sunflower oil | I Can Cook That

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, began last night at sundown. Honey plays a significant role in Rosh Hashanah celebrations, signifying hopes for a sweet new year. Apples or challah dipped in honey is popular, as is honey cake. Because of the time of year, honey cake typically includes flavors associated with fall. My mom had given me a Pumpkin Blossom Honey recently and I thought this would be the perfect way to use it.

I adapted my recipe from one found on Epicurious and gave it my own pumpkin-y spin. Pumpkin Blossom Honey is created by bees that solely pollinate pumpkins and pumpkin blossoms. It has a darker amber color and has a really nice spice flavor at the end. I thought it would work great with some traditional fall spices thrown in!

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 1/2 cups cake flour (or all purpose flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil)
1 cup Pumpkin Blossom honey
8 oz lukewarm pumpkin coffee (I used Green Mountain’s)
The zest of one orange

Chocolate glaze:

1/2 cup shaken canned unsweetened coconut milk (not light)
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
4 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped
Flaky sea salt for garnish, optional

Continue reading Mini Pumpkin Blossom Honey Cakes

I made these Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting for a lovely vegan bride-to-be for her bridal shower this weekend. I’m not going to lie, I was going to do a test run of these, and if I didn’t like them, she was getting normal egg-filled, buttercream-topped cupcakes. But. These are good. Really really good.

So when I did my test run, I passed them around to friends and family and conveniently left the word “vegan” out of the description until after they tasted the cupcakes. My “test subjects” didn’t seem too upset with my experiment, many went for seconds!

These cupcakes use dark chocolate (versus milk chocolate), and have no eggs, butter, or milk. And they are still super fluffy and moist. The best part, most of the ingredients are probably either in your pantry or really easy to find!

Ingredients (makes 2 dozen) adapted from the Curvy Carrot:

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
2 oz vegan dark chocolate, finely chopped
3/4 cup sunflower oil
1 1/4 cups vanilla almond milk
3/4 cup cinnamon applesauce
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Peanut Butter Frosting:

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup vegan margarine
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons vanilla almond milk

Continue reading Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting