Pure Hunger

I only got one of these unbelievable cupcakes before I discovered my son was wildly sensitive to the orange peels in the tea and thus not another bite for this mama. To say I was devastated might be an over reaction first world problem but I’m not ashamed to admit it. I was devastated. I was even clever enough to frost them with some Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting. I’m serious, they were more than noteworthy. A subtle orange and cinnamon flavor to the cake with a powerful spiced punch from the frosting. I wanted to die and eat five more. So promise me you’ll make them and think of me as you take each bite. Wishing I could enjoy their luscious goodness. I might sink into a mild foodie depression before I finish this post.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup vanilla soymilk
2 Tbsp montana gold loose leaf tea*
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup canola oil
¾ cup sugar
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ tsp baking powder
½ baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 Tbs arrowroot powder or cornstarch

*This can be purchased at Radiance in downtown or you can use your own favorite orange-spiced tea.

The bonus about these mini heaven cakes is that they are completely vegan and the recipe is courtesy of a very very talented friend and vegan chef. Her blog is incredible and I have serious bloggers envy regarding her posts. She is the only reason I have been able to maintain some sanity while living a dairy free life. I worship both her and these amazing cupcakes.

In small saucepan, heat soymilk over low heat. Steep the tea in the soymilk for about ten minutes. This should reduce to 1 cup. Chill in fridge until cool then strain out loose tea or remove tea bags (I just left mine in the fridge overnight). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour the soymilk tea in a medium mixing bowl and add apple cider vinegar to the soymilk and whip briskly with a fork. Set to the side for ten minutes so it can curdle. After it curdles, mix the soymilk, oil and sugar together and whisk until smooth. Sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients ¼ cup at a time and whisk until batter is smooth and all ingredients have been incorporated. Scoop ¼ cup batter into cupcake pan and bake for 18-20 minutes. Let completely cool and lightly frost.

I was easily able to freeze the cupcakes before frosting and after they thawed I noticed they were even more moist then when they had just finished baking. I store them in the freezer and then thaw one at a time, frost and consume greedily. I also licked the batter bowl absolutely clean. A bonus about vegan cooking is you never have to worry about consuming raw eggs.