dairy free chocolate cupcakes with whipped dark chocolate ganache frosting

Last fall we took a road trip to LA to visit with friends, and we stayed with one of my best friends, Reggie. Her daughter Rachel is allergic to dairy but loves baked goods, so I decided to make some dairy free cupcakes for her. I had recently come upon this recipe from Pastry Affair for vegan chocolate cupcakes, and while I was intrigued at how a cupcake with no eggs could rise to be soft and fluffy, I thought it would the perfect cupcake to try out for Rachel!

I ended up making two different chocolate cupcake recipes - the vegan one above, and my usual chocolate cupcake recipe with canola oil instead of butter, and coconut milk instead of regular milk. But I topped both cupcakes with the same vegan chocolate ganache frosting, which uses coconut milk instead of heavy cream.

 

To decorate the cupcakes, I filled a pastry bag with the whipped ganache frosting, and one by one I placed each cupcake on a revolving cake stand and used a a large petal tip #104 to pipe swirling rosettes on the top. (I've used this same ruffle technique to decorate cakes as well and I always love the way they turn out!)

After tasting them, most of us preferred the regular dairy free cupcake (with oil and coconut milk instead of dairy) when compared with the vegan cupcake (no oil or milk at all). The vegan cupcake was just missing a bit of richness that the other cupcake had. But for vegans I think this would be a great alternative, as the cupcake was still fluffy and moist, and full of chocolate flavor!

And now I'll leave you with some pictures from our fun weekend away. :)

dulce de leche

I've always known what dulce de leche was, and have tasted it in ice cream and other flavored desserts, but I hadn't actually tried it by itself. My best friend from college has a husband from Argentina, and when he told me that he would eat dulce de leche straight out of the jar with a spoon, and could almost finish an entire jar, I thought, "What?! That is crazy!" In my mind I was picturing eating spoonfuls of straight caramel by the jar. Which I thought was crazy.

But when I made my first batch of dulce de leche, I finally understood what he meant. This stuff is addicting! It is like caramel, but soft, and almost pudding-like. I found myself sneaking spoonfuls of it from the fridge, using a new spoon each time, until I had accumulated a big pile of used spoons in the sink. I had only made one jar with which I had planned on making multiple desserts, but soon it became clear that I would barely have enough to make my Hello Kitty alfajores with!

I have now made three batches of this stuff! (Well, actually four batches, if you count that I made double the amount with the last batch!) For the first two batches, I used this recipe from David Lebovitz (the recipe is also in his awesome ice cream book), where the method was to roast sweetened condensed milk and a pinch sea salt in a baking dish, covered with foil, and placed in a water bath. The directions were to roast it for 90 minutes, but I ended up doing 3 hours because I wanted a darker caramel. Once it was out of the oven, I whisked in a bit of vanilla extract to add to the flavor of the caramel.

And for the last batch, I read somewhere online about cooking it in a slow cooker water bath instead, so I tried it out with my rice cooker (set on the slow cooker setting). This method was a lot easier because you didn't have to keep checking on it and refilling the water, however it took about 13 hours in the slow cooker to get the color caramel that I wanted! So I suppose there are pros and cons to both methods. ;)

This dulce de leche is so versatile - with it I have made three batches of Hello Kitty alfajores, a batch of ice cream, and I still have so many ideas on what to use it for! Posts to come on that later!

Enjoy!

hello kitty alfajores - dulce de leche sandwich cookies

The first time I had alfajores, I was blown away. My best friend from college was in town visiting with her husband and kids, and we were at the Ferry Building when her husband, who is from Argentina, spotted a stand with goodies from Argentina! Needless to say, they bought a box of alfajores for us to snack on later.

At first glance, they just looked like sandwich cookies dusted with powdered sugar. I didn't know what to expect, but as soon as I bit into that cookie, I was hooked! The cookie itself wasn't too sweet, and had a delicate, tender, and deliciously crumbly texture. Combined with the dulce de leche filling and powdered sugar on top, it was the perfect balance of sweetness, and I HAD to learn how to make them!

The day after our house guests left, I began my quest to make these addictive cookies. I made dulce de leche for the first time (post to come on that later), and then I made the cookies using this recipe. When it came time to roll and cut out my cookies, I of course had to make them in the shape of Hello Kitty!

Once baked, I tried the cookies, and although they were super crumbly and had a fine texture, they were a bit too egg-y for my taste (maybe from the 4 egg yolks?). So I tried this recipe instead, and while I enjoyed the taste of the cookie much better, the texture was a little more coarse than the first recipe. So I'll have to do some more experiments and somehow combine the two recipes later on!

In any case, once I filled them with homemade dulce de leche, they still tasted delicious! (I used a piping bag and medium round tip to apply the dulce de leche filling, but you could just use an offset spatula, butter knife, or spoon).

I did a final dusting of powdered sugar, and then used the back of a toothpick to trace Hello Kitty's eyes, nose, whiskers, and bow, just to define her face through all of the powdered sugar.

While these cookies are best when eaten right away, they can also be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days in an airtight container.

Just in time for for Argentina's semi-finals game in the World Cup tomorrow! Go Argentina!

chocolate coconut non-dairy popsicles

I've made these popsicles with two different recipes now, and each time they came out great! Although, both times I didn't start out with the intention to make popsicles :)

The first time I made these, I had meant to make non-dairy chocolate coconut ice cream, from the Bi-Rite book "Sweet Dreams and Sugar Cones". While the resulting ice cream had ended up tasting great, it was rock hard and almost impossible to scoop! Even after letting it thaw a bit, my scoops came out in jagged pieces. So I placed the whole container of ice cream in the refrigerator and let it melt down overnight, before re-freezing the mixture in this awesome popsicle mold.

Yummy!

The second time I made these, I had meant to make a chocolate coconut whipped frosting, for non-dairy cupcakes that I was making for my friend Reggie's daughter (who is allergic to cow's milk). I found this recipe at Oh She Glows, except that I added about 4 tablespoons of good cocoa powder, but even though I had separated the coconut cream from the milk, it still would not whip up stiff enough to be piped as frosting! So instead, I froze the mixture as popsicles, this time using a Hello Kitty popsicle mold that Reggie had bought me for a past birthday. :)

I'm so glad that both times I was able to turn my failed desserts into delicious popsicles!

baked pumpkin donuts

Last year for Halloween, I made fun jack-o-lantern cookies, based on jack-o-lanterns that we had actually carved at our house.  And the year before, I made jack-o-lantern cupcakes with a spiderweb frosting.  But this year, I didn't have time to make anything elaborate!  I was, however, able to whip up a quick batch of baked pumpkin donuts on Halloween Day!

I've been meaning to use these donut pans that my friend Reggie gave me for Christmas a while back, but never had a chance until now!  For the donut batter, I found a great recipe at Kirbie's Cravings, and they were a breeze to make!  You basically just combine all the wet ingredients, and then add the dry ingredients, and then you're done!  

After filling the donut pans 3/4 full, I baked them for 15 minutes and they were done.

After they cooled for a bit, they went for a quick dip in a cinnamon and sugar mixture.

And then, they were ready to be eaten!  

They turned out really moist and flavorful, had great texture, and were full of pumpkin flavor.

I shared a few with my neighbor Cindy, and I just love the picture that she posted on Instagram!

I had enough batter to make some mini donut as well, using this pan (also from Reggie - thanks Reggie!)

One thing to note is that these donuts are best eaten the day they are made.  I ate some the next day and they were quite soggy.  But it wasn't anything that a quick dip in cinnamon sugar couldn't fix! :) Perhaps next time I'll store them unadorned and then dip them in cinnamon sugar until right before serving.

One last note, I also used the same batter to test out baking them in muffin tins, topped with a brown sugar and cinnamon crust before baking, and these still tasted great the next day!  

Enjoy!

coffee bean ice cream

My friend Reggie's husband LOVES coffee ice cream, and since they were coming to visit I wanted to make them a batch.  Normally I make my coffee oreo ice cream for them, but this time I wanted to try serving them a new coffee bean ice cream recipe that I found in my David Lebovitz ice cream book.  I had made it once over the summer and I think I like it even better than the coffee oreo!

This ice cream starts with infusing warm milk and heavy cream with whole coffee beans.  I let mine steep for over an hour before continuing with cooking the egg yolk custard base.  The final step was to add a teeny bit of finely ground espresso bean before letting that mixture sit in the fridge until cold, and finally churning it in the ice cream machine.

I love the look of the flecks of ground espresso bean!  And the ice cream came out smooth and creamy, and rich with deep coffee flavor.  I hope this becomes their new favorite coffee ice cream too!

s'mores cupcakes

This post is long overdue!  Way back in June, we went on a family camping trip with my friend Reggie and her friend Showshan.  I wanted to make something for dessert, and since s'mores are the ultimate camping dessert, I made s'mores cupcakes!  I've actually wanted to make these cupcakes for some time now, after seeing these s'mores cupcakes from Xiaolu at 6 Bittersweets.  But I never had an occasion until now.

Since Reggie's daughter is allergic to dairy, I changed the recipe slightly.  At the bottom of the cupcake was a graham cracker crust, which I made with oil instead of butter.  Then came a moist chocolate cake, with which I substituted soymilk instead of milk.

Then it was all topped with a marshmallow frosting.  The original recipe called for a frosting made with whipped uncooked egg whites, but since I knew we'd be camping and didn't want to have to worry about keeping the cupcakes cool, I made this homemade marshmallow frosting instead.  All it contained was water, gelatin, and sugar - and it tasted exactly like marshmallows!

Once the marshmallow frosting was whipped to the right consistency, I piped it on as fast as I could before it cooled and set.  By the time I piped the last few cupcakes, the marshmallow frosting had become so difficult to pipe, it was like squeezing a giant solid marshmallow through the piping tip!

The final touch was toasting the marshmallow frosting with my creme brulee torch.  I wanted the frosting to be like freshly toasted marshmallows while we were camping, so I even brought my torch along to the campsite! Hope everyone enjoyed them!