That’s FIERCE
When CB announced the “Is your cupcake fierce” blog event, I jumped all over it. I have been slacking in the blogging events this month (although in my defense, my key ingredient for CH still hasn’t come and I didn’t really have ~10 hrs to set aside to bake the DB bread this month).
In honor of the viewers choice designer on Project Runway, Christian, CB challenged us to make a fierce cupcake. I think my little guy is quite fierce. It looks like a normal old chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting. BUT, when you bite into it, you find that it’s anything but ordinary. You’ll taste the peanut butter and chocolate combination first, and then the chili powder/paprika taste comes in at the end. Hubby thought the flavors were too intense and could only handle one bite (he’s not a big fan of chocolate – weird, I know). I on the other hand ate 2 in a row. I styled up a couple cupcakes with some chocolate “art” on top.
Be sure to tune in to the season finale of Project Runway on March 5th. It’s guaranteed to be fierce.
Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes – adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take over The World – makes 12
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil – I used applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
12 mini PB cups
Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
Whisk the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl and set aside a few minutes to get good and curdled.
Add the sugar, oil, vanilla, and almond extract to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy.
In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat till no large lumps remain.
Pour into liners, filling three-quarters of the way. Put one PB cup into each cupcake (do not press down – I pressed down and they all sank to the bottom). Bake 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Dairy Free Mexican Hot Chocolate Frosting – from FoodNetwork.com – I made a 1/2 batch and it frosted all 12 cupcakes (full batch listed below)
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature – I used Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature – I used Earth Balance Natural margarine
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
Using a handheld electric beater, cream the cream cheese and butter together thoroughly.
Add the chili power and cinnamon, mixing to incorporate.
Add the salt, vanilla, and confectioners’ sugar.
Finally, mix in the melted chocolate and blend thoroughly until smooth.
If additional thickening is needed, add more sifted confectioners’ sugar, a little at a time, until a spreadable consistency is reached.
Fierce Cupcake Assembly
After the cupcakes have cooled, pipe frosting onto them.
Lightly dust with paprika.
Top with chocolate art (optional, directions below).
Chocolate “art”
I just kind of made this up as I went. If anyone has better ideas, let me know. First got my setup ready. I lined a cookie sheet with foil. I then crinkled the foil into waves (if that makes any sense). Then I took another piece of parchment paper and tore into strips (I made them triangle shapes strips). I laid the strips on the cookie sheet.
Then I melted some chocolate. I spooned a big dollup of chocolate onto the fat part of the strip. Using a spatula, I brushed the chocolate over the triangle. Once the traingles were all covered, I popped the tray into the fridge to let the chocolate set. The “waves” in the foil caused the strips of chocolate to have some movement to them. Once the chocolate was set, the chocolate peeled right off the parchment strips. And VOILA chocolate art to top your cupcakes with!
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Yum that looks delicious and welcome back to my hometown! Cincinnati’s actually a great town that grows on you and has been evolving quite a bit in the time that you’ve been away. I suspect given your profession and work location history that we probably work for the same company as our day jobs ;).
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 8:30 am
Yes, Cincinnati has changed a LOT since we moved away in 2007.
I would suspect you’re right. There’s enough info to know where I work, especially if you work here too 😉 Going to go check out your blog now. I would love to meet some other Cincinnati area bloggers!
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 8:31 am
Ok I work for the *other* big company in town (just checked your About page).
Isn’t the KA ice cream attachment the best thing ever? I am always making ice cream, even in the wintertime, but I never thought of using canned coconut milk as the base. I’ll have to try this out soon!
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 11:37 am
Absolutely. I didn’t think I could love my KAM any more than I already did. The ice cream attachment proved that I can.
I have lots of cans of coconut milk laying around and I know they make a good ice cream! Adding this one to my list 🙂
I bought myself KA ice creamer maker for my birthday this summer and I adore it! I’ve been thinking about making non-dairy ice creams, but the recipes all sounded strange. It’s great to see a recipe from a trusted source. Can’t wait to try.
beantownbaker — January 23rd, 2013 @ 10:28 pm
Let me know what you think if you try it. I am going to be experimenting with different milks since I can’t have cow’s milk…
love coconut milk based ice creams!! this one looks fabulous, and good call throwing in those oreos 😉
beantownbaker — January 24th, 2013 @ 12:05 pm
It’s ALWAYS a good idea to throw oreos in 🙂
My brother’s favorite thing to get at Coldstone is chocolate oreo ice cream. Too bad I don’t have an ice cream maker, or I would definitely try this!
beantownbaker — January 29th, 2013 @ 7:51 am
I’ve been told you can make ice cream without an ice cream maker. I never tried it before I got mine though…
I just made your recipe and luckily I tasted it before I cooled it. The ratio of sugar to cocoa powder is off. You should use at least twice the amount of sugar to cocoa powder in order for it not to have a horribly bitter taste. After adding more sugar it had a nice sweet to chocolately balance. Thanks for the recipe, my daughter is lactose intolerant and she will enjoy it.
beantownbaker — January 31st, 2013 @ 2:03 pm
I am glad you were able to adjust this recipe to suit your needs. Hubby and I both enjoyed the sweetness level of this recipe. I’m sure different cocoa powders have different levels of sweetness. I plan to try this recipe without the cocoa powder to make vanilla ice cream too. We loved the creaminess of it!
This look yummy and chocolate ice cream is one of my favorite. Thanks for sharing the directions and ingredients.
I just opened a can of coconut milk and it looked extremely curdled. I shook it a lot but it was still completely curdled. Is that how coconut milk is supposed to be out of the can? Are there any brands that you specifically like to use?
beantownbaker — April 24th, 2013 @ 1:44 pm
Hm. It doesn’t usually look curdled, more just separated. Did you try shaking it up? I use Native Forest since that’s what they sell in my grocery store. It looks like this: http://www.amazon.com/Native-Forest-Organic-Classic-13-5-Ounce/dp/B001HTJ2BQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366829034&sr=8-1&keywords=coconut+milk
Oh how I wish I could try this.. I am currently gluten and dairy free.. However this being dairy free is is not gluten free with the oreo’s… Bummer!!
beantownbaker — October 23rd, 2013 @ 12:28 am
I’ve made this recipe again without the Oreos and it’s really good. Not quite as good as with the Oreos, but if you wanted to make it gluten free, just leave them out.
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