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! 

Cupcake Camp London - a gloriously gruesome day out

This Sunday was a day I'd been looking forward to for some time. Not only was it my ninth wedding anniversary, it was Cupcake Camp London.

I signed up some time ago and have been trying out recipes ever since. I finally settled on three, and gave them suitably horrific Halloween names. Well they may have been a little lame but creating the little stickers for them gave me something to do on a cold October afternoon and kept me busy.

First up - Dawn of the Dead. This was a devils food cake (what else could you use on Halloween!), filled with a bloody cherry compote (meant to look like braaaaains), smothered in a thick layer of decadent chocolate frosting and topped with crushed oreo earth. Oh and a zombie hand sticking out of it, hence the name.

Next up was Pumpkinhead - a spicy pumpkin cake, with a Halloween Oreo baked inside, covered in a pumpkin coloured cream cheese frosting. The frosting was meant to have cinnamon in it but after baking a gazillion cupcakes (well 40) I forgot. Ooops. They still tasted good though! They were also going to be topped with a pumpkin peeps but the little buggers wouldn't pull apart nicely so I gave up.

Finally was my entry into the Most Unusual Ingredient competition, Attack of the Killer Sprouts. I had tried a few other ingredients but in the end I went with possibly the weirdest ingredient I've ever used in a cupcake - brussel sprouts. That's right, the lovely little green vegetables that I never understand why people dislike as I love them.

I found the recipe via the Times Online while googling unusual cake ingredients (which I spent a lot of time doing, seeking inspiration). The actual recipe I got from Kent Online, and I thought about decorating it similarly to the pic on there, but instead went for a walnut (or braaaain if you're being Halloween'y). I slightly changed the recipe by adding a half teaspoon each extra of the spices, and I used some fabulous coconut flakes I got from M&S rather than dessicated coconut.  I wasn't that keen on the cake, it was ok in a carrot cake with an odd taste kinda way (that'd be the sprouts), but I wouldn't buy one. Manny actually ate about 4 of them. In all the excitement I didn't get any pictures of the cupcakes, but I've sent a call out on Twitter to see if anyone got some, until then;

This is it pre-baking - doesn't it look delish!

And if you look closely you can see them in the green polka dot cases, back right on the picture. There's a better pic here courtesy of Cupcake Kelly.

So, Cupcake Camp itself was AMAZING. I went along myself as Manny had sparring class and all my friends decided they couldn't face an early Sunday morning in Camden (thanks!). Alas some of my pumpkin cakes got a little squished on the way to the Proud Gallery but they looked fine when laid out in their room, Desert Orchid, sadly  I wasn't in the Manowar room!

Hail and Kill \m/

Once my cupcakes we set up I went and had a coffee and then a little chat with Kelly (who writes the fabulous An American Cupcake in London) while drooling over her wonderful creations including the gorgeous bubblegum one, second from the right. Her stall was next to the glamorous Ms Cupcake so I caught up with her and her (very exciting...more details coming soon) news and met her lovely new baker, Jayson. Just before it was all about to start Manny arrived bruised from sparring class and we pootled off to get some tokens so we could have some cake. If I'm honest, I didn't eat much cake. After baking and being on my feet solidly for hours on Saturday I didn't really feel like I could face much cake, so I bought cake, had a bit then gave the rest to Manny. That way I contributed to the great cause and got to try some other bakers cakes. 

From Kelly we tried her Orange Velvet - this was a seriously nice cake topped with frosting that tasted of a Terry's Chocolate Orange. I really liked this and can't wait till she shares the recipe on her blog!

From Rose and Rhubarb, the gorgeous and very tasty rose and rhubarb cake. These were adorable and they won my heart with her gorgeous labels for her cakes.

This is a really nice triple chocolate Manny spotted immediately - I have no idea who made it but if it was you please let me know - it was lush!

We couldn't resist a Ms Cupcake creation (and if you could there is something wrong with you!) and opted to share a bounty cupcake. I honestly don't know  how she does it. These cakes are 100% vegan yet taste more chocolatey than a lot of the high end cupcakes I buy that claim to be full of Valrhona and the like. If she made a vat of this I'd happily jump in.

Front right is a coconut cupcake from Bake Me Happy - Manny had hoped for one of their chocolate mocha cakes but they'd all sold out. This was a really nice moist cake with a hint of coconut. I loved their stall and their branding as well - we had a chat with the baker and she was very friendly.

Manny picked this up thinking it was a licorice cupcake that a Twitter friend had made. It wasn't. I'm still not sure what the flavour was if I'm honest. Sorry. It looked pretty though.

Finally a little jar of yummyness from the previously featured G Deserts. I picked up a chocolate topped with Nutella frosting and went back a few minutes later to get a couple more as gifts for people we were meeting later and they'd all gone. Very tasty moist cake, but a bit small to share.

All in all Cupcake Camp was a great day out, lots of fun, lots of cake and lots of lovely people. According to Daisy the event raised approximately £4000 and attracted not only fabulous bakers from all over the UK (and Paris!), but also lots of friendly people who wanted to eat and relax, and a couple of celebs too. The atmosphere was great and I really hope they fulfill their promise and do it again next year, I promise to make heavy metal themed cupcakes if I'm allowed to be in the Manowar room!

Oh and finally a little something I nearly forgot to mention. I WON!!

My brussel sprouts came through for me and I won. The judges on the most unusual ingredient included Lily Vanilli and Edd Kimber. Lily sent a message round Twitter to say that she'd loved my cake which I found very touching and a couple of people who spoke to Edd said he liked it very much. I was so happy and in complete and utter shock when they called out my name. I'd spent the day worrying the judges would spit it out when they tasted it.

I got a lovely selection of baking goodies, including a fabulous spatula which has some conversion tables on it which I'll find incredibly useful.

Just a final couple of pics. 

After Iron Cupcake we celebrated at a friends pub in Camden with this cake from Curly Sue Cakes that my friend had bought for Halloween from Eat your Heart Out. Isn't it fantastically gruesome. 

Hope you all had a happy Halloween and I'd love to hear what you thought of Cupcake Camp.

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.

Vegan cupcakes take over Hove

I never thought I'd say this but after reading about Heather Mills' new vegan restaurant VBites in the Guardian I simply MUST visit ...

There will be a wave-shaped bar, and a sushi-type mini conveyor belt which will spin vegan cupcakes around during the day and vegan tapas at night

yummy! cupcakes on a conveyor belt...how fab and much tastier than raw fish!

Thanks to VBites for the pic of their yummy looking cupcakes.