Break Radio Silence Part Deux

Now you didn’t think I’d forget about the Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes would you? Nah, it’s not in my nature to let things slip through the cracks. That and I’m currently listening to The Ramones and The Stooges so I’m on a roll! All this energy is going straight into typing and blogging!

I’m going to be honest, the most simple thing I do in my life is eating a bowl of cereal, but as my friend Michael Spear can attest to, even that is hardly simple. So as with the Tiramisu Cupcakes, there are a few flavor enhancing steps added to the process. I don’t take shortcuts, so if you’re a Betty Crocker or Rachel Ray kind of person in the kitchen, you’re in the wrong place.

On to the recipe!

Hazelnuts

• 1 Cup Filberts/Hazelnuts
• Sheet Pan

1. Preheat your oven to 350F and toast the Filberts for 10 minutes. Once they become fragrant remove from the oven and pan into a kitchen towel. Allow to cool.
2. Making sure the nuts are securely tucked into the towel, roll your hand around the towel on your counter top. What this does is remove the skins off of the nuts so you are left with the beautiful lightly toasted little Hazelnut! Discard the skins and reserve the nuts for later.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake (Yield 24 cupcakes or 1 double layer 8″ Cake)

• 2 cups + 2 tablespoons Soymilk, unsweetened and plain
• 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups Sugar
• 2-3 teaspoons Hazelnut Extract (expensive, but worth every penny I promise!)(See quick tip below for an alternative)
• 1/4 cup Safflower Oil
• 2 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup Dark Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
• Toasted Hazelnuts

1. Keep your oven on at 350F and prepare your cupcake tins.
2. We’re making Vegan Buttermilk again! Vigorously whisk the daylights out of soymilk and vinegar and set aside to thicken for 5-10 minutes.
3. In your mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.
4. Once the buttermilk is ready, add the sugar and hazelnut extract whisking to return to a frothy state. Slowly add the oil, while whisking, to incorporate the fats and maintain the desired texture of the buttermilk.
5. Turn on your mixer to a low speed, using the paddle attachment, and slowly add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients. Once the liquid is added scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and turn the speed up to a medium-high speed for about 20 seconds, then scrape the sides of the bowl once more. Return the speed to a medium-high speed and beat for a few seconds more or until the major lumps have been beaten out and the mixture looks billowy and luxuriously smooth.
6. Immediately fill your lined cupcake tins with the cake batter filling it 3/4 of the way full. Then for a secret surprise inside, I like to drop one Filbert in the center of the cupcake. As they bake the batter overtakes the nut and right below the surface lays a lovely little nut for you, your friends, or family to bite into! That and the oils from the nut add to the flavor of the cake!
7. Pop the cupcakes in the oven for 18-21 minutes. You want them bounce back at the touch of your finger or you can do the toothpick poke test. When the toothpick comes out clean from the cake they are fully baked!
8. Cool the cupcakes for 5 minutes in the tins then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercream

• 1/2 tub Tofutti Cream Cheese, cold
• 6 ounces Earth Balance, cold
• 3 cups Powdered Sugar, sifted
• 1/2 cup Dark Unsweetened Cocoa Powder, sifted
• 1 teaspoon Hazelnut Extract
• Optional: Vanilla Beans from one pod
• Non Dairy Milk, on hand to thin if necessary
• Toasted Hazelnuts

1. Combine the Tofutti and the Earth Balance in your mixing bowl and beat until combined. A very important thing to keep in mind that Vegan “fats” have a higher water content than their dairy cousins, so start cold and DO NOT over mix. The water will separate and you will be left with something…well, weird.
2. Once the mixture is smooth add the (optional) vanilla beans, Hazelnut Extract, Cocoa Powder, and powdered sugar in small stages (3 is a nice number), start on a low speed and work up to a medium-high speed fully incorporating the sugar until the mixture is smooth.
3. Feel free to taste test your buttercream as you go along. I know I do. Sometimes I want the chocolate flavor lighter, or darker. Same with the Hazelnut, if you want Nutella flavored frosting you’re going to want to add more. With chocolate buttercreams I like to keep them a little bit stiffer than vanilla based buttercreams. I don’t know, maybe it’s something about me viewing Chocolate as being more robust and luxurious. Again, you don’t want this to be stiff, envision a thick Chocolate Mousse and you’re on the right track.
4. Fill your piping bag with a star tip 3/4 of the way full. Maintaining a light hand pipe the the buttercream starting on the edge of the cupcake and working your way in pipe in 3 turns. Do not add too much frosting to the cupcake, we don’t need to over power the cake. If you love frosting, save some to eat later with a spoon, but please respect the cake and it’s flavor.
5. Roughly chop up some of our reserved Filberts and place them on the buttercream to your liking. Remember, these are your cupcakes! Have fun with it, be relaxed and make them look like you want them to! No apologies and no excuses! Just love them and all their little imperfections!
6. Bon appetite!

Quick Tip:

• If spending $5 to $6 on Hazelnut Extract is a little hard to swallow (and I don’t blame you) add some additional Hazelnuts to the toasting process and after removing the skin place about 1/2-3/4 cup in your food processor and grind until a powder is formed. Like Hazelnut flour! Whisk into your flour mixture and reduce the flour by 2 tablespoons for every 1/4 cup of nuts you add. Then proceed as usual!

Break Radio Silence

Vegan Tiramisu and Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes

There is no denying that there has been a serious lack of posts on this site as of late, but that is not to say that I have not been busy in the kitchen. In fact it would be fair for you to make the assumption that the less I post on here (or any of my online outlets) the busier I am.

I do bring tidings of great twitterpation! In the culinary world we refer to it as Wedding Season. The time of year when brides-to-be are making their preparations for the big day. I had the great privilege of not only making two new acquaintances, as well as being invited to create the wedding dessert spread for Brianna and Aaron! Seriously a couple of sweethearts. I am always so inspired by people with genuine energy and zeal for living.

Right off the bat they won me over with their flavor selection. Chocolate Hazelnut and most importantly Tiramisu! My goodness is there anything better than Tiramisu. No, no there isn’t. The fun part about all of this is not only do they want cupcakes for their wedding, they have requested that they be Vegan.

If you are at all familiar with Tiramisu you can see what I mean about it being challenging. How you recreate a custardy, egg-ridden, mascarpone cheese laden dessert with no animal product and in cupcake form?! Well, I’m glad you asked!

As I have previously mentioned and will continually remind you, I’m Italian and I have a younger sister who’s favorite dessert EVER is Tiramisu. So for the many years that I spent as a Vegan I had some serious motivation to get this dessert right. Two things I will say on the subject of Vegan products and then we’ll move on to the good stuff. Earth Balance and Tofutti Cream Cheese are gifts from Heaven for the Vegan community. Straight up.

So having these two gifts at my disposal it was really just a matter of recreating the familiar flavors of tiramisu and reconstructing it in a different form.

The base for Tiramisu are little, soft biscuits called Lady Fingers. They have a delightful crust on them so they soak up the espresso (and booze) without becoming soggy. So for the cake aspect, rather than combining the espresso and the Amaretto Liqueur for the soaking liquid, I made an Amaretto flavored cake. For the espresso soaking liquid I pressed freshly ground Espresso beans at double strength, then combined it with Kahlua and a dash of sugar over a medium-high heat in a saucepan to burn away the alcohol and intensify the flavors. The buttercream is where it got a little bit tricky and slightly fancy. Ordinarily if I’m going to be making a cream cheese buttercream, I use a 1:2 ratio of butter (Earth Balance) to cream cheese (Tofutti), in this case though I reversed ratio. I used 12 ounces of cream cheese to 6 ounces of butter. The Mascarpone in the Tiramisu is what gives the dessert that luscious, full and soft mouth feel. To round out the flavor of the Tofutti and the Earth Balance I added Vanilla Beans from two pods and added just a dash of Amaretto. All right, enough back-story.

Espresso Soaking Liquid

• 4 ounces strongly brewed Espresso, cooled
• 1-2 tablespoons of Kahlua or Bailey’s Coffee Liqueur
• Sugar, to taste

1. Combine the ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium-high heat and boil for a minute to burn away the alcohol.
2. Reduce to a simmer. If a skin develops on the mixture, scrape off with a spoon and discard.
3. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Amaretto Spice Cake

• 2 cups Soymilk, Unsweetened and Plain
• 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 ½ cups Sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1-2 tablespoons Amaretto Liqueur
• 2 ½ cups All Purpose Flour
• Optional: ¼ cup Cornstarch or 2 tablespoons of All Purpose Flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• ½ teaspoon of Nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon of Cinnamon
• ¼ cup of Safflower Oil

1. Preheat your oven to 350ºF and prepare your cupcake tins.
2. To start, we’ll be making Vegan Buttermilk. To do this combine the Soymilk and Apple Cider Vinegar in a mixing bowl and whisk the ever loving daylights out of it until it submits to your authority and becomes frothy and light. Set aside to thicken for 5-10 minutes.
3. In the bowl of your mixer, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt (also the Cornstarch if you choose to use it. I typically only use the cornstarch when I am adding wet ingredients such as fruit).
4. Once your Vegan Buttermilk is nice and thickened we’ll be adding the sugar, vanilla extract, and Amaretto. Whisk until the mixture has become frothy once more.
5. Next, while adding the oil it is important to whisk the milk mixture as you slowly pour in the oil as to incorporate the fats and maintain a lightness to the buttermilk.
6. Turn on your mixer to a low speed, using the paddle attachment, and slowly add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients. Once the liquid is added scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and turn the speed up to a medium-high speed for about 20 seconds, then scrape the sides of the bowl once more. Return the speed to a medium-high speed and beat for a few seconds more or until the major lumps have been beaten out and the mixture looks billowy and luxuriously smooth.
7. Immediately fill your lined cupcake tins with the cake batter filling it 3/4 of the way full. We want a level cupcake, not a muffin top!
8. Pop the cupcakes in the oven for 18-21 minutes. You want them to be a rich, golden brown.
9. Cool the cupcakes for 5 minutes in the tins then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Using a straw, poke a hole in the tops of the cupcakes being sure to only go down half way! Spoon a small amount of the espresso liquid into the hole, then lightly dip the top of the cupcake in the espresso as well. We want a soaked cake, not a soggy one. Pop them into the freezer for 10-15 minutes to help set the liquid.

Vanilla Bean Cream Topping

• Tub of Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese, cold
• 6 ounces Earth Balance, cold
• 3-4 cups sifted Powdered Sugar
• 2 pods of Vanilla Beans, split and scraped (reserve pods for future use)
• 1 teaspoon of Amaretto
• Non-dairy milk, used if necessary for thinning

1. Combine the Tofutti and the Earth Balance in your mixing bowl and beat until combined. A very important thing to keep in mind that Vegan “fats” have a higher water content than their dairy cousins, so start cold and DO NOT over mix. The water will separate and you will be left with something…well, weird.
2. Once the mixture is smooth add the vanilla beans, Amaretto, and powdered sugar in small stages (3 is a nice number), start on a low speed and work up to a medium-high speed fully incorporating the sugar until the mixture is smooth.
3. You will know when your buttercream is ready to go when you pull your beater out of the mixture and turn it right side up and the buttercream slowly curves downward. You want it soft, but not runny.

Time to Assemble!

1. With an offset spatula or small rubber spatula, put about two tablespoons worth of frosting on the top of the cupcake. Using your secondary hand to rotate the cupcake and your dominate hand to frost, turn the cupcake as you use a circular stroking motion evenly distribute the buttercream around the entirety of the cake while still maintaining a flat top. They don’t need to be perfect, we’ll be covering them with cocoa powder!
2. Once your cupcakes are frosted, get your sifter out and lightly dust the top of the cakes with cocoa powder and just like that, you have Vegan Tiramisu Cupcakes!

It seems like a lot of steps, and it is. I can absolutely promise you this: your home will smell amazing and the sense of accomplishment that you will have once you take your first bite will make you forget about all the labor you just went through!