Black and White Cupcakes

Cupcakes for everyone! EVERYONE!

AHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!

B&W Cupcakes in one of the classy boxes my SIL gave me for Christmas.

The sticker reads "2011 Baked GLUTEN FREE with love by Mairi"

Excuse me, but these cupcakes are so darn good, I just can't contain myself. And best of all, they are gluten free AND vegan. Yes, that's right. My sister-in-law (different SIL) is a celiac and recently decided to become a vegan as well. Conveniently before her birthday celebration. So I had to scramble to find a vegan, gluten free cake recipe to replace the one I was imagining. I found this recipe and used it as my jumping off point. I topped it off with a little vegan cream cheese frosting using this recipe, which really just tastes like a buttercream, but it's better than any other dairy-free frosting I've had. Oh, and you know how you really have to cover GF cake with frosting to make up for the fact that it's GF? Notice how little I used on the pictured cakes? These little darlins don't even need frosting. Enjoy!

Black Cake

Gluten Free, Vegan

ingredients:

1/2 cup sorghum

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/2 tsp guar gum

1 cup white sugar (certified vegan, if you prefer)

1/4 cup cocoa powder (high quality. seriously. especially if you don't use coffee.)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

1 cup coffee (you can use water, but coffee makes it the bomb)

2 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate (dairy free)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin tin.

Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add the oil, vanilla, vinegar and water. Beat together until smooth. Add the melted chocolate. Beat again, scraping regularly until smooth. Batter should thicken slightly and be sticky, not soupy.

Pour into prepared tin and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Makes 12 muffins or 1 8 inch cake round

Curried Sweet Potato Pancakes with Quinoa and Grilled Asparagus

Unappealing iPhone photo of a delicious meal

Since we're poor, I can't waste any food right now. But that doesn't mean we should eat crap, right? Well, sometimes it does. But not this time! The other night I was feeling sick to my stomach. I just couldn't eat rice pasta with marinara sauce again, but I had nothing in the fridge and one more day until Hubs got paid. What to do? I pulled out the perishables that were soon to perish: green onions, sweet potatoes, baking potatoes, asparagus. Then I pulled out my trusty iPhone and got to work.

Found this recipe for Sweet Potato Pancakes and altered it thusly:

Potato cakes:

1 8-ounce red-skinned sweet potato (yam)

1 8-ounce russet potato

4 green onions

2 large eggs, beaten to blend

1 tablespoon all purpose GF flour

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

For potato cakes:

Heat oven to 300°F. Peel both potatoes and coarsely grate into medium bowl. Chop the white part of green onions finely and discard rest or reserve for garnish. Place grated potatoes and green onion in clean cloth and squeeze out excess liquid. Place potatoes and onion in large bowl. Add eggs, flour, curry powder, and sea salt; mix to incorporate evenly.

Line baking sheet with paper towel. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Measure scant 1/4 cupful of mixture, shape into ball, and add to skillet. Using spatula, gently flatten ball to 1/3-inch-thick, 3-inch-diameter pancake. Repeat, forming 3 more pancakes. Fry until golden, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer pancakes to prepared baking sheet; keep warm in oven. Repeat with remaining mixture for total of 8 pancakes.

The recipe also includes a recipe for mango chutney and recommends using plain greek yogurt as well. I had neither with the first try and it was yummy enough for me to make again. It was even better the second time with the yogurt and some pre-made chutney from TJs that is not certified GF.

I served it with some asparagus that I coated in olive oil and sea salt and grilled on the old Foreman grill for about 8 minutes, and some quinoa that I cooked with vegetable stock (no water!).

This is destined to become a regular in our rotation.