Thursday, October 12, 2006

Chocolate Cupcakes

The kids and I had an entire day at home today, so we decided to do some baking. In our search for something to make, we turned to one of our favorite cookbooks, Honest Pretzels.

Mollie Katzen's book has one of the very best chocolate cake recipes I've ever tasted. It's incredibly easy to make (it can be mixed right in the pan), and is totally vegan (no eggs or milk). Even if it wasn't either of those things, it would still be one of my favorites. We decided to use this recipe to make cupcakes, as the kids firmly believe that anything tastes better in miniature form!

Made-in-the-Pan Chocolate Cake:

  • 1 1/4 cups unbleached white flour (I've used half whole wheat with good results)
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 3/4 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 tsp. vinegar (cider or white)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Stir together until batter is smooth (or mix directly in an 8 inch square pan for a cake). Spoon evenly into a 12 cup muffin pan. Bake for 20 minutes (30 minutes for cake). Allow to cool before frosting (this cake is even good without anything, or with fruit).


Chocolate Frosting (from Allrecipes.com)

  • 2 tbsp. butter or non-hydrogentated margarine, melted
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 2 1/2 tbsp. milk
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 3/4 cups icing sugar

Mix butter and cocoa with mixer until combined. Stir in milk and vanilla. Add icing sugar until frosting has reached the desired consistency. Adjust with more milk or sugar if necessary.

Cakes made with this recipe are even more moist and delicious the next day,not that they ever last that long!

Okay, I've waited long enough - time to go eat one!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The cupcakes look yummy! I have been looking for a good cookbook to use with Owen- I'll have to see if the library has "Honest Pretzels".
We both like to bake and all the holidays coming up soon will surely inspire us!

janet copenhaver said...

Yum, will try these.

Thanks