Pineapple cupcakes with lime frosting

My mother in law turned 75 a couple of weeks ago. It was a lovely celebration. All her children came together to be with her on Mothers' day. It was a weekend filled with laughter, old photographs and memories, the lovely companionship of my 3 sisters in law and an over indulgence in food. There was chole, aalu parathas, dahi vadas, salted caramel cupcakes and falafel sandwiches. When the big day arrived on May 14th, everyone was craving simple food. Never have I seen so much excitement for "anna saaru" (loose translation-rice and a tomato lentil stew). But birthdays need to be celebrated with something sweet.  I made these vegan pineapple cupcakes and they were perfect- across between kesari and a cake. Light but indulgent and extremely satisfying. 

 


Cake (slightly adapted from the Smitten Kitchen)

Makes about 16 cupcakes

2 cups (250 grams or 8 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1tsp cardamom powder
1/2 tsp saffron strands

1/2 c grape seed oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup (237 ml) coconut milk

1 cup (72 grams or 2 1/2 ounces) finely chopped fresh pineapple

*1 tbsp cornstarch 

Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners and spray the insides with cooking spray.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Add the cardamom and saffron and mix together.

In a larger bowl, cream the sugars and the oil together. Add the coconut milk and cornstarch and  pineapple and whisk until smooth. Add the dry ingredients in two batches and whisk until just combined.

Spoon into the cupcake liners making sure not to fill more than 2/3rds of the way. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then cool on a wire rack.

*If I make this again, I will up the cornstarch, I felt the cake needed more of the binding action.

For the frosting
Adapted from Vegan cupcakes rule the world

2 cups sugar 

seeds from 4 pods of cardamom

1 lime juiced

2 tbsps vegan butter

Powder the sugar and the cardamom together in a blender (or mix together powdered sugar and cardamom powder together). Juice the lime into a separate container.Cream together the sugar and the vegan butter together. Add the lime juice a teaspoon at a time and blend with a fork until the frosting is smooth and spreadable. Keep the frosting in the fridge until ready to use. 

Frost the top of the cupcakes once they are completely cooled. Top with a grape half

** Leftover frosting is a great dip for strawberries.

Jam Ripple cake

Happy New Year everyone and here is a little sweet something to welcome the new year. Jam Ripple cake. This is a perfect winter cake as it calls for preserved fruit in the form of jam. The concept is simple. You make a basic white cake batter and then spoon some jam on it and then swirl it around to create a ripple effect. You can make it more decadent by topping it with some streusel topping.

I ended up using Grapefruit marmalade instead of jam and it was perfectly delightful to cut into the cake and taste the tart pink marmalade underneath the cardamom streusel topping.

Adapted from the archives of Food Day pages in the Oregonian (unfortunately i don't have the source just the recipe
 1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1/3 c granulated sugar
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
replacement for 1 egg ( I used 3 tsps of cornstarch. This worked ok, next time I am going to add more liquid along with the corn starch about 9tsps of water )
2/3 c non dairy milk warmed and curdled with 1/2 a tsp of apple cider vinegar

1/4 c oil
1/2 c strawberry jam
Sreusel Topping
1/4 c all purpose flour
1/3 c granulated sugar

3 tbsp cold Earth Balance
Seeds from 10 pods of cardamom - powdered.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Stir together the dry ingredients for the cake in a large bowl.
Make the streusel topping . Mix, the flour, sugar and cardamom together in a small bowl. Cut in the Earth Balance until coarse crumbs form. Set aside.
Beat the milk, the oil and the cornstarch together. Add it to the dry ingredients.

Spread the batter in a 8 inch spring form pan. Dot with the jam. Now take a butter knife and run it through the batter in a figure 8 pattern. This will create a ripple effect. Top  evenly with the Streusel topping.


Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until topping is well browned and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then remove the sides.

The cake kept well for 2 days at room temperature.

Chocolate cake

Really - I need to write an introduction to chocolate cake? I don't have much to say except that I needed it. I blame it all on Isa Chandra - she started it.
And I have to share with you the perfect recipe.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/07/2301938/vegan-chocolate-cake.html
It appears this link is broken...Google to the rescue.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/avantgo/2015579570.html
 Here is the original recipe just in case
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup flax milk or other plant-based milk (not lite)
1/2 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Powdered sugar for garnish
A couple of minor tweaks.

Added a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to the  soy milk. Then I heated the milk before adding it to the batter.

And then we added 1/2 a cup of chocolate chips.

Baked @ 350 deg for about 35- 40 minutes in a loaf pan. I baked it for 45 mins and the cake ended up a little on the dry side.

It is good, really good even the non chocoholics ate it and said it was good.

Next time, I am going to replace half the soy milk with some espresso.

Navaratri and GasGase Paayasa

Another Navaratri has come and gone. Growing up this was my favorite time of the year; a time for bonding with my mother and sister. Each year we would join hands to set up the ‘bombe’ ( the doll display). There was the  excitement of climbing up a ladder to retrieve the old brown trunk from the attic and arranging every flat topped piece of furniture to form the steps. Unwrapping the dolls from their  protective newspaper covering would start  the flow of memories . Every year Amma would talk  of  the Dasha Avatara dolls she purchased from the vendor in Trivandrum, of the dolls her mother gave her and the travels on which the other dolls were collected.  Once the dolls were set up it was time to plan the food. Kodabale, halwa and usli were a standard. The next 9 days were spent having visitors, listening to the wonderful concerts at the Navaratri Mantapa and visiting friends.

  This year  we kept  the tradition in Portland. We also added to the tradition. Lego creations   and knights and warriors were added to the doll display and the food was all vegan.

I hope you enjoyed the Navaratri where ever you are.  I leave you now with a vegan version of a traditional Karnataka classis dessert. Gasa Gase Paayasa . This is traditionally made with jaggery (an unrefined sugar) but here I have taken a short cut with brown sugar.

¾  c  white poppy seeds

¾ c Almonds

1 ¼ c Brown Sugar

Water to cover the brown sugar

1 14 oz can thick coconut milk

1 32 oz carton Almond milk

Seeds from 10 cardamom pods crushed.

Dry roast the poppy seeds till fragrant. 

Powder the poppy seeds and the almonds in the blender, adding almond milk to keep the motor running.

Take the brown sugar is a stock pot and add enough water to just cover the brown sugar. Heat the pot on medium, stirring often until the brown sugar dissolves. Let the solution come to a gentle boil.

Lower the heat and add the poppy seed mixture. Add the rest of the almond milk.  Allow to come to a boil stirring frequently.

Add the coconut milk and heat through.  Finally add the cardamom powder.

Serve hot or cold.