MOIST EGGLESS VANILLA CUPCAKES

I don't usually care for the amount of eggs in a recipe I am about to try because I love eggs,especially hardboiled eggs.When I say hardboiled,it should be perfectly hardboiled.No rubber like yolks for me,please!Okay,now lets get back to the topic. Well,Kannur is not a place where you can get wonderful ingredients for baking.I know it,so Amma and myself stock up really well. But on how on earth will we know that there will be shortage of eggs,especially in a place where there are atleast 3 bakeries on a street!

Well,it happened.Kannur town was out of eggs,for almost a week and that was too long for me to wait,without baking a cake of some sort. Our house is swamped with guests these days,to see our Ian vaava. So we need something,and when I say something,it has to be homemade because Amma & I cannot think of serving  anything storebought to our guests.

The hunt for something eggless started.I found way too many recipes online but only a few grabbed my attention. When I chose this recipe,it reminded me that I had tried out the same a few years ago and found the cake to be very oily.I thought of giving it a second chance and it worked just fine.

I had some buttercream with me,from the movie star's cake,so tinted it pink and used it to decorate the perfect cupcake tops.I usually don't go for such lavish decor on my baked goods for our daily consumption but since it's for the lovely folks who are visiting us,I didn't think twice.

MOIST EGGLESS VANILLA CUPCAKES
Recipe by Nita Mehta as seen on Recipe on Click


Ingredients:
300g all purpose flour
250 ml thick plain yogurt
150-180 g granulated sugar
125 ml oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Method: Preheat oven to 180 C/ 350F. Line your 12- cup cupcake tin.

In a large bowl,beat the yogurt until smooth.Add granulated sugar and beat till dissolved completely.Add baking powder,baking soda and mix to combine.Leave aside for 5 minutes or until frothy.Add oil,vanilla and beat to mix.Spoon in flour little by little and fold it into the batter.Beat with beaters for 30 secs to make the batter smooth and lump free.Pour into tins and bake for 25-30 mins or till done.Cool in the tin for 5 mins,remove and cool completely before frosting.

For the Vanilla Buttercream recipe,click here.

Ritchie loved the frosting and mentioned that he likes cupcakes with eggs better.I found these to be really moist and perfect for eggless days!

{ VEGAN } AVOCADO CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES with AVOCADO FROSTING

I was supposed to remember that I was supposed to send some cupcakes with Jobin to work on Thursday, as he had signed up to bring a dessert for a potluck. He said he wanted something small that he could carry along with him on his way to office. Last time, I baked him these yummy Vanilla Cupcakes with Glossy Chocolate Frosting. This time he suggested Madeleines and I agreed to it 100% because I love baking those dainty things.

So after our trip,he casually reminded me on Wednesday that I should be getting the dessert ready for him on Thursday morning. That's when the reality struck me. There were no eggs, no butter and hardly any milk left in the fridge. Now, Target (a supermarket) is like a 10 mins walk through the skyway but I didn't think about it, rather chose not to :-) I told him that we can go shopping once he is back from work and I can make the batter and leave it the fridge which would give me those nice Madeleines with a fat belly.
Later, when I was alone at home, I realised that it's better if I could bake something and get it ready by evening than wait till the next morning because I know what a sleepyhead I am.

So when we went grocery shopping with our cousins in Chicago, our veggie bags got mixed up and I realised it only after we got back home to Minneapolis. I saw a bag filled with Avocados along with some bananas. I didn't know what I was going to do with it because I am not an Avocado lover. Forget about loving it, I don't like it at all. I don't like fruits which are tasteless in it's raw form. Anyhow, I put it along with my other veggies into the fridge thinking I shall do something with it,someday.

And I did do something with it, not very long after that! :-) Since I was butterless & eggless I thought of using Avocado because I have heard about how buttery that fruit is. We call it butter fruit in Kerala. So I went online and searched for some recipes and I was rewarded with this simple chocolate cupcake recipe and a super duper easy chocolate frosting recipe with Avocados! I decided to go ahead with it , so I called him up and told him my plans of switching from Madeleins to Cupcakes. Jobin lets me make the decision when it comes to food, so this time it was no different :-)

VEGAN AVOCADO CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
Recipe source: Joy the Baker Cookbook
Makes 14 cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c flour
1/4 c cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 Avocado, mashed up
1 c sugar
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp vinegar
1 c water

Method: Preheat the oven to 350F/180C and line a muffin tin .
In a bowl,mix flour, cocoa, baking powder & baking soda together. In a large bowl, mix avocado,sugar,oil, vanilla,vinegar & water.Add the dry to the wet and fold it using a spatula until the batter is mixed well. Pour out 1/4 c of batter into each muffin cup and bake for 18-20 mins or until done. Let it cool.

VEGAN AVOCADO CHOCOLATE FROSTING
Recipe source: not quite Betty Crocker

Ingredients:
1/4 c cocoa
1/2 avocado
75 g sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Method: Blend all the ingredients together in a mixie/food processor until creamy and smooth. Decorate the cooled cupcakes with the frosting.

I used an offset spatula and just smeared the frosting over each cupcake. If you want to pipe it, I would suggest that you double the recipe.Also, you can flavour the frosting with espresso,orange extract, peppermint extract etc.

So he knew the cupcakes had avocados in it. When he got back from work, he found me frosting the cupcakes so I asked him if he wanted to taste test one. He obliged, like always and took a bite of it. He nodded in agreement when I asked him if they were good. After chewing down one half of the cupcake, he asked me what's the frosting made of...a question I was waiting all this while to answer. When I told him it had just avocados, cocoa & sugar, he was definately surprised! I don't think he thought I would go that far with that fruit :-)

This frosting kind of sets and loses it's sticky property so this is perfect to pack and send it to wherever you want!The cupcakes were super moist and the frosting was rich and creamy.No one would guess it has what it has :-)