike...

Honey Wheat Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

This Honey Wheat Pound Cake with Cream Cheese Icing is a real treat. The cake is a simple one, made with part whole wheat flour, buttermilk, and honey. The honey, however, turns this cake into magic when it hits the oven, caramelizing on the bottom and sides of the pan. Topped with a honey sweetened cream cheese icing, I found myself eating this cake for breakfast and lunch. I used a dark honey for this cake and I suggest you do the same to get a deep caramelized flavor. However, if dark honey isn't available, regular honey will work just fine.

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