Cupcakes & Cobbler

[eredien]

Had a really good weekend, though I am feeling a little sick this afternoon so I decided not to go to the regular Sunday afternoon go session or the gym.

D., D.'s coworker, and I baked cupcakes this afternoon.

They made some vanilla cupcakes with green and brown frosting, coconut, and sprinkles.

I made vegan cupcakes in oreo and rosewater-matcha flavors.

I used the basic sponge cake cupcake recipie from the winter pine tree cakes from vegan yumyum (with rice flour as a substitute for cornstarch). I made two batches and made some into rosewater cupcakes and some into oreo cupcakes.

For the rosewater cupcakes I just added rosewater instead of the vanilla or almond extracts.

For the oreo cupcakes I crushed up some oreos in the batter and used only vanilla, not almond and vanilla, extracts.

The oreo cupcakes got storebought chocolate frosting and a half-oreo on top of each. The cake came out pretty delicious; you could taste chunks of cupcake and chunks of oreo.

The rosewater cupcakes got matcha (Japanese green tea) frosting, from this recipie; I substituted soymilk for ricemilk and added the larger amount of matcha powder. I would use less confectioners' sugar next time, maybe a half-cup rather than a full cup--though that might not make enough frosting to cover the cupcakes. Though the frosting was definitely tasty and tasted like matcha, it is too sweet for me.

Warning: homemade frosting is very melty on hot days.

I also had about 6 farmers' market peaches that were going to go bad soon, so I also made a peach cobbler from this recipie, substituting soymilk for cream. I also only had 2 and 3/4 cups of peaches. If I made this again I would reduce the salt and add about a 1/4 cup more peaches than the recipie called for, to balance the fluffiness of the crust. Though the crust was very puffy, it is a bit salty as well. The peaches from the farmers' market were about half as big as a regular peach from the store, but are twice as tasty. If you can get farmers' market peaches I very much recommend it. I made this in a relatively small and shallow ceramic dish.

There are pictures at my flickr account if you click on the names of the food!

Comments

[zdenka]

That sounds yummy. I will save the recipes. Are Oreos vegan, then?

[eredien]

Yes. The filling used to have lard in it, but they changed it a few years ago. I am not sure why.

[rax.livejournal.com]

I believe it was so they could be kosher and push Hydrox out of business.

[gaudior.livejournal.com]

Rosewater? Dear gods awesome cool!

(Dunno if occultatio reads this journal, but if not, you should totally send him the recipes!)

[eredien]

Who is that? Do I know him or is he just a cool person interested in baking?

[gaudior.livejournal.com]

M.G., who just moved to Minnesota?

[thoughtsdriftby.livejournal.com]

You have great timing, my little peach tree just happens to have an abundance of peaches. :-)
(it's a smaller fuzzy variety with a raggedy pit, lots of flavor)

Thank You

[eredien]

You have your own tree? I'm jealous! Hope it turns out well.

[thoughtsdriftby.livejournal.com]

Have a few trees producing fruit: Apricot, peach, almond, cherry, blood orange, and lemon. An avocado that's big but not old enough to be producing fruit yet and a few dwarf citrus still growing up.

I'm lucky enough to be in the Santa Clara Valley so most anything grows well. The farms and orchards that used to be the Valley of Earthly Delight financed the now Silicon Valley (the poster child for poor urban planning sadly). We grow food nearer the desert now and use the highly fertile land to grow silicon chips, houses, and parking lots. :-/
Seems rather backwards to me.

And Thanks, I think it'll turn out well. :-)

[thoughtsdriftby.livejournal.com]

The peach cobbler is made and it's very good

Maybe a bit more than 3 1/2 cups of peaches, quartered not sliced
(they were in the 2 1/2 to 3" size range before peeling)
salt was reduced per suggestion, I used 1/2 teaspoon
I used a soy creamer instead of cream or soy milk

I did bring it out at a light tanning.
I'll likely go for a fuller tan next time, but it's not uncooked ~40 minutes at 375 but the tan would be a better look and the crust is light enough to not toughen. Could also move the rack up.

Only regret. No ice cream in the house.

Thank You!

[eredien]

Excellent! Glad it turned out well for you. I'm jealous of your fruit trees. R. and I keep thinking about moving to CA...

[thoughtsdriftby.livejournal.com]

Well, the land is a bit cheaper than it was only a few years ago but it's still expensive to live out here with jobs a bit on the scarce side. We've still more work to do on government budgets and basic civil rights too. *sigh*

It's funny, if I was ever lucky enough to win lotto or basically have the millionaire fairy send large amounts of cash my way, I'd buy a place to vacation on the right coast. Do something like help Oceanstater get a New England triple where she could rent one floor and keep the attic open for wandering dragons. The income from the one level should cover taxes and maintenance. Repeat in Seattle, Edmonton... It's a dream anyway.