Picture it. November, 2009. A well-used kitchen with green walls, piles of dishes, and a faint aroma of something long-since burnt. Hard core kids are milling about, some sitting on couches, others standing with drinks in hand, chatting with each other on the bands who have and have not played. It's a cold night in Broad Ripple, and I'm there with my best friend to see a show featuring several of our friends.
On this night I did something a little different, though. I brought cupcakes. And not just any cupcakes. These little morsels were laced with Guinness and Bailey's. Totally prepared was I to unleash all that was holy and glorious about a cupcake whose ingredients had included both butter and beer. Bring on the praise!
Then I had an epiphany.
While I watched my several of my peers devour the cupcakes, a select number of them stood back, looking forlornly over at the counter where my confections were sitting. And then I realized my faux pas.
You see, along with an appetite for no-frills music, the hard core scene has a high number of straight edges and - more importantly - vegans. And I had neglected to include them in my considerations when putting together my recipe earlier that day.
So while the cupcakes were a success, I silently vowed to go back to the drawing board and add an entire menu full of vegan cupcakes to my arsenal.
Enter tonight's confection concoction: The Peanut Butter Vixens.
Peanut Butter Vixens
The Cupcake Base:
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur brand)
2 tbsps cornstarch
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (double if you use unsalted peanut butter)
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsps vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract (or just more vanilla)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F and line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2. Whisk the soy milk an vinegar with a fork in a measuring cup and let it sit to get all good and curdled (I know it sounds gross, but trust me... you need to do this).
3. Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl and mix. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, use a handheld mixer at medium speed to cream the margarine and sugar for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy - DO NOT OVER BEAT. Beat in the vanilla and other extract, if using, then alternate beating in the soy milk mixture and dry ingredients, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl a couple of times.
5. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with a spoon and spatula. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and they are bouncy in texture when you pat the tops (it's the "love pat" for cupcakes). Let stand on the counter for ten minutes, then transfer the cupcakes from the baking pan to a wire rack to complete total cool down before frosting. (At this point, I decided to shove a vegan chocolate truffle into the center of each cooled cupcake, just before frosting. You don't have to do this step, but it makes for a delightful little surprise when you bite into them!).
The Frosting:
1/4 cup margarine, room temperature
2 tbsps vegan shortening (Earth Balance sticks are my favorite for this)
1/3 cup creamy organic peanut butter
1 tbsp molasses (optional but highly recommended)
1 1/2 tspns vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
1 to 2 tbsps rice milk, soy milk or soy creamer (I used vanilla soy milk for both the cupcakes and the frosting)
Chocolate Sprinkles
1. With an electric handheld mixer, cream together margarine and shortening at medium speed until smooth.
2. Add peanut butter, molasses, and vanilla, and beat until VERY smooth (two minutes at least).
3. Beat in sugar; mixture will be very stiff and dry. Dribble in soy milk a little at a time, beating on high and continuously until frosting is a pale tan color and super fluffy.
4. Put frosting into a zip lock back and leave open. Snip of the corner about a 1/4 inch, and pipe onto tops of cupcakes.
5. In a shallow bowl, put about a half cup of chocolate sprinkles into the dish. Take each frosted cupcake and "roll" in the sprinkles to cover the frosting.
6. Enjoy!