Eggless Chocolate Cupcake With Creamcheese-Freeze Dried Blueberry Frosting

To all my readers from the USA, Happy 4th of July. I meant to post this a little early but I came home real late after taking my son out to the beach near my hometown for the fireworks display. It wasn't  large scale as the Macy's FOJ fireworks but nevertheless they were spectacular. Never seen so much crowd in one place. It took us almost 2 hours to come home when on any other day it would take us 7 minutes tops!! That is the magic of fireworks displays! :-)
Now onto the post-
The real reason I bought the freeze-dried blueberries last month was to make this unusual frosting that I came across in Week of Menus. Was waiting for a real occasion to make it. Then came hubby's birthday and I had in mind 2 treats -- this and a cake(post coming tomorrow).

Ingredients:
For the Chocolate Cupcake:

• 1 Recipe, from my previous post

For the Cream-cheese- Freeze dried Blueberries Frosting(Frosts ~9 to 12 Cupcakes):

• 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, softened and at room temperature
• 1/2 pack/4 0z "1/3 Less Fat" Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 2 to 2-1/2 Cups Confectioner's Sugar
• 6-7 Tbsp Pulverized Freeze-dried Blueberries, available at Trader Joe's
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Procedure:

• Make the chocolate cupcake and cool it completely.

• In an electric mixer, whip both the cream-cheese and butter. Add sugar in batches and slowly incorporate.

• Add the Vanilla extract and pulverized blueberries. Mix until the frosting reaches a piping consistency.If it get slightly gooey due to warm temperature, put it in the refrigerator for 3-5 minutes.

• Fill the piping bag, attached with Wilton's 32 Tip.

• Pipe over chocolate cupcakes.

Sending this and Blueberry-Banana Milkshake as an entry to the event AFAM-Blueberries hosted at Tamalapaku, started by Priya. Many thanks to Harini of Tamalapaku for extending the due date.

Enjoy! 
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#18

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Eggless Red Velvet Cupcake With CreamCheese Frosting

Red Velvet Cupcakes are a big fat challenge. No matter what I did they always used to turn up in unappealing color of rust brown. Perhaps it was my hesitancy to add so much color to a food even though it was edible coloring and all. This time though I put a plug to my squeamishness and added more coloring to the cupcake batter.They ended up looking almost like how a RVC should look like - Classy, Special and Red! Base recipe is from here. I made a few changes and made  it egg-less.

Ingredients(Makes 6 Cupcakes):

• 3/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1 Tbsp Cocoa Powder (Do not use Dutch Cocoa)
• 1/3 Cup Sugar (Lightly powdered in a blender)
• 1/3 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 Tsp Salt
• 1/4 Cup Buttermilk
• 1/2 Tbsp Wilton's Liquid Red Food Coloring 
• 1 Tbsp Milk
• 1/3 Cup Olive Oil
• 1/8 Cup Applesauce
• 1/4 Tsp White Vinegar
• 1/4 Tsp Vanilla Extract

For the Cream-cheese Frosting (For ~8-10 Cupcakes):

• 4 Tbsp/1/2 Stick Unsalted  Butter, softened
• 1/2 Bar(4 oz) Cream-cheese (I used 1/3 Less Fat Philadelphia CC)
• 2 to 2-1/2 Cups Confectioner's Sugar
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Procedure:

• In a wide shallow bowl, add the buttermilk.

• Mix the red food coloring along with a tbsp of milk and add it to the bowl. Then add the remaining wet ingredients -- applesauce and vanilla extract to the bowl.

• Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda in another bowl. Add salt and incorporate. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix using a spatula only till combined.  Line a 6-Cup Muffin pan with wrappers.Divide the batter evenly amongst the 6 cups.

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake in the top rack anywhere from 18 to 22 minutes. Mine took only 18 minutes to bake until a tooth pick inserted in the middle came out clean. Cool completely prior to frosting.

• Make the Frosting: Whip the softened butter and cream-cheese for 3-4 minutes.

• Once well combined, add sugar in batches and the Vanilla extract too. The frosting should neither be too thick or too soft. 

• Once it reaches the piping consistency, spoon the frosting into the piping bag that is attached to Wilton's 2D tip.

• Pipe over the cupcakes. Garnish with a few crumbs, entirely optional. Keep it in the refrigerator and remove it 5 minutes prior to serving.

Enjoy! 
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#18

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Eggless Dry Fruit And Nut Cake, for Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all "Mommy" Readers!  How are you?  I am fine, thank you! Enjoy your day!
A lovely Poem honoring all moms --

More Than A Mother 
When God set the world in place,
when He hung the stars up in space,
when He made the land and the sea,
then He made you and me.

He sat back and saw all that was good,
He saw things to be as they should.
Just one more blessing He had in store;
He created a mother, but whatever for?

He knew a mother would have a special place
to shine His reflection on her child's face.
A mother will walk the extra mile
just to see her children smile.
She'll work her fingers to the bone
to make a house into a home.

A mother never pokes or pries
but stands quietly by your side,
giving you the strength you need,
encouraging you to succeed.

A mother is one who listens well,
will keep her word; will never tell.
~ Kari Keshmiry

My Mother's Day kick started on Friday morning with me having food with my kid in his classroom. I got my first gift, a potted chrysanthemum from my darling son who is asking me when it is going to bloom. With my black thumb, the opposite of a green thumb, I couldn't promise him anything. I keep reminding myself that I need to water the plant and that is a start. Anything to see my kid happy.

Today morning, as I was giving him breakfast, I almost told him that I would take a bullet for him. But since he is too young to understand I said, " Baby, I would walk upside down for you". He was like, Mommy you can't..cause your head doesn't have feet. Totally cracked me up! Man, I love listening to his childish wise-cracks. Being Aran's mom totally rocks!

This cake is for my mom, a wonderful lady who gave me the gift of life and more. Being a vegetarian, she loves all my egg-less bakes. Recipe adapted from Divine Taste. I don't have the 8" deep pan that the original recipe calls for but I do have a 7" pan. So taking cue from Gayathri's CookSpot,  I used a 7" deep cake pan and two 7oz fluted ramekins for the remaining batter.This fruit and nut rich cake doesn't have to be restricted to holiday season alone. It is a phenomenal cake and can be made round the year. The last time I made this cake, I had friends over and I didn't get a chance to take clicks of the big cake. 95% of it was gone the same day it was made. So the cross-sectional view is from those teeny heart-shape cakes. Look how moist and densely packed it is.. Umm, delicious! I will update the post with more pictures the next time I make the cake. 

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp Melted butter, for greasing the pan
• 2 Cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 Tsp Baking powder
• 1/4  + 1/4 Tsp Baking soda
• 3-1/2 Cups Mixed Dry Fruit ( 1 Cup Tunisian Dates + 1 Cup Raisin-Craisin + 1 Cup dried California "Mission" figs + 1/2 Cup dried Turkish Apricots)
• 1/2 Cup Mixed Nuts - Almonds, Walnuts, Pistachios, Pecans (your choice. I used walnuts and pistachios)
• 1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar, packed
• 1 Stick Butter (1/2 Cup)
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil 
• 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup or Date Syrup ( I used Vermont Pure Maple Syrup)
• Finely Grated Zest from a Florida Navel Orange
• 1 Cup Water
• 2 Tbsp Yogurt
• 1-1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 3/4 Tsp Allspice Powder
• 1 Cup Smoothly Mashed Potato ( I used 1 Medium Sweet Potato + 1 Medium Yukon Gold Potato)
• 40 Blanched Almonds, for garnish

Tools:

• 8" Round Deep Cake Pan Or 7" Deep Round Cake Pan + 2 7-0z fluted heart shaped  ramekins

Procedure:

• Gather all the dried fruits. Sift the flour, baking powder and 1/4 Tsp baking soda twice to combine uniformly. 

• Finely chop the dates, figs and apricots. Add them and the raisin-craisin mixture to the sauce pan.

• To the sauce pan, add the brown sugar, butter, olive oil, maple syrup,water and heat slowly on low heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to medium and allow the mixture to come to a boil, reduce the heat and then simmer for 20 minutes on low heat. Remove the sauce pan from the heat, mix in the  1 tsp baking soda and allow to cool.

• Boil the potato and sweet potato until it is fork tender. Toast the nuts and finely chop it.

• Mash the potato and sweet potato using a ricer.

• Combine mashed potato, yogurt, grated orange zest, vanilla extract and allspice.

• Incorporate the mashed potato mixture to the cooled fruit mixture.

• Stir in the flour mixture in batches. Fold the toasted chopped nuts. The batter will be sticky and dense.

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees C. Spoon the batter into an 8" round cake pan and arrange the blanched almonds decoratively over the top. Cover the top with an aluminum foil and bake the cake anywhere from 1-1/2 hours to 2 hours.Important: Check periodically after 90 minutes.  If using 7" cake pan, the baking time will be slightly less. I used 7" cake pan and 2 7 oz heart shaped ramekins. The ramekin cakes baked much quicker.

• The cake flavor intensifies over time.

Enjoy!

A similar cake with dried fruit: Eggless Tunisian Date Cake

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Egg-less Microwave Chocolate Mug Cake

BM#12: W2, Day3: Take a shortcut to indulgence with this super easy, "under 5 minutes from start to finish" Microwave Chocolate Mug Cake. How awesome is that! I have been wary of trying this in-spite of seeing it in many blogs but the first time I laid my eyes on the pictures in Edible Garden(which was a couple of weeks ago) I gave in to temptation. So recipe inspiration comes from there and also from random links from google search. 

For your Ears: I am a fan of John Abraham..Need I say more?? :). 

Ingredients:

• 4 Tbsp Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 3-1/2 Tbsp Granulated Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
• 1 Tsp Baking Powder
• 4 Tbsp Milk
• 2 Tbsp Butter
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Tsp Vinegar
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1-1/2 Tbsp Mini Chocolate Chips/Chocolate Morsels

Procedure:

• Melt the butter in a small bowl. Add the Oil, Milk, Vinegar and Vanilla Extract to this bowl.

• Add the dry ingredients in a big "microwave safe" coffee mug.

• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Using a fork, stir to incorporate. The reason a fork is essential to this step is because it can reach every nook and corner in the mug to combine the ingredients in the mug.

• Place it in the microwave with a plate underneath. The cake batter bubbles and spills over the rim of the mug.FYI, I used a mug that is 3-1/2" tall and 3-1/2" in diameter. Use a mug taller than this if you don't want spill-overs.

• Microwave the cake for 1 minute, followed by 30 seconds and maybe another 15 or 30 seconds. Do not go over 2 minutes.No more. Please also keep in mind that this timing slightly varies from one microwave oven to another.

• Let it cool for 3-4 minutes prior to digging in.

• The crumb texture and the taste is phenomenal, for an "under 5 minute" cake. 

• Have at it..To completely scoop it out from the mug, like in the last picture, please wait for at-least 15 minutes for the cake to shrink and pull away from the sides of the mug. Then with the help of steak knife scoop it out. Else the cake will fall apart..But hey, crumbs or not, its a super tasty treat. 







Note:This cake tastes best on the same day it is made.

Sending this to Srivalli's Chocolate Mela

If you have more time then perhaps give these cakes a try:

• Vegan Chocolate Cake

• Dori's Traditional Marble Cake

Enjoy!

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Egg-less Tunisian Date, Nut, Chocolate Loaf

BM#12: W2, Day2: I love Dates. I love Nuts. I love Chocolate. With all these three combined, this loaf cake has made me yearn for more. Yum-O! It also has a little bit of coffee for that additional kick. So one could have this in the morning too.
Correction: 1 Tsp Baking Soda, I missed typing it which I have added.

For Your Ears: Feast your eyes on the cake( where the "fruit of the desert" is the star ingredient) while listening to the song "Desert Rose"

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 Cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 Cup Toasted and Coarsely Chopped Walnuts
• 1 Cup(18-20#s) Finely Chopped and pitted Tunisian Dates "Deglet Noor"
• 1/4 Cup + 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 2 Tbsp Butter + a little more for greasing the pan, at room temperature
• 3/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
• 1 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1/8 Tsp All Spice
• 3 Tbsp Low-fat Milk
• 1 Tbsp Orange Zest
• 1 Cup Hot Water +1 to 1-1/4 Tbsp Instant Coffee Granules(Nescafe/Folgers/Bru) for making "Strong Coffee"
• 1 Tbsp Flaxseed Meal + 3 Tbsp Hot Water

Procedure:

• Make strong coffee with Coffee Granules and a cup of hot water.

• Sift the flour along with cocoa powder in a bowl. Add the salt to it. 

• Chop the dates and add it to the hot coffee.

• Lid the pan and let the dates get mushy in the hot liquid. Meanwhile line a 8-1/2" X 4-1/2" loaf pan with aluminum foil and grease with a little butter.

• 15-20 minutes later, add the baking soda, orange zest to the soaked date mixture. Let it sit for 5 more minutes.

• Combine sugar, oil,butter milk and vanilla extract.

• Add the dry mixture and the flaxseed meal mixture.

• Lastly add the chopped walnuts into the cake batter.

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake at this temperature for about 45- 55 minutes or until the tooth pick inserted into the center comes clean. 

• Cool completely prior to cutting and serving.

Check out my Dutch Cocoa, Banana and Nut (Quick) Bread:

Sending this to Srivalli's Chocolate Mela

Enjoy!

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