Is it *really* vegan?

This post is about a month or so late and for that I apologise. 

Ms Cupcake's The Naughtiest Vegan Cakes in Town was published last month and I was lucky enough to receive a review copy. 

As soon as I opened it I knew what I was going to make - my favourite from Ms Cupcake - the Bounty cupcake. 

Obviously the recipe meant I had to buy a couple of vegan friendly items - soya margarine and milk. Everything else I had at home. 

Working in a bakery I'm used to creaming for ages to get light fluffy cakes so the method here was completely new to me but everything was well explained and easy to follow! In fact, the cakes were really easy and quick to make. 

Once baked it was time to make the two frostings. I admit here I cheated a little I made one batch, which I then halved. The first half I added coconut extract and shredded coconut too for the bottom layer. The rest I added some cocoa powder, vanilla and a pinch of salt too to make chocolate frosting. 

The title of this post comes from Manny's reaction when I gave him one to test. They were really moist and tasty. And best of all you couldn't tell they were vegan! And I mean that as a compliment! 

And this wasn't the only recipe I plan to make. The book is full of really great looking cakes, cupcakes, tray bakes and savoury treats to make. 

Definitely not just for vegans!! 

Vegan D'oh!nuts and cupcakes at Ms Cupcake

I've been meaning to visit the new Ms Cupcake store in Brixton since the opening day on April 1st but hangovers, holidays and life in general has gotten in the way till today.

Firstly please accept my apologies for the pics - I forgot my camera, was using my iPhone, and the sun was shining directly into the store so everything pretty much had my reflection in it...grrrr. But, the sun shining is a good thing - the shop is a great sun trap with windows on three sides making it light and lovely. It is also much bigger than I thought it would be, with some lovely tables outside so you can enjoy your vegan goodies there and then, with drinks from Rosie's Deli next door if you choose (not sure if they do vegan drinks - sorry!).

When I arrived fellow cupcake blogger Kelly of An American Cupcake in London had just arrived,  and Jason immediately started preparing a plate of goodies for us to try, including the item that had ensured we both visited today - the vegan doughnuts. 

As readers will know I'm already a fan of Ms C's cupcakes, so after reading yesterday on Twitter that they were now doing doughnuts I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try something different. We got 3 mini doughnuts each (I like to call them doughnut middles as they seem like the little bit you'd poke out of a ring doughnut - is that weird?) - sugar, cinnamon and Boston cream. All three were nice, the cinnamon was very cinnamon'y, and the Boston cream was definitely my favourite. We also got two cookie sandwiches; a vanilla filled and a chocolate filled. I ate the vanilla one there but just couldn't manage any more and took the chocolate one home to share with Manny. It was delicious -  I preferred the chocolate cookie to the vanilla (unusual for me!). 

Jason came out and had a chat with us and told us how busy they'd been and how they had lots of plans for other vegan treats - the whole time people going in and buying cupcakes and goodies. It was really nice to see it doing so well - the staff were incredibly busy!

Before leaving we checked out the cupcake range and each bought a key lime cupcake (they looked too nice to resist).  I also bought Manny a chocolate sprinkled doughnut and we headed off into Brixton Market. Thanks to Ms C's advice I saved myself a lot of money and managed to pick up a mini bundt tin for £2 in one of those 'pound' shop places. It had a vast array of trays so if you want to know where it was let me know. Also if you're looking for a human sized saucepan Brixton Market is your place.

I walked Kelly back to the station and did some more shopping, and managed to find banana extract - something I've been searching everywhere for. Yay!

When Manny came home we tried out my takeaway goodies.

First up the chocolate doughnut. Manny and I really enjoyed it (I particularly liked the chocolate coating), but felt it needed to be a little bit more sticky and doughnut'y. Still really nice but I did prefer the little stuffed ones.

The key lime cupcake was AMAZING! Really moist, citrus'y and flavoursome, you can tell they were baked fresh and not sat on a shelf for days. The fabulous shocking green frosting was really tart, packed full of flavour, and not overly sweet, but instead refreshing. Oh, and there was LOTS of it! A much needed great cupcake after yesterdays shocker! 

Every time I eat one of Ms C's cupcakes I'm trying to figure out how she makes things taste so good without my favourite baking ingredient, butter. Perhaps I need to sit outside watching them bake all day to see what I can pick up!

I highly recommend people pop over to the Brixton store, 408 Coldhabour Lane, Brixton, London SW9 8LF, to pick up a cupcake or two! You might spot me outside trying to learn a vegan baking secret or two! 

Most wonderful cupcake of the year

The end (of the year) is nigh and I was going to do a round up of my favourite cupcakes I've bake this year but I don't have time as I have a birds nest of over-dyed hair to sort out and make up to slap on so instead have decided to post about my favourite cupcakes I've bought this year. It was a close run thing - I LOVED quite a few cupcakes.

First up the runners up.

Best international cupcake goes to, Cupcake Berlin.

Truly DELICIOUS cupcakes with the nicest peanut butter frosting I've ever tasted. Also a lovely little cafe full of lovely treats, including tonnes of vegan friendly goodies.

Next. Best UK cupcake out of London goes to Swallow Bakery.

GREAT cakes, shame about the service. I plan to go back in 2011 and check it out again.

Runner up in the London cupcake of the year goes to Love Bakery.

Not only have I never had a bad cupcake from them, they released my favourite cupcake book ever, Love Bakery: Cupcakes from the Heart, this year. I've baked loads from it since I received it, and I hope to bake loads more next year. It is a fantastic book and I highly recommend it to all my readers.

An honourable mention must go to Ms Cupcake and her vegan cakes that still confound me. How can you make a cake taste soooooo good without butter? I just don't know. But Ms Cupcake and her team of vegan bakers know the secrets and they should be applauded. Also Mellissa is one of the loveliest people you could meet on the cupcake scene.

Her vegan bounty cupcake was one of the highlights of Cupcake Camp for me! Absolutely delicious and more chocolaty than some ultra expensive vile cupcakes that pertain to be loaded with Valrhona. (If I was doing worst cupcake of the year btw Cox, Cookies and Cake would be the winner - this place doesn't deserve to exist, and I feel probably wouldn't it if it wasn't fronted by two 'celebs').

The fabulous bounty cupcake however leads me on nicely to my favourite cupcake event of the year. There can only be one winner. Cupcake Camp, organised by the amazing Daisy. I am already thinking of cakes to bake at next year's event! It was an awesome day out and really showed how many great bakers there are out there.

And now, for the winner of my best cupcake/best bakery of 2010.

For me there could only be one winner. I've only had their cakes twice but the first time was enough to convince me that they were fabulous. And the winner is, *drum roll*, Kooky Bakes.

I first tried Scott's baking in July and was so overwhelmed by the selection I barely ate a cupcake! When faced with the Snickers Slice my brain just went into a peanut butter zombie trance and could think of nothing else. Hmmm peanuts. The SS incidentally probably wins my non-cupcake baked good of the year. How could it not - look at it, behold its beauty! My first visit wasn't cupcake free however and I did try a delicious black forest gateau cupcake.

We visited Upmarket the weekend before Christmas to pick up a box of cupcakes from Kooky to ensure we ended the year on a cupcake high, and we were not disappointed.

Although there was a slight, Anne based, disaster getting the cupcakes home in one piece (I blame it being so cold I had to keep swinging my arms to keep warm - poor Scott was dressed up like he was Scott of the Antarctic when we visited the stall!), the cakes slight squishedness in no way detracted from the AMAZING flavour of each and every cake.

Each cake was moist and incredibly flavoursome, each frosting a bite of heaven, as they were so light. Manny was awestruck by the Chocotecture cupcake - dark chocolate sponge injected with a white chocolate ganache,  topped with a ring of white chocolate and a ring of milk chocolate mouse buttercreme. After scoffing many chocolate cupcakes I finally think Manny has found his favourite. Every cake we had was delicious. I had a raspberry and white chocolate and a red velvet. I think I have finally found the best red velvet ever. Utterly amazing.

My plan for next year is to go to Kooky Bakes and get some cakes home in one piece so I can finally show you all how beautiful they look pre me getting my ham-fisted hands on them!

Finally, I wanted to wish all the people who follow my blog and leave such nice comments, and send me such lovely messages of support, a incredibly Happy New Year. I hope you all have a wonderful cupcake-filled 2011.

Horrific Cupcakes

I just wanted to remind readers that next weekend sees London's first over 18s cake shop, Eat Your Heart Out and The Pretox Potion, at Maiden on Shoreditch High Street.

I've had a sneak peak at the menu and WOW I'm stunned by how much they are going to have there and believe me when I say there will be oodles of gruesome cupcakes featured. I honestly don't know where to begin as there are so many to choose from but a few that stand out are squirting eyeball cupcakes and squeezable zit cupcakes which sound fabulous and gross at the same time;

Who can resist squeezing a spot? We know it’s gross but it’s also too tempting. These cupcakes will tempt to you the edge with their ooozingly ripe giant zit. Buy one, squeeze it and watch the puss
squirt out.

YUM!

And lets not forget 2 girls 1 cupcake, and what is bound to be Manny's favourite The Re-animator. Oh and vaginas!

I tried to persuade Miss Cakehead that they should play Lividity's Pussy Lover as a tribute to these cakes but I don't think she agreed! (please don't click the link if you're easily offended - the song is a little rude). Mortician would be another great choice for store music! I should be dj'ing but then they mightn't get many visitors if I was!

As well as cupcakes there will be delightfully gruesome cake pops, larger cakes, tarts and Human Centipede cookies.

The store is open from midday on Friday until Sunday (Halloween). Each day they will open until they sell out - selling 666 items of baked goods each day so don't dilly dally (or walk like a zombie) and get your arses down there for some gory baked goods. And you can pick up a blood bath shower curtain from Maiden while you're at it if you want to add some gore to your home (I imagine we'll be getting one).

We're planning to go on Friday so look out for pics and a review on here.

Some recent cupcake'ing fun

This was my dinner a couple of weeks ago in Peter Jones when I went to collect my brand new blowtorch. The cake was nice and fresh, but the topping was like a hard fondant - not really worth the calories. But the view from the upper floor restaurant is fabulous!

A rather delicious cupcake from yesterday's visit to the Skin exhibition at the Wellcome Collection. The cake was the best thing about the trip. The exhibition was rather boring and then someone made me spend what felt like HOURS in the bookshop. The blueberry cupcake was from the Peyton & Byrne cafe in the foyer. The frosting was luscious - melt in the mouth mousse-like texture and incredibly fruity and flavoursome. The cake itself was plain vanilla I think. I have a feeling all the cakes are vanilla, and its just the frostings that are flavoured - they are very tasty though.

We also visited the Peyton & Byrne cafe briefly last weekend - we were meant to go to see the Skin exhibition but were a bit late but managed to pick up a couple of cupcakes and a cup of coffee.

I opted for a lemon cupcake and Manny had a chocolate one. The frosting on Manny's was like a ganache and fantastic. My cupcake was very tasty, but a little old - perhaps not fresh that day.

Next up from a recent(ish) trip to the delightful Ms Cupcake's stall at Greenwich Market. I'd been off work sick for nearly two weeks, only leaving the house to go to the doctors but on one of last days off I managed to drag myself out to see Ms C and it was totally worth it.

I had a cherry bakewell which was amazingly fruity and moist, and Manny had the rolo which was was absolutely gorgeous (I had allowed a wee bite).

As I've said before I am really amazed at how gorgeous Ms Cupcake's vegan cupcakes are - they are so moist and tasty - unlike some of the other vegan cupcakes I've tried.

If you're a cupcake lover I recommend you give them a try asap to see if you agree with me. I'm pretty sure you will.

I can't remember if I mentioned these when I bought them a couple of months ago but just in case check out my gorgeous Matryoshka measuring cups from Fred (which I bought via Amazon). They are adorable and look ever so cute in my kitchen. The only thing I've used them to make so far was my attempt at the chocolate vegan cupcakes from the Bleeding Heart Bakery's cookbook which alas ended up straight in the bin. I was a bit disappointed at the time but now I read online that the books been the cause of many problems for people so its not just me. This is the second incredibly disappointing baking book I've got this year and is now unfortunately relegated to my "looks pretty but don't use" along with Eat Me (yuk). I also feel a bit disheartened when I keep reading that these books are meant to be inspiration rather than baking books - I buy books for recipes. I think the same has to be said of my recent Lily Vanili book - more inspiration than recipe based with the 5 recipes it contains.

Finally, and I have to really admit to being an utterly bad person here. About 3 months ago I received a lovely package from the lovely Tram at Sweetdee's Cupcakes and I totally forgot to blog about them. Aren't they adorable. The notebook is just perfect for carrying around in my bag and writing about my cupcake adventures and the little card holder is just too cute! I love it. I've not tried Sweetdee's cupcakes yet but hope to in the near future.

Vegan cupcakes take over my tastebuds

A couple of weeks ago we visited the glamorous Ms Cupcake at her weekend residence, The Tearooms in Brick Lane.

I was lucky enough to meet, and scoff the wares of Ms C at my first Iron Cupcake and have been keen to try some more ever since. Not only are her cupcakes gorgeous and incredibly tasty, they are 100% vegan!! That's right - no butter, eggs or milk - the mainstay of most cupcake recipes. I'm a bit of a sceptic when it comes to vegan cupcakes - I've had a few that are just downright unpleasant, and when I've tried to bake my own from recipes they've been completely inedible and ended up in the bin. When I say you wouldn't know Ms C's cupcakes are vegan because they taste so delish I hope she takes that as the compliment it's meant.

Ms C's stall is enough to tempt even the non-cupcake lovers amongst you. A veritable feast of gorgeous looking cakes in bright colours. Not that you'd know this from my photos - sorry bad camera day. You can see much better photos of the cupcakes, and the many flavours available on her website.

After a chat with Ms C, and a pet of the gorgeous little dog of the stallholder next door we finally decided what cupcakes we wanted. Manny of course opted for two chocolate varieties - triple chocolate and ferrero rocher. I went for raspberry ripple and mango blueberry.

The cupcakes got a little squished on the way home, sorry! Being squished detracted in no way from their fabulousness however and they tasted amazing. The raspberry ripple base was incredibly moist and the frosting was very tasty. Previous vegan cupcakes I've had have been quite dry, or the opposite, and quite oily - this one was perfect. The mango blueberry was my favourite of the two - the frosting was divine, and very moreish!

Manny's two chocolate cupcakes were scoffed with his usual sounds of happiness (hmmm, yum, hmmm, good - caveman style, with a chunk of frosting in his gob). I tried some of the chocolate frosting and some of the cake and both were incredibly chocolaty and very very tasty. I'd love to know how Ms C gets her frosting so tasty without lashings of butter! Some kind of vegan magic!

You can find Ms Cupcake at Greenwich Market on Thursday's and Friday's - get there early as she's always on Twitter saying she's sold out, and at the Tearooms on Saturday and Sunday. More details of her whereabouts can be found here.