I made these cupcakes already several weeks ago. I was inspired by a piece of orange poppyseed cake I ate in a little coffee shop in the lovely town of Dalesford, Australia. I was doing a yoga retreat not very far from Dalesford, and on our day off, we headed into Dalesford to indulge in some coffee and cake. I had never heard of orange poppyseed cake before, but was pleasantly surprised by the fresh taste.

Ingredients
125ml milk (I used soy milk)
1/3 cup poppyseeds
180g softened unsalted butter
220g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
Finely grated zest of 3 oranges
125ml freshly squeezed orange juice
375g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder

For the syrup
125ml freshly squeezed orange juice
55g caster sugar
20g unsalted butter
Zest of 2 oranges

Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a muffin pan or line base with papercups.
Place milk in a bowl and stir in poppyseeds. Let stand for 20 minutes.

Beat butter, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and pale. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Gently fold in zest, juice and poppyseed mixture. Sift flour and baking powder over top and fold in. Spoon mixture into pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Meanwhile, place syrup ingredients in a pan over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves and butter melts. Turn heat to high and simmer for 2 minutes. While the cupcakes are still warm, pierce holes in the top with a skewer and pour over the hot syrup and zest. Serve warm or cold.

I’ve been wanting to try out vegan cupcakes for a while now. Not only do they have the advantage of being dairy free (for my colleges who are allergic to dairy), but they’re also egg free, which is great ’cause with all the cupcake and pie baking I’ve been doing lately I feel like I’ve been eating way too many eggs.
I found a great looking website with lots of vegan cupcake recipes and I’m sure I’m going to try out many of these recipes. The first one I’ve tried is the Vegan Cappuccino Cupcakes recipe. And they are absolutely delicious . You wouldn’t know they’re vegan if you didn’t know it. I love the texture, and they’re very moist. There’s the hint of coffee, but it’s not overwhelming, mmm…

Ingredients (for about 13 cupcakes)
250 g all-purpose flour
250 g organic unbleached sugar
65g unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ts baking powder
1/2 ts salt
60 g butter (melted)
120 ml apple sauce
60 ml soy yogurt
3 Ts instant coffee granules — (espresso powder)
120 ml warm water
2 ts vanilla extract

Frosting
100 g powdered sugar
110 g butter, softened
60 ml vanilla soy milk
1 1/2 ts vanilla extract

Heat oven to 180°C.
Lightly coat 13 standard-size muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
Dissolve coffee powder in warm water and set aside.
Whisk together flour, organic unbleached sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.
Stir together butter, apple sauce, soy yogurt, dissolved espresso and vanilla in a large bowl.
Stir in the flour mixture just until blended into a thick batter.
Spoon batter evenly into prepared muffin cups, filling each cup about 3/4 full.
Bake in the oven at 180°C for 17 to 20 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched.
Let cool completely.

For the frosting mix butter (at room temperature or even a little bit softer), soy milk, and vanilla with an electric mixer. Blend in the powdered sugar and mix for a few minutes.
Just before serving, frost each cupcake with a tablespoonful of whipped topping.
Sprinkle with cocoa powder through a fine-mesh sieve.




Ingredienten (voor ongeveer 13 cupcakes)
250 g bloem
250 g ruwe rietsuiker
65g ongezoete cacaopoeder
1 tl bakpoeder
1/2 tl zout
60 g plantaardige boter (gesmolten)
120 ml appel compot
60 ml soja yoghurt
3 el instant koffiepoeder — (espresso poeder)
120 ml warm water
2 tl vanille extract

Crème au beurre
100 g bloemsuiker
110 g plantaardige boter, zacht, maar niet helemaal gesmolten
60 ml vanille soja melk
1 1/2 tl vanille extract

Verwarm de oven voor op 180°C.
Vet 13 muffin cups lichtjes in met boter.
Los ‘t koffiepoeder op in warm water en zet aan de kant.
Klop de bloem, suiker, cacaopoeder, bakpoeder en zout samen in een kleine kom.
Meng de gesmolten boter, appelcompot, soja yoghurt, koffieoplossing en vanille extract te samen in een grote kom.
Roer het bloem mengsle er doorheen tot je een mooi dik beslag hebt.
Verdeel het beslag gelijkmatig in de cupcake vormpjes, zodat elk vormpje voor ongeveer 3/4de vol is.
Bak in de oven op 180°C voor 17 tot 20 minuten of tot het midden terugspringt wanneer je de cupcake lichtjes aanraakt.
Laat volledig afkoelen

Voor ‘t maken van de creme au beurre mix je de boter (op kamert° of zelfs een klein beetje zachter), de soja melk en ‘t vanille extract met de elektrische mixer. Voeg de bloemsuiker er aan toe en mix enkele minuten.
Versier de cupcakes met ongeveer een eetlepel creme au beurre vlak voor ‘t serveren. En sprinkel er nog wat cacaopoeder over heen.

recipe will follow…

After that massive overdose of chocolate last week I wanted to make something light and fresh this week. My favorite lazy day cake is made with a frangipane cake mix with raspberries. It’s the easiest cake ever since you only have to add butter and eggs, but since using a cake mix is not really all that experimental, I tried to make it from scratch. Plus this has one really big advantage, since one of my guinea pigs who try out the cupcakes, is allergic to cow’s milk, I could replace the milk by soy milk.
I found a recipe for an almond cake on allrecipes.com and simply added the raspberries. I think next time I will reduce the amount of sugar a little bit, because I found the cakes slightly too sweet (I bet 200 g sugar is more than enough).

Ingredients (for 24 small cupcakes)
85 g butter, at room temperature (I used non dairy butter)
85 g apple sauce (make it fresh, simply core, peel and cut an apple in small pieces, add 60 ml water, cook until soft and blend it)
300 g sugar (I used a mix of white and cane sugar)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
235 g all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
65 g ground almonds
90 ml milk (cow’s or soy milk)
250-300 g raspberries (frozen or fresh)

Preheat oven to 175 degrees °C.
Grease the cupcake tin, or use paper liners. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and ground almonds. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the apple sauce. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the almond extract and vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into the prepared cupcake tin. Add about 3 raspberries per cupcake.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool.



Ingredienten (voor 24 kleine cupcakes)
85 g boter, op kamer temperatuur (Ik gebruikte volledig plantaardige boter)
85 g appelcompot (heel gemakkelijk vers gemaakt door appel te schillen en in kleine stukjes te snijden, voeg 60 ml water toe, kook of verwarm in de microgolf tot de appel zacht is, en mix met staafmixer of blender)
300 g suiker (Ik heb een mix van witte en ruwe rietsuiker gebruikt)
3 eieren
1 theelepel amandel extract
1 1/2 theelepel vanille extract
235 g tarwebloem
1 1/4 theelepel bakpoeder
1/4 theelepel
65 g gemalen amandelen
90 ml melk (koeien- of sojamelk)
250-300 g frambozen (diepvries of vers)

Verwarm de oven voor op 175 °C.
Vet de cupcake vorm in en bestuif met bloem, of gebruik papieren of cilicone vormpjes. Meng bloem, bakpoeder, zout en gemalen amandelen samen in een kom. Zet apart.
Mix boter en suiker in een grote kom tot een licht en luchtig geheel. Klop de eieren er een per een bij, en voeg daarna amandel en vanille extract toe. Voeg de appel compot erbij. En roer afwisselend bloem en melk erdoor tot je een glad beslag hebt bereikt. Giet het beslag in de cupcake vormpjes en voeg ongeveer 3 frambozen per cupcake toe.
Bak in de voorverwarmde oven voor 30 tot 40 minuten, of tot je er een tandenstoker, in het midden ingestoken, droog uithaald. Laat afkoelen.

Oh yes, I sure feel chocolaty this weekend
This week’s cupcake experiment are chocolate orange cupcakes with chocolate ganache frosting and candied orange peel. I found the recipe on the BBC Good Food website and since all the ratings were so positive I decided to give it a try.
I think this is possibly my favorite cupcake so far, it tastes quite fresh with the orange and it since it has fruit in it, it seems a bit more healthier than any other chocolate cake (yeah, who am I kidding this cake ain’t that healthy but it sure is good). The cake has a very nice texture and is very moist.
As usual I was not very patient, so I ended up pouring the chocolate ganache over the cupcakes way to early before it got really thick. It didn’t spoil the taste of the cupcakes, but I think it would probably be even better to wait so you can have a nice thick layer of ganache on top.
I also made the candied orange peel myself, which is pretty easy, but it takes very long for it to dry (over a day). So if you want to make it yourself be sure to make the candied orange peel well in advance. You can find a recipe for candied orange peel here.

Ingredients (for about 18 cupcakes)
1 orange
100g dark chocolate , broken into pieces
3 eggs
280g caster sugar (I used a mix of white and cane sugar)
240ml sunflower oil
25g cocoa powder
250g plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
orange candied peel , to decorate

For the chocolate ganache
200g plain chocolate , broken into pieces
225ml double cream

Pierce the orange with a skewer (right through). Cook in boiling water for 30 minutes until soft. Cut the orange in half and remove the pips. Whizz the whole orange (yes, also the peel) in a food processor until smooth; let cool.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Grease the cupcake tin, or use paper liners. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave for 2 minutes on High, stirring after 1 minute (I tried the microwave for melting the chocolate for the first time and I have to say it’s much easier and less messy) . Let cool.

In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs, sugar and oil. Gradually beat in the puréed orange, then stir in the cooled melted chocolate. Sift in the cocoa, flour and baking powder. Mix well and pour into the cupcake tin. Bake in the centre of the oven for 25 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed in the middle. (Check after 25 minutes and cover with foil if it is browning too much.) Allow to cool completely.

Make the chocolate ganache: put the chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to the boil and pour over the chocolate. Leave for 2 minutes, then stir until smooth. Set aside until firm enough to spread over the cake – up to 1½ hours.
Using a palette knife, swirl the ganache over the top of the cupcakes. Decorate with strips of candied orange peel.

Ingredienten (voor ongeveer 18 cupcakes)
1 sinaasappel
100g pure chocolate , in stukjes gebroken
3 eieren
280g suiker  (Ik heb een mix van witte en ruwe rietsuiker gebruikt))
240ml zonnebloemolie
25g ongezoet cacao poeder
250g gewone tarwe bloem
1½ theelepel bakpoeder
gekonfijte sinaasappelschil , om te versieren

Voor de chocolade ganache
200g pure chocolade , in stukken gebroken
225ml room

Doorprik de sinaasappel met een spies (helemaal doorheen, ik vermoed dat dit voorkomt dat de sinaasappel openbarst). Kook voor 30 minuten in kokend water tot de sinaasappel zacht is. Snij de sinaasappel in 2 en haal de pitjes eruit. Blend de volledige sinaasappel met schil en al in de blender of met een staafmixer tot een glad geheel. Laat afkoelen.

Verwarm de oven voor op 180°C.

Vet de cupcake vorm in, of gebruik papieren of silicone cupcake vormpjes. Smelt de chocolade  au bain marie, of in de microgolf oven (2 minuten, eventje roeren na 1 minuut) (Ik heb voor de eerste keer chocolade gesmolten in de microgolfoven en moet zeggen dat ‘t veel gemakkelijker is en minder rommelig dan au bain marie) . Laat afkoelen.

Klop de eieren lichtjes met de suiker en de olie in een grote kom. Voeg de gepureerde sinaasappel geleidelijk aan toe, en roer daarna de gesmolten chocolade er door heen. Zeef de cacao, bloem en het bakpoeder en voeg toe aan ‘t mengsel. Meng goed en giet in de cupcake vorm. Bak voor 25 minuten in het midden van de oven, of tot de cake terugspringt als je er zachtjes op duwt in ‘t midden.  (Check na 25 minuten en bedek met aluminium folie als de cupcakes te donker worden). Laat volledig afkoelen.

Maak de chocolade ganache: doe de chocolade in een  hittebestendige kom. Breng de room aan de kook en giet over de chocolader. Laat 2 minuten staan, en roer dan tot een glad geheel. Zet opzij tot de ganache stevig genoeg is om te smeren (ongeveer 1 1/2 uur)
Smeer de ganache met een paletmes op de cupcakes en versier met gekonfijte sinaasappelschil.

Smakelijk!

This week’s cupcake is a healthy one with carrots, apple, nuts, coconut and raisins. So no guilty feelings for stuffing yourself with these delicious cupcakes
I used only half (125g) sugar, but I think they would taste better with a little bit more.

ingredients (for about 18 cupcakes)
250 g all-purpose flour
250 g cane sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
220 g shredded carrots (2 medium sized carrots)
70 g raisins
60 g chopped walnuts
45 g unsweetened flaked coconut
1 apple – peeled, cored and shredded
3 eggs
120 ml vegetable oil
120 ml unsweetened apple sauce (very easy to make yourself by peeling, coring and cutting an apple in small pieces, add 60 ml water and heat up in a saucepan until the apple gets soft, then blend it, let it cool before using in this recipe)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 175 °C.
Grease 18 muffin cups, or line with paper muffin liners.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the carrot, raisins, nuts, coconut, and apple.
In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, apple sauce, oil, and vanilla. Stir egg mixture into the carrot/flour mixture, just until moistened. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
Bake in preheated oven for 23 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.




ingredienten (voor ongeveer 18 cupcakes)
250 g tarwe bloem
250 g ruwe rietsuiker
2 theelepels bicarbonaat
2 theelepels kaneel
1/4 theelepel zout
220 g geraspte wortelen (2 medium grootte wortelen)
70 g rozijnen
60 g walnoten, in stukjes gehakt
45 g ongezoete gedroogde kokosnoot
1 appel, geschild, klokhuis verwijderd en geraspt
3 eieren
120 ml plantaardige olie
120 ml ongezoete appelcompot (kan je heel gemakkelijk zelf maken door een appel, geschild en in stukjes gesneden te koken in 60 ml water tot de appel zacht wordt, pureer ‘t en laat afkoelen alvorens ‘t te gebruiken in dit recept)
2 theelepels vanille extract

Verwarm de oven voor op 175°C.Vet 18 cupcake vormpjes in of leg papieren vormpjes in de bakvorm.

Meng in een grote kom de bloem, suiker, het bicarbonaat, kaneel en zout. Roer de wortelen, rozijnen, kokosnoot en geraspte appel erdoor.
Klop in een andere kom de eieren, de appelcompot, olie en vanille. Roer het eiermengsel doorheen het wortel-bloemmengsel tot een mooi beslag. Lepel het beslag in de cupcake vormpjes.
Bak in de voorverwarmde oven voor 23 minuten, tot een tandenstoker in ‘t midden er droog uitkomt.