Root Beer Float Cupcake

I have to admit I was never much of a Root Beer fan.  I never disliked it, but even mixed with ice cream I always preferred a cola of some kind.  Speaking with a customer the other day about sugar free baking I remembered my mother using diet soda on occasion to make brownies and cupcakes.  I preferred real sugar in my desserts, but the thought sparked some inspiration, and after some searching I came across a cola cake recipe.  I guess a few cola cake recipes have been in circulation for quite a while now, so I thought I'd try and do something a little more unique.  I did a search for Root Beer cupcakes, just out of curiosity, and surprisingly enough to me I discovered a food bloggers worst nightmare.  Dozens of recipes all varying slight from the next and the first recipe on the Google search actually turned up a vegan recipe.  I felt that it was necessary to try it out, and after tasting it I felt that it was really too sweet and I think all the sugar from the soda created a crust on the surface that I didn't care for.  With the simple exchange of Kefiir for some of the Root Beer it completely changed the texture of the cake without removing any of the flavor.  I also added some allspice, just to make sure.  These turned out incredibly well and after finding the root beer concentrate they're actually quite easy to make.

Wet:

3/4 c Root Beer of your choice, I've been happy with Virgil's, but I also made my own with this recipe

1/4 c So Delicious Coconut Milk Kefir
1/3 c oil of your choice

1 t apple cider vinegar

1/2 t vanilla extract

2 t root beer concentrate (I used concentrate from a home-brew store, but I also found an organic option here)

3/4 c sugar

Dry:

1 1/3 c AP Flour

3/4 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder
1/8 t salt
1/4 t allspice powder

Directions:
1. Combine Kefir, Root Beer, and vinegar and set aside
2. Sift Together all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and set aside
3. Combine sugar and oil into the Kefir Mixture, whisking vigorously until a lighter appearance is formed
4. Using a hand-mixer add the dry ingredients to the wet in 3 installments, making sure everything is well combined while mixing as little as possible
5. Fill Cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 20-22 minutes
6. Top with Vanilla Bean Coconut Whipped Cream and dust with Vanilla Sugar.  Garnish with a soda straw.

*to make coconut cream put one can of full fat coconut milk in refrigerator and store for a few days (I've heard overnight is fine, but I kept mine in for almost a week).  The fat solids will separate from the liquid and should have the texture of butter.  The fat solids will be your coconut cream, and you can scoop them out of the can with ease.  Beat lightly with a hand mixer, add 1 cup of sifted powdered sugar (or more to taste), and 1 tsp vanilla extract.  Beat until everything is well incorporated but DO NOT OVERMIX, the coconut fat breaks down and does not retain the desired texture.  A very generous chef friend and fellow blogger, George Vutetakis, gifted me a bundle of Indian vanilla beans, so I split and scraped one and added the pulp to the coconut cream.  If you are willing to spend the money, or get lucky like I did, it really heightens any dish where vanilla is required.  If you're looking for impressive vegan dishes George's Blog is full of recipes and corresponding instructional videos.

Curried Pineapple Cupcakes

I've come to the realization that keeping up with a blog takes a lot of motivation that I'm frankly unable to muster often enough in order to contribute regularly.  I rarely find the time to sit down between creating recipes and write, not to mention plan a fancy little photoshoot in our perpetually cluttered household.  This post is different, for me anyhow.  This entry in my gastro-journal will have the sorts of pictures you'll see in most of the food blogs that seem to be crowding bandwiths nationwide.  If you Google, Yahoo, or Bing "cupcake blog" you will literally come across hundreds of Betty Crockers and Sarah Lees sporting their own recipes, or rather recipes that they've altered slightly from another blog.  I kid you not when I say I've followed the paper trail from a recipe I came across in blog that referenced back through 5 subsequent blogs to the original posted creation, which was probably pulled without credit from a periodical that rarely requires referencing in this day and age.

I'm definitely guilty of  heisting recipes from wayward blogs and outdated cookbooks procured from my local thrift store, making my alterations and taking credit thereafter, but something tells me this is how it's always been.  Prior to recent technological history how did networking in the foodie community really go down?  There was a time when recipe trading involved more tedious bookkeeping, more secrecy, and more integrity in some regard.  Sharing your best recipe with a neighbor or a friend implied quite a bit of confidence on the recipients part.  How often nowadays, while attending a potluck or dinner party, do you hear someone say, beaming with pride that their contribution to the meal is a secret family recipe? 

Food blogging lacks the romance of traditional recipe trading, but I think it's generated more inspiration for my peers to get back to our roots culinarily and agriculturally.  Whether it's due to financial hardship, concern for our future generations, or just the hip new trend, I have to say it's exciting.  My sense of creativity in the kitchen I imagine is more reminiscent of previous generations than most people my age despite the absence of stained old recipe cards.

Earlier I mentioned that I was guilty of hijacking recipes from outdated cookbooks, but this one happens to come from a more recent publication.  If you're vegan, or just interested in baking you've most likely come across Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.  I own a handful of Isa's cookbooks and I have to admit that I find her style a little kitschy; but could just stem from my distaste for punkabetties.  In any case, her cupcake book is probably that for which she gets the most praise, and for good reason.  Maybe I just failed at my attempt to execute her Pineapple Right Side Up cakes, but I felt they needed some amendments.  In this way I think can relate to those homemakers whose beloved secret recipes were probably generated in a similar manner: gathering together the aspects from one or more recipes they found pleasing, removing those they didn't, adding their own flare and customizing the final product to suit their own taste and that of the ones they choose to share their creation.

Anyhow, enough with the nostalgic sentiments, and onto the goods:

PINEAPPLE CURRY CUPCAKES w/ GINGER COCONUT BUTTERCREAM

makes 12 cupcakes

Dry:

1 1/4c AP flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp curry powder

Wet:

1 1/4c crushed pineapple in it’s own juice

1/3c canola oil

2/3c evaporated cane sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven 350*

1. Sift dry ingredients together into a mixing bowl.
2. Puree wet ingredients (set 1/4c crushed pineapple aside to mix in later) in a food processor until a lighter texture is reached
3. Make a crater in the dry ingredients, add the pureed wet ingredients and mix as little as possible with a spatula until combined.  Then mix in the reserved pineapple
4. Fill cupcake liners approximately 2/3 full.
5. Bake for 23-25 minutes.
6. Cupcakes need to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before being moved to a wire rack to finish cooling.  Top with a dollop of Ginger Buttercream and dust with more ground ginger.

Ginger Buttercream

1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1 cup coconut cream (see note)

1 tbsp ground ginger

1. Add coconut cream to mixing bowl and mix with a hand mixer on low,briefly
2. Sift sugar and ginger into bowl.
3. Mix together at medium speed just until combined

Adjust sugar and ginger according to your taste, but mix as briefly as possible.  The coconut cream will become runny if beaten too long.

*to make coconut cream put one can of full fat coconut milk in refrigerator and store for a few days (I've heard overnight is fine, but I kept mine in for almost a week).  The fat solids will separate from the liquid and should have the texture of butter.  The fat solids will be your coconut cream, and you can scoop them out of the can with ease.