Chai takes on another meaning in these Chai Cupcakes, with a chai stencil. I always thought the Jewish symbol chai simply meant “life” but the internet told me I’m wrong, as usual. I liked when there was no internet and we could just get by with rumor, speculation and bullshittery. At least there is truth in cupcakes. These are from Akiva in Cali. I like to see people getting creative with the stencil.
These are stocked right next to the “You’re An Asshole” baking spray.
For the record, they aren’t very good cupcake liners. They fall right off the cupcake!
Here are some really great Halloween cupcake decorating instructions, a zombie zoo!
Marzipan is a delicious and vegan way to dress up cupcakes, and it goes well with either chocolate or vanilla.
Webly was a tester for Vegan Cupcakes so she has a lot of cupcake photos over on her blog Fueled by Popcorn. The one that struck me the most was this vanilla one with lemon frosting, baked in an ice cream cone.
Baking your cupcakes in ice cream cones is one sure-fire way of getting attention, but there isn’t anything about it in Vegan Cupcakes, most of all because it’s sort of a crapshoot. But I think it’s a safe enough subject to discuss from the comfort of the internet.
I’m not sure if this is indeed what Webly did, but the general rules are:
1) Use vegan wafer cones with a flat bottom. “Let’s Do Organic” is one brand that makes them.
2) For support, wrap a ring of tinfoil around the cones, close to the bottom, and place them in the cupcake tin so that they stand up straight. The wrapped ice cream cones should fit snugly into their place.
3) Fill cones less than 2/3rds full. The greatest danger is that the batter will spill over and ruin everything. The second greatest danger is that the batter will seep through the cone, and so the less batter you use the less heavy it will be thus less chance of that happening.
4) And finally, if the batter looks too liquid-y, add another handful of flour. The more watery the batter the more chance it has of seeping through the cone, so defy the recipe and make the batter a little thicker, if necessary. The batter shouldn’t quickly drip from a spoon, it should be slow and lava-like.
Here’s a recipe that discusses how to do it, but I think I may have explained it a little bit better. In any case, it’s still a cute recipe.
Advice From The Trenches
You never know, someday in the very near future life may require that you make six batches of cupcakes or more. It may sound daunting but it isn’t so bad if you’re prepared. I have managed to pull off up to 300 cupcakes in a handful hours, and I don’t have a fancy oven. If you do have a fancy oven you’re better than me and you don’t need my advice.
1- Write down the doubled recipe in big fat sharpee and put it in a place that’s easy to see. I tape mine to the kitchen cabinet.
2- Make two dozen at a time. Batters get all ferkakte if you reduce or increase the quantities too much.
3- Mise en place. How come the French have words for everything? I mean, if that phrase didn’t exist I would have to sit here and type “put everything in it’s place.” That doesn’t sound like very much fun. Mise en place sounds fun. So keep an assembly line of your ingredients ready and waiting. The instant you’ve put one batch in the oven make someone do all the dishes for you so that you have clean, dry equipment ready for the next batch.
4- Focus! You only really need to focus when you’re putting the all the ingredients together. It’s easy to forget if you added one cup or two, one teaspoon or six. Let the phone ring, let the baby cry, let the house burn down. Just make sure you measure your ingredients accurately.
5- Get an ice cream scooper for equally measured out batter.
6- Start measuring out your next batch about ten minutes before your previous batch is done, but don’t mix the wet and dry ingredients together until your finished cupcakes are safely out of the cupcake tray and new liners are ready and waiting. I have four cupcake trays and that’s probably the best way to do it, but I know most people have at most two because most people have better things to do than bake 20 zillion cupcakes everyday. I also have hands of Teflon and I am capable of lifting cupcakes out of ridiculously hot cupcake trays, much in the same way that mothers can lift cars if their children are stuck under them. You, however, will probably need to wait for the cupcake to cool.
7- If you have leftover batter, this is kind of a crap shoot, but you can reserve it in a bowl. Add the leftover batter from each batch to the bowl. At the end of your cupcake making add a little baking powder (a 1/4 teaspoon sounds like a safe bet) and use up the remaining batter. The cupcakes aren’t guaranteed to turn out right, but they might. And it’s a chance worth taking because, hey, free cupcakes.
8- Make sure you have tons of space for cooling and mixing and decorating. If you have a small kitchen with limited space, clear everything off the counters, bring in an extra table if you have to. Just make sure you’re not cramped in so much as you can.
9- I know you have an oven thermometer so I won’t bother to remind you.
10- I like lists of 10. I find music to be really helpful when baking. I especially recommend Juice Newton’s “Angel of the Morning.”
Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World 