EPIC CUPCAKE WAR: PART 2

For those of you coming late to the game, no worries
you can catch up to the first part of our epic cupcake
war by clicking here.
Basically, we're testing out a vegan chocolate-chocolate
cupcake vs. a non-vegan chocolate-chocolate cupcake
represented by Tom and Jerry party favors, of course.
All of this is brought to you because of an experiment
for my son's recent birthday.
Post a comment today and win yourself some
ridiculously fun cupcake swag -- because
you just can't have enough of swag, right? Okay, yeah,
I love the word swag -- for no apparent reason other
than it means free stuff and it's fun to say! See below
for said swag. Okay, I'll stop now.

The Vegan Cupcake: Starring Tom

Ingredients:

1 cup soy milk
1 tspn apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup agave nectar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tspn vanilla extract
1/2 tspn almond extract
1 cup all purpose organic flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tspn baking soda
1/s tspn baking powder
1/4 tspn salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together soy milk and vinegar in a large
bowl and set side until it curdles. Add the agave nectar, oil, vanilla
and almond extract to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy.
In another bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda,
baking powder and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and beat until
no lumps remain.
Pour into cupcake liners until they are 3/4 of the way full. Bake 18-20
minutes until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

Vegan Chocolate Frosting:

Ingredients:

1 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup vegan margarine, softened
1tsp vanilla
1 cup agave nectar

Directions:

In a small bowl mix together, the cocoa powder,
margarine, agave nectar and vanilla. Beat until
it is smooth. Can't get easier than that!


And now the dramatic conclusion!

Here were my categories for judging:

Taste: Okay, the vegan cupcake
won hands down. It was rich, moist
and although at first I felt like the
soy milk was too strong, after my
third or fourth, it really tasted just
right to me.
Also, although I am a sugaraholic,
buttercream worshipper of the first
order, the vegan frosting was silky
smooth and really had a wonderful
chocolate taste that wasn't buried
underthree cups of powdered sugar.

Winner: Vegan

Cost: There is no question. The organic ingredients for
the vegan cupcake were more expensive. Organic flour is
several dollars more expensive than the non-organic and
agave nectar is more expensive than regular or powdered
sugar and believe me it can be tricky to find organic or
vegan margarine.

Winner: Non-vegan

Appearance: This is totally subjective, but I really
loved the rich, dark colors of the vegan cupcake.
They just yelled "chocolate-chocolate" to me.

Winner: Vegan

Overall Winner: Vegan!!!

So, there you have it! Leave a comment or a
criticism today and get yourself entered in
the contest for swag!!!



Winner to be announced next
Wednesday (29th) while I
pack for my Fatal Four Texas Tour!!!

THE TOUR: Maggie Sefton, Wendy Lyn Watson, Hannah Reed and Jenn McKinlay

September 30 - 7:00 PM Barnes & Noble La Frontera Village Round Rock, TX

October 1 - 6:30 PM Murder by the Book Houston TX

October 2 - 2:00 PM Barnes & Noble The Shops at La Cantera San Antonio, TX

October 3 - 2:00 PM Barnes & Noble University Village Fort Worth, TX

A book cover celebration with cupcakes!

Hats off to the Berkley Prime Crime
cover artists! I just got the cover art
for cupcake bakery mystery number
two and I love it!!! (Note the lovely
cover blurb by our own Krista --
Thanks, blog buddy)!


Although, it won't be released until January,
I wanted to celebrate and what better way
than to bake a batch of cupcakes. The recipe
I'm going share is one of the many to be
included in the upcoming book and
it's the one that inspired the cover
art.





So without further ado, I give you...

Kiss Me Cupcakes!
A mint chocolate
chip cupcake with
red and white
swirled mint
buttercream icing
and a big Hersey’s
Kiss planted in the
middle.





Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 tspns baking powder
1/8 tspn salt
1 tspn peppermint extract
1/2 cup milk
1 stick butter, softened
1 cupc sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup chocolate chips
1 bag Hersey's Kisses

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda
and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and
sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with
each addition, then stir in the peppermint extract. Add the flour mixture
alternately with the milk, beat well. Add the chocoalte chips after dusting
them with flour to keep them from sinking while baking. Bake for 15-17
minutes. Makes 16.

Peppermint Buttercream Frosting:

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1 tspn peppermint extract
4 cups confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream the butter and the extract. Gradually add the
sugar, beating well on medium speed. Add milk and continue mixing
until frosting is light and fluffy. Divide in half into separate bowls.
Use red food coloring to dye one half of the frosting red. To decorate
the top of the cupcake use a pastry bag with a star tip and working
from the center of the cupcake to the edge, pipe the frosting in
alternating colors so that it resembles a hard candy.
Top with a Hersey's Kiss.

www.jennmckinlay.com

Jenn McKinlay ~
Sprinkle With Murder ~ Buttercream Bump Off

also writing as:

Lucy Lawrence ~ Stuck on Murder ~ Cut to the Corpse

Congrats to my blog buddy Cleo Coyle for

the hard copy release of ROAST MORTEM!

Way to go, Cleo!!!