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What happens when you are a procrastinator of epic proportions (I have two “important” things I am supposed to be working on but don’t feel particularly invested in) and you are childless and asked to make cupcakes for a 3-year-old’s birthday party? You go a little crazy.

Strawberry cream-filled vanilla cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting.

I didn’t get quite as much strawberry cream filling inside of them as I thought I did. Note to self- muscle the pastry bag more next time!

Basic chocolate cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream icing, and a decorative chocolate drizzle and cherry. I think I blew the mind of a 6-year-old who said that she liked vanilla better than chocolate when I informed her there was vanilla in chocolate cake she was eating, but she just couldn’t see it. She was quite occupied working that over for awhile.

And now the serious winners of the party:

For those who love peanut butter and chocolate- brace yourselves. I saw the inspiration for these some time ago on this blog, but was awaiting the ideal opportunity to tweak them and unleash them on the world.

I’m officially calling them The Home Run. A chocolate cupcake, filled with a peanut butter custard, topped with a layer of ganache, a peanut butter cookie and topped with a hand-rolled peanut butter chocolate truffle. Oh yeah, baby.

I will post a whole recipe for them soon. Needless to say they are a bit involved, but totally worth it. I got rave reviews from folks who were self-proclaimed PB and chocolate haters (although I firmly believe such a group of people doesn’t exist). If you just want wait to give them a try, I used the chocolate cake recipe from my Darkest Forest Cake recipe and the PB Cookies recipe from my cookbook for those components.

I know the whole cupcake craze is starting to wane a bit (what do you think will take their place?) but I don’t think we’ll ever quite recover from how fun they are! Cupcakes aren’t just cake… they are a way of life!

Hello there!

I hope January was fruitful for everyone. Can you believe it’s February ALREADY?! 2010 is shaping up to fly by fast.

Other than being busy, not much has changed over here… my pistachio kick is still holding strong. I just can’t get enough of their complex aroma, flavor, color… nom. I have been eating a little too much pistachio pudding and looking for other ways to incorporate them.

Funnily enough, I heard about the big PR campaign to revamp pistachios after the samonella scare last year… and they have some questionable people at the helm of that campaign.

Hmm…

So what is this supposed to say about pistachio eaters? We’re dumb and low-brow?

Thankfully for the pistachios they sell themselves, so these silly ads shouldn’t slow them down. And some pistachio cake doesn’t hurt any, either.

I’m on this simple cake kick lately- no layers or elaborate toppings, just good old cake with a flavorful accent. This cake is dense, moist and rich and the aroma… ah! I know some people think that dark chocolate is reserved for pre-holiday baking, but to heck with them! While this would certainly make a delicious holiday cake, I’ll eat some dark chocolate anytime!

Pistachio Cake with Chocolate Sauce

1 cup ground pistachios
1 3/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 teas. baking powder
1/4 teas. salt
1- 8 oz. container soy cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/3 cups milk of choice (I used almond)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teas. vanilla

1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate
3 tbsp. milk of choice
1 tbsp. margarine

pistachios for garnish

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a 8 or 9 inch cake pan by greasing and flouring and/or lining the bottom with parchment.

In a small bowl combine ground pistachios, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a medium bowl, mix cream cheese and some of the milk using electric beaters. Incorporate the remaining milk in batches. Add oil and vanilla.

Combine dry ingredients with the wet ingredients in batches until batter is just mixed. Spread into pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with just some little crumbs clinging to it.

To prepare the sauce, combine dark chocolate, milk and margarine in a double boiler and melt until smooth. Serve cake with warm chocolate sauce drizzled on and some pistachio garnish.

nom nom nom...

{unrelated sidenote: I am getting very low on my own stock of The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes and I don’t plan on reordering. If you want to purchase an autographed copy (along with nom! nom! nom! buttons!) in time for the holiday and before I run out, you might want to click here. Shameless promotion over.}

I had a startling realization the other day. About brownies.

See, brownie texture can be a touchy subject amongst brownie lovers. Some people like a thin, chewy brownie, some people like a thicker, cake-like brownie- you can see where a debate might arise. I have one recipe for each respective group in my book, in my bid to create world peace via baked goods.

But I forgot one group.

I don’t know how it happened, but the fudgey brownie lovers were left out of my equation. Back to the drawing board! But, alas, a perfect dense, intensely fudgey brownie was made and how the impending peace can begin.

If you or yours like fudgey brownies, you are going to love this recipe. I used to align myself with the chewy folks, but now I’m rethinking this whole thing. And they aren’t too terribly unhealthy… Well, you will note that there is a lot of sugar in this recipe, but that is indicative of the chemistry of a brownie, which requires sugar at least equal to and normally greater than the amount of flour. This ratio is necessary for the proper texture, otherwise you just have a dense cake. They have a special ingredient contributing to their fudgeyness. No one will ever guess unless you tell them…

Fudgie Wudgies

1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup unsweetened baking cocoa (preferably Dutch pressed), sifted
6 tbsp. margarine, melted
1- 15 oz. can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie puree)
2 teas. of vanilla
2 teas. instant coffee granules (optional, but definitely add that sumpin’, sumpin’)

3/4 cup flour
1/2 teas. baking powder
1/4 teas. salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup pecans (yay, debris!)

Heat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 pan or line with parchment.

In a large bowl, mix together sugar and cocoa until cocoa is mixed in. Add melted margarine and mix until mixture begins to get clumpy then add pumpkin puree. Add vanilla and coffee and mix well to break up any clumps and to dissolve the coffee. I highly recommend using electric beaters, it will also help with the dry mixture.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry to wet and mix until combined and there are no clumps. Add chocolate chips and pecans.

Spread into prepared pan and bake for 35-38 minutes or until top of brownies looks set and a toothpick comes out with a fudgy coating, but not wet with batter. Let cool completely (or for as long as you can stand it) before serving.

Beware cookies! Your natural predator is on the hunt!

Most nights Jim and I won’t be past the first half of our dinner before he looks at me with a sly expression and asks, “What do we have for dessert?”

Most often, I try not to have anything. I’m not trying to be cruel, but after creating two cookbooks that focused on baking and the resulting sweet tooths, I really try to curb the snacks and treats, only baking when it’s for an event or meant to be shared. Dessert often amounts to a square of high quality chocolate or a mouthful of peanut butter and chocolate chips, where Jim will then patiently wait, with a full mouth, for the chips to melt before mashing it all on the roof of this mouth with satisfaction. Such a silly boy…

But sometimes we want a real dessert, not some sugary stand-in. Being fully aware of how weak we both are, I know that making a whole batch of cookies is never a good idea. It always ends in the two of us sneaking cookies well after we should have stopped and a remorseful belly ache. Self control in the sweets arena has never been very successful in our house.

Which brings us to this recipe, Cookies for Two. This makes 8 regular sized chocolate chip cookies, 4 for each person. I know 2 is a more appropriate serving size than 4, but hey, we’re taking baby steps. If you can muster some restraint, eat 2 after dinner and save the other two for your lunch the next day.

Cookies for Two

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp flour
1/4 teas. baking soda
spinkle of salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup margarine, softened
splash of vanilla
splash of vegan milk of choice
3 tbsp. to 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Cookie Coating (optional)
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 teas. fleur de sel

Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment.

In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl cream together the margarine and sugar. Add vanilla and milk. Add dry ingredients to wet in batches until well combined. Add chocolate chips.

Roll tablespoon sized dough balls in the Cookie Coating (if using) and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies have risen, spread and the edges are set. Let cool completely (well, not too completely) before serving.

Makes 8 cookies.