Saturday, February 23, 2008

Vegan Rhubarb Cupcakes

Rhubarb. It was such a pretty bright red color when I saw it in Heinen’s. I had just read in something or another that it was in season in February and then there it was just sitting there in the grocery store. I grabbed a stack without really thinking about what I would do with them. At home, I thought about displaying them in a glass vase like flowers. In the end, I came across the recipe in Coconut and Lime. I had to make a gift for a friend, so I made one batch of her recipe and one veganized recipe for Belle. The recipe was easily and fast—even a novice baker got the desired results. If I make them in the future I think I will make a sort of rhubarb sauce that I will fold into the batter so that I get a marbled red color through the cupcake.

I wanted to make a festive box of pink goodies for my friend, as it was the week of Valentine's day, so I also made some pink meringues. I made a simple syrup and added rhubarb. I folded the red syrup into the meringue. The result was a lovely dusty pink. My husband ate an army of these tiny meringues and said the rhubarb flavor was faint and tasty.

I baked the vegan ones in little brioche pans so that I could discern the difference easily. Belle loved them. They had a sort of muffin consistency with a sour bite. For hers, I served them unfrosted, but I think next time I will make a rhubarb tofutti cream cheese topping for hers. After all, it is so cute to watch her lick and then relick her lips.

Now, I am not much of a baker because I hate to measure. It is the first time I have improvised a baked good. I tried to measure what I used, but in the end, I put it a small dollop of apple sauce (about 2 t) and I know that I didn’t use the full ¾ cup of flour—I used in between ½ cup and ¾ cup flour. Precision is a skill I will learn.

Recipe:
Vegan Rhubarb Cupcakes--Wait for an updated correctly measured recipe (hopefully next week)

(a combination of recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, the Schoomed Food blog, and Coconut and Lime)

Ingredients:Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tins with nonstick spray

Mix dry ingredients:
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients
1 TB apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup diced rhubarb
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup oil
1 t apple sauce, unsweetened

Add the wet to the dry and beat in a blender. When combined fill the muffin tins halfway up and bake 10-12 minutes in the convection oven (or a little more in a regular one.)

8 comments:

Pixie said...

These tarts sound very lovely and rhubarb being quite new for me, I'd love to try them one day.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today and for leaving such a kind comment.

maybelles mom said...

right back at you about stopping by. When I make your recipe, I will leave a note.

Tiina said...

Hi! Thanks for stopping by my blog! Why not we both try and make some cardamom-rhubarb meringues and compare our baking experiences? If I can find some rhubarb here this time of the year, that is...just used the last I had in the freezer. Your meringues look really cute! :)

Greetings,
Tiina

maybelles mom said...

great--i will do them some time this week.

Kajal@aapplemint said...

rubharb has been tempting me for so long now , but i just cant seem to find some where i live. And you make it sound even more wonderful and divine.
Those meringues look so perfect I tried making some this week, thrice , but they didn't come out too good. I guess its the heat and moisture in this town that interferes.
The cupcakes look wonderful , and love the coloured balls on top. So cue.

Simone said...

The meringues sound delicious, I will surely try those. I love the tartness of Rhubarb, I am partial to the Rhubarb Crumble myself. Thanks for your comments as well.

maybelles mom said...

kate/kajal & simone, thanks for the comments. next winter, I think I would love to do a rhubarb recipe round up or contest, b/c I am coming to love it. I guess i could do it now, but I think I am too new to this world to do one.

maybelles mom said...

kate/kajal, I just reread your comment. I didn't realize that you were in Afghanistan. Did you know that the Afghanis used to import dried rhubarb from China during the 7th century? Well, my point is that, have you gone to a medicine shop in Hong Kong or Afghanistan and see if they use it for something? I have never hear of it in India though, but this is all about climate. Here there is so little in the winter, the red stalks are perennials. But, you have things that we only dream of.