Karina's Mini Market Treats Meet Week Two...

Round Two mini vegan cupcakes for the Ashbury Market...


I started with a big batch of my favorite vegan vanilla cake batter and divided it into 3 bowls. I went to the market to see what seasonal fruits and herbs I could acquire to come up with three different flavors.
I decided on: Raspberry- Ginger, Spiced Pear-Mint, and Spicy Chocolate-Chili.


In the food processor I pureed a carton of fresh washed raspberries, about a tbl of chopped fresh ginger, some agave and lime. I added this sweet and tarty mix to the first bowl.


For the second, I pureed two extremely ripe pears, a handful washed mint, agave, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne and lime and added that to the next bowl...



Lastly I melted about a cup of vegan chocolate chips and added sea salt, cayenne pepper and chili pepper powder to it.



I mixed this together. I continued to add more cayenne and chili powder until I was satisfied with the kick.


Perhaps it was the fresh fruit, but for some reason, the first two didn't rise as much as usual..


On the other hand, the chocolate minis rose a little too much and overflowed into each other. I was upset at first and thought they might be ruined, but they tasted delicious and I remembered there is always hope in saving the aesthetic of your cake (or cupcakes) with some good old reliable frosting. I cut the size of mini cupcakes I was looking for out of the mass, leaving the excess, overcooked tops behind. I packed them tightly with my fingers and placed them in mini cupcake sleeves.


I made three different batches of frosting, all starting with earth balance, powdered sugar, sea salt, cinnamon, agave and vanilla. For the first one, I added raspberries and ginger, the second, mint and pear, and the third, with chocolate, cayenne, and chili powder.


Not a flawless batch shape wise, but the flavors were all still really really good and with the frosting and garnishing, they even managed to look pretty cute...



After everything they were a hit with friends, roomies, and co-workers, and I even sold some at the market!

Karina Ups the Stakes for her Cupcakes...

I got to chatting with owner of our neighborhood market and I mentioned that I baked gourmet cupcakes on the side. Being as generous and friendly as always, he suggested that I bring a batch by to possibly sell them in the cafe. I gladly agreed!


I happened to have some left over lavender in the kitchen, and since it has always been one of signature flavors in my baking, I thought it was only appropriate to utilize it for my first sampling.

I went ahead and took my favorite go-to vegan cake recipe, making it with lavender and fresh ginger, and made a few batches of cupcakes.


For the frosting, I decided to add blueberries and ginger to my lavender-infused powdered sugar (pic above) that I had left sitting overnight.


I added several scoops of softened earth balance, agave, cinnamon, a few shakes of sea salt and a sprinkle of cayenne for some more kick. I would give you exact measurements but I always just improvise until I like the texture and flavor. I threw this all in the food processor so the blueberries and ginger would be well integrated and not chunky.


My only regret here was that I did not sift out the lavender out of the powdered sugar for the frosting. The floral bitterness was almost too intense and I had to add some more agave and powdered sugar to try and mellow it out, which worked well enough. (I find adding whole lavender buds to batter that will be cooked in the oven works out great, but eating them raw in a frosting is a bit too much, even for me.) All in all, I still think this was one of the yummiest flavor combos I have made so far- especially when added to the mouth-watering cupcakes!!!!


Favorite Part always is the decorating. I chopped up fresh figs and got out the candied ginger. I also pulled out the piping tools my mom got me for Christmas and experimented with what designs I could make...




The market owner loved them and put them in the refrigerator to test how long they would last. A week later when I stopped by, we pulled them out and they were still incredibly moist and delicious (minus the fresh fig which we had to take off). He asked me to start bringing by mini-cupcakes in three different flavors to start putting in the display case next week- wish me luck!

ariel's making ... a strawberry ginger galette

oh strawberries! how i love thee! i usually never get a chance to bake with strawberries (we usually gobble them all up too fast!) but this time i bought 1/2 a flat of them at the farmers' market, so there were actually some still intact when a dinner party came-a-callin'!


for this dessert, you'll need:

a crust ...

1/2 c. each of organic whole wheat flour and organic unbleached white flour
1/2 c. organic corn meal
1/4 c. organic fair-trade sugar
1/2 stick organic butter
1 cup organic ginger tea, chilled

mix all the dry ingredients together, then add the cold butter in small chunks and mix until it's incorporated ... then add your liquid. form it into a ball and then roll it out into a big circle and place on a greased cookie sheet.




on the crust, spread 2 T. of organic jam (i used raspberry) and 1 T. fresh organic grated ginger.


add sliced strawberries (about 1 basket), fold in the edges and top with 1 T. of organic fair-trade sugar.




bake at 350* for about 45 minutes or until golden. serve with cream or ice cream.


elegant ... yet ... sooo easy!

kisses,

ariel

Karina Makes Vegan Thai Pizza!

I was cleaning out my kitchen cabinet as I was pondering what I could make for dinner, and found some peanuts, polenta and coconut milk. I have been craving pizza, so I decided to make a spicy coconut thai pizza sauce with a cornmeal crust and go from there.

In a food processor I pureed peanuts, a 1/2 can coconut milk, a cup or two of fresh cilantro, 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, 2 tbls chopped fresh ginger, a can of organic garbanzo beans, fresh lime juice, 1-2 tbl tahini, cinnamon, cayenne, paprika, salt, agave, and water until I got a slightly sweet, smoothly spicy sauce I could eat by the spoonful.

I took my polenta (or yellow cornmeal- a little over 1/2 cup), 2 tbls baking soda, 2 tbl olive oil, 1 cup of unbleached flour, a pinch of salt, and 1/2 cup of water and made my dough. I put all of my ingredients in my food processor until it formed a large, smooth, shiny dough ball, but you can absolutely hand knead in for about 10 minutes to get the same outcome.

I draped a damp kitchen towel over my dough and let sit on the counter for several hours until I was ready for it.

30 minutes before my dinner guests arrived, I coated my cookie sheet with olive oil and a light dusting of flour. I patted my hands in flour to keep it from sticking, and spread out the dough (with and aid of a glass jar) to cover it completely.

I spread out my sauce evenly so it was not too thick and heavy, and sprinkled vegan almond cheese that I shredded on top of that.

I cut up fresh, organic crimini mushrooms, red bell peppers, yellow squash, red onion, cilantro, strips of eggplant (rubbed in olive oil and salt), peanuts and small orange segments. I sprinkled with salt and pepper and put into the oven at 500* for about 12-14 minutes.

The only downfall was that it was gone too soon!

Karina was hired to make a cake!

The dust (or baking powder) was settling after Daisy's wedding cake and I found myself ansy for the next baking challenge. Thankfully, my co-worker Amanda approached me about making her boyfriend's birthday cake and I gladly accepted the job.

The only request was a rum cake, so I started researching various recipes and jotted some notes to spring me off in the process. I decided to do a banana ginger rum cake and wanted to decorate with fried plantains and candied thyme. I doubled everything I'm about to tell you because she requested a cake for about 30 or so.

To start:
In one bowl, mix 3 cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, & a few shakes of salt.

In another bowl, mix 3/4 cup softly melted butter with 1 cup cane sugar & 1 cup brown sugar. I actually mixed it with my hands to really blend it together becuase I had no electric mixer.

I switched to a metal whisk and added 3 eggs, one at a time, making sure it was well mixed.

Add 1/4 cup milk ( I used vanilla almond milk because I avoid cow's milk as much as possible!), several pours of dark rum and a splash or two of vanilla. Beat, stir or whisk until smooth and blended and then begin mixing in alternate scoops of the flour mixture and 1 cup of sour cream. (You can obviously use vegan sour cream, butter and egg replacer to make this completely vegan!).

The recipe I based this off of asked for powdered ginger but I always prefer the real, fresh thing! I added a ton of ginger and heard no complaints about it later. I wasn't fully satisfied with the flavor yet, so I mushed up two ripe bananas with some almond butter & almond milk and blended this. I also added some cayenne, cinnamon and more salt to get a delicious and dynamic batter.


The batter was getting pretty thick, so I added some more rum for fun!

I decided to throw in some pecans in the bottom of each pan for a little crunch surprise!

I filled each baking pan half way with batter and then added some amazing ginger steusal. For this streusal, simply chop up a half cup or so of crystalized ginger, 2 tbls brown sugar and 1 tbls chilled butter and mix it with your hands in a small bowl. Really pinch it together to form little clumps, then spread over your batter.

I finished off the batter in each pan until smooth on top and popped in the oven at 350*. The original recipe said for 1 hour but all my cakes were down way before this. I was using several sizes and types of cake pans, so I just kept a look out and waited for the smell and a toothpick to tell me when they were ready.

As soon as they were done, I easily slid each cake out of their pans (because I had well-greased & dusted with flour beforehand), and used a fork to puncture several holes in the tops to pour my rum syrup into.

For the rum syrup, mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar with 1/4 cup dark rum in a small sauce pan, stirring until boiling. Then add 1 1/2 tbls of chopped up butter and stir until it has all melted together. Do this right before the cakes are done so you can go right to pouring it over them while they are warm.

Pour half of the syrup over the holes in your cakes and let it soak in. Save the rest for glazing the outside, plus a little for making the candied thyme.

I completely made up how to candy the thyme, and fortunately it worked great. I just boiled each sprig in the leftover rum syrup for a minute or two and dipped them into a bowl of sugar.

I laid them out to dry and the candied thyme result was not only beautiful for a garnish, but also shockingly delicious!


For my other garnish, I wanted to experiment with fried plantains on a cake.

I bought two spotted, semi-ripe plantains and cut them in long diagonal slices. I heated vegetable oil for several minutes and carefully (with tongs) placed the slices in the oil for a minute or two on each side, until they began to turn bright yellow and gold. Then I placed them on a cookie sheet on their sides and let them dry for a bit, before placing them in a bowl of cold water with some chopped up garlic and salt in it. I soaked the plaintains in the water for about a minute, dryed them off with a towel, and placed them back into the hot oil. This time I fried them for a few minutes on each side until they turned golden brown.

Sprinkle them with sea salt and they are good to go!

I peeled some pomegrantes because I thought the seeds would be the perfect final touch with my yellow and green, and I went into the decorating zone with my extra glaze, thyme, & plantians!

Although the plantains where delicious when I made them and gorgeous as a garnish, the cake was not served until almost 8 hours later and they had dried out and become quite bitter by then. If you are going to decorate with plantains on your own cake, make sure it will be served and eaten right away!

I hate to brag but dang it was delicious!