Hipster Cupcakes - Vegan PBR Cupcakes with Vegan Buttercream Frosting

I'm someone who always smiles for photos, rarely wears skinny jeans, and has never worn glasses just for style.  I'm so not a hipster that I had to ask the staff at Plato's Closet to tell me what to wear for this shoot.  I felt like someone else as I posed by this beat up door (compliments of Clover Hill Interiors) for my hipster cupcake shoot.  But, playing dress up was fun (those of you who have seen my Wild West cupcakes and my absinthe cupcakes know that I don't shy away from costumes).  Many of us dress up for Halloween, but I encourage you to play with new looks throughout the year - you might just discover one that fits more than you expect it to.  I'm going to wear the hat again - for real, not as a costume - and I've already worn the jeans quite a few times.

Dressing up is extra fun if you can get the kids into the act.

What About the Hipster Cupcakes?

The hipster cupcakes are vegan Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) cupcakes made with my vegan buttercream.  (See the article on Quora to learn how PBR became known as the hipster drink of choice.)  The PBR flavor comes through in the cupcakes just enough for you to know it is there, but not quite enough to make you feel like you are eating beer.  It's tempered by brown sugar, and once frosted, the PBR cupcakes end up being something you'll sit on your front stoop snacking on while chatting about the latest indie music. 

Hipster Cupcake Recipe

Yield: 10 cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup PBR
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• vegan frosting (get the recipe in my vegan frosting post)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together PBR, apple cider vinegar, sugar and oil until slightly frothy.
3. Mix in the flour, baking soda, and baking powder until just combined.  
4. Bake for 20 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched.
5. When cool, frost with vegan buttercream.

More Hipster Fun


For more hipster fun, head over to Best Friends for Frosting to see a guest post from my friend Brooke (of Sucre Shop fame).  She's prepared just the thing to serve with these cupcakes!

Must-Try Vegan Frosting (Trans-Fat Free)

When I made homemade vegan butter, my biggest question - the ultimate test - was whether or not the butter would work in a vegan frosting.  I was skeptical.  I thought that the vegan frosting would melt too quickly or wouldn't get thick enough to pipe.  This vegan frosting far surpassed my wildest expectations.  It held its shape like a champ and it only started to melt after I left it out on my counter for two days (my house is 68 degrees F - if yours is hotter, you may need to refrigerate the frosted cupcakes).  However, the area that most surprised me was the vegan frosting's taste.

Homemade Vegan Butter that Looks, Feels, and Tastes Like Butter

Mattie's VeganBaking.net post sharing a recipe for homemade vegan butter is exemplary food writing.  It's original, well thought out, and - most importantly - the recipe works.  The post details the need for homemade vegan butter and every step Mattie took to develop the vegan butter recipe to perfection. 

Cherry Coke Cupcakes with Cola Frosting

"Tastes like soda," commented Groom 4.0 when I had him try these cherry Coke cupcakes without knowing what they were.  Score!  Goal achieved.  He went on to say that if Bride 4.0 didn't pick these as her choice for their wedding cupcakes, he would replace his selection, Piña Colada cupcakes, with these.  He didn't need to worry - after two bites of these moist maraschino-filled cherry Coke cupcakes, Bride 4.0 was already picturing 80 of them on her wedding cupcake stand.

Cherry Coke cupcakes require an ingredient that you don't have and probably aren't going to be able to find at any store near you.  Sorry!  The good news is that it's cheap (just $5.95) and I'll tell you where to get it online (no, I'm not being paid to write this, and I get no kickback).   The secret ingredient that is no longer a secret is Kool Kola extract from The Homemade Soda Company.  While there are quite a few recipes online for cola-flavored cupcakes, what makes mine really pop (soda-pop that is) is the cola extract.  I use it in the cake (in addition to actual cola) and to make frosting that tastes just like Coke without being watery.  You could certainly try making cherry Coke cupcakes without the extract, but they just won't be the same.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Basil

Vegan chocolate cupcakes can easily rival any non-vegan counterpart. These vegan chocolate cupcakes are light and bouncy like Hostess cupcakes - but leagues better. The best part of the vegan chocolate cupcakes was how well they domed. As my friend NZ Cupcake Queen (author of The Cupcake Project - not to be confused with this blog, Cupcake Project) says:

Feeling that a vegan chocolate cupcake (delectable or not) was uninteresting, I decided to make it a chocolate basil cupcake. Basil tastes strikingly similar to mint - so much so that my tasters said they would have confused these cupcakes for chocolate mint cupcakes if I didn't tell them otherwise (or if they weren't topped with basil leaves). However, the basil was different enough from mint for me to like it - I'm not a fan of mint.


I used basil grown in our own home garden, and I'm proud to enter this cupcake into this month's Grow Your Own roundup hosted by Amy of Playing House.

I love how the event logo looks just like the basil leaves on my cupcakes!

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Basil Recipe

I found the recipe for vegan chocolate cupcakes on Kylie's blog, The Baking Bird. She got the recipe from the cookbook La Dolce Vegan!. Below is a reprinting of the recipe adapted to cupcakes with the addition of basil.

Makes about 20 cupcakes

• 1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 1/2 C flour
• 1 3/4 C sugar
• 1 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 C fresh basil leaves, packed firmly
  
• 1/2 cup soft or silken tofu
• 1 C soy milk
• 1 T apple cider vinegar
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 1/2 C oil
• 1/2 C water

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
   
2. In a food processor, chop basil finely.
3. Add the tofu, soy milk, vinegar, vanilla, and oil to the food processor and process until smooth.
4. Pour contents of the food processor into the bowl with the dry ingredients.
5. Add the water.
6. Stir together until fully combined.
7. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
8. Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when touched.

The Frosting

I frosted the vegan chocolate cupcakes with vegan chocolate ganache.

Vegan Frosting - Chocolate Ganache Using Tofu

I wanted a vegan frosting that didn't require margarine (most vegan frosting recipes that I found online called for margarine - yuck). Finally, I found a vegan frosting sans margarine that was worthy of topping a vegan Cupcake Project cupcake. It's a vegan chocolate ganache where tofu takes the place of the typical cream.

I waited until they were done enjoying the vegan cupcakes with vegan frosting before telling my tasters that the frosting contained tofu. They were shocked. It was not at all obvious.


The main difference between the vegan chocolate ganache and other chocolate ganaches is the texture. Typically, ganaches have a lustrous sheen. The vegan ganache had a definite matte finish. The texture was also different - it was thick, almost like brownie batter (tasted like it, too!). More pics are coming when I post the cupcakes. It looks a bit more attractive once it's all smoothed out.

Vegan Frosting Recipe

I got the vegan frosting recipe concept from the Vegetarian Times. Here is my altered version.

• 1/2 C soft tofu (use less if you want it to be more creamy)
• 2 3/4 oz chocolate (use your favorite brand of chocolate here - semi-sweet or dark both work)
• 1/4 C sugar, optional (if you use dark chocolate or baking chocolate, you will need to add some sugar to give it sweetness)

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. (I usually microwave it. Put it in for thirty seconds, stir, and repeat until it's all melted.)
2. Pour the melted chocolate over the tofu and stir until combined.
3. If needed, mix in the sugar.
   

Rhubarb Cupcakes: The Perfect Autumn Cupcakes

My rhubarb cupcakes were dubbed by my cupcake taster, Ran (who has tasted so many of my cupcakes that he may as well be Groom 2.5), as "the perfect autumn cupcake." He went on to say how he felt weird even eating the rhubarb cupcakes in the summer.

What Did the Other Tasters Say About the Rhubarb Cupcakes?

• One taster said that the rhubarb cupcakes were so good that he was left "speechless." However, it should be noted he is a new taster who doesn't have much regular access to home-baked goods. As such, he wasn't as critical as my regular tasters.
• My mom took a couple of rhubarb cupcakes back to New York with her. Her friend, Peter, who has tasted quite a few Cupcake Project cupcakes, said that this one was right up there with the best.
• Bride and Groom 2.0 both thought the cupcake texture was perfect. Bride 2.0 liked the flavor, but Groom 2.0 did not.
• As for me, I enjoyed them, but I thought they were almost too simple. The flavor was not quite complex enough. The rhubarb flavor was there, but it basically blended into the overall spice cake flavor. Despite my issues with its simplicity, these rhubarb cupcakes would be perfection on a crisp autumn night sitting in front of the fire with a glass of hot cocoa.

The Rhubarb Cupcake Recipe
Because I was basing my rhubarb cupcake recipe off of a rhubarb pulled pork recipe (if you are not a regular reader, don't be alarmed by this statement - I get my inspiration in weird ways), I wanted to incorporate some of the same flavors - agave, five spice, and ginger. I decided to use a recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (the only cupcake cookbook that I regularly refer to) as my starting point.
Here is the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World simple vanilla and agave nectar cupcake recipe modified a whole lot to make my rhubarb cupcake recipe.
Makes about 12 cupcakes.

• 2/3 C soy milk
• 1/2 t apple cider vinegar
• 2/3 C agave nectar (if you don't have agave nectar, you can use honey)
• 1/3 C canola oil
• 1/2 t vanilla extract
• 4 drops ginger extract from Supreme Spice (if you don't have ginger extract, you can use 1/2 t powdered ginger)
• 2 t five spice powder
• 1 1/3 C flour
• 3/4 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 C rhubarb compote

1. Mix the soy milk and the apple cider vinegar in a large bowl and allow to sit for a few minutes to curdle.
2. Beat in vinegar, agave, oil, vanilla, and ginger.
3. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and five spice powder and mix just until smooth. Do not over-mix.
4. Stir in rhubarb compote.
5. Fill liners 2/3 full.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the tops bounce back when touched.

The Five Spice Frosting

I frosted these cupcakes with five spice frosting. For even more fun, dunk the cupcake in some extra rhubarb compote as you are eating it.

Raw Food Frosting Recipe: Use Coconut Oil and Agave

Raw food frosting ingredient: coconut oil

What is Raw Food Frosting?

Raw food frosting is frosting that contains no ingredients that have been heated above 110-120 degrees Fahrenheit - no sugar, no butter (unless it's from raw, non-pasteurized milk), and definitely no Crisco.

What Can I Use in a Raw Food Frosting?

To make a raw food frosting, coconut oil is a great replacement for butter or shortening and agave nectar is a great replacement for sugar.

Why Make a Raw Food Frosting?

I made a raw food frosting to top raw food cupcakes, of course! That's right, I made cupcakes that required no baking!

Clearly with all the baking I do, I am not a member of the raw foods movement. I did, however, attend a raw food potluck and needed something to bring. I could have brought a salad, but you know I had to bring cupcakes!

What is Raw Food All About?

According to the Wikipedia article on raw foodism, raw foodies believe that "raw foods contain enzymes which aid digestion, meaning that the body's own enzymes may work unimpeded in regulating the body's metabolic processes, and heating food above 110-120 degrees Fahrenheit degrades or destroys these enzymes in food." It is not an eating style I plan on taking up. However, I have respect for those that do so. All of the food at the raw food potluck was fantastic!

The Raw Food Frosting Recipe

I got the frosting recipe from a post on the Raw Freedom Community. While this recipe features lemon juice, you could make the same recipe with most fruits. I have reprinted it below with my modifications.

• 1 C coconut oil
• 1/4 C agave nectar
• rind from 1 large lemon
• 1/4 C lemon juice

1. Beat the coconut oil until creamy.
2. Mix in the agave nectar.
3. Mix in the lemon rind and lemon juice.

The frosting will spread well. However, it will not be thick enough to pipe. After you put it in the refrigerator, it will harden. I liked it much better cold and would strongly recommend serving it that way.

Soda Fountain Cupcakes: Cakes on a Plane

These soda fountain cupcakes are actually root beer cupcakes topped with cream soda frosting and a chocolate malt ball. I found that just the smell of them made people smile.

Cupcakes on a Plane

I've been baking cupcakes for quite some time now, but since I live in St. Louis and my family lives in NY they have only gotten to see pictures of my little treats. Pictures of cupcakes are nice, but it's just not the same as the taste test.

I spent the past week in NY and decided I would take some cupcakes along with me. I had doubts as to whether I would be allowed on the plane with them since I once had an incident where the TSA officer tried to confiscate a package of cream cheese from me (they called it a gel). I begged and got to take it on board.

As it turned out though, there was no need to worry in this case. The only comment from the TSA worker was, "Those look like some special cupcakes," or something like that. I even have photographic evidence of my cupcake flying. No, that was not photoshopped.

My secondary concern was that I didn't bring enough cupcakes. I actually restricted the number of cupcakes my husband and I ate so that there would be enough to bring. Well let me tell you a little something about these New Yorkers (or maybe just about my family), these people are far more health conscious that the average Midwesterner.

• In sunny St. Louis, you present a crowd with some cupcakes and people come running. Fights may ensue. People get upset if they are left out of a particular week's tasting.
• In the big apple (perhaps the apple is in the name because they just eat fruit), it was like people were doing ME a favor to taste my fine wares. Three or more people would cut a single cupcake into small slices (kinda like an apple now that I think of it) and share. I admit I've been known to cut a cupcake in half, but really they are designed as a single serving item, your own personal cake. That is their beauty.
  

Any New Yorkers care to explain to me how cupcake shops thrive in the city? Do people eat the entire cupcake themselves?

That being said, props go to my Mom (gotta love Moms) for eating her whole cupcake because it was made with love by me. She also put one away in her freezer for her fiance who is on a no- sugar diet.

Root Beer Cupcake Recipe

The cake part of the recipe was a root beer cake. I found the recipe at the Bittersweet Blog. The cake was moist and had a strong root beer smell and flavor. Definitely a winner.
makes 12 cupcakes

• 1 C rootbeer soda
• 1 t apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 C sugar
• 1/3 C canola oil
• 1/2 t vanilla extract
• 2 t rootbeer extract
• 1 1/3 C flour
• 3/4 t baking soda
• 1/2 t baking powder
• Pinch of Salt

1. Combine the soda and vinegar and let stand for a few minutes.
2. Add in the sugar and oil, whisking vigorously until slightly frothy.
   
3. Integrate your extracts, and gently introduce the flour, along with the baking powder / soda, and salt, being careful not to over mix.
   
4. Fill cupcake liners approximately 3/4 of the way to the top.
   
5. Bake at 350 F for about 18 - 22 minutes.
   

The Cream Soda Frosting Recipe

The frosting that was used on Bittersweet might be great, but it just didn't seem like it would be what I was looking for. I wanted a rich vanilla and creamy frosting and the taste of vanilla soy just didn't seem like it would do. Instead, I opted for a cream soda frosting. I used the cream cheese frosting recipe from my maple frosting as base, but made some changes.

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 1/4 C butter
• 4 C powdered sugar
• 1.5 t cream soda extract (Cream soda extract isn't exactly a common household item. However, I was able to order some at a soda home brewing company, The Homemade Soda Company. This is also where I ordered my root beer extract from. The service there was fantastic! They shipped my stuff the same day and even called me to let me know they had found a cheaper shipping rate for me. I'd definitely recommend them, if you want to try making some cream soda frosting. I'd also highly recommend the frosting. It was a perfect match for the root beer cupcake.)

1. Beat cream cheese and butter.
2. Add powdered sugar until the consistency is right.
3. Add extract.
   

The Topping

I topped the whole thing with a chocolate malt ball just to complete the soda fountain experience.

Wedding Potential?

The groom seemed to like the fact that I used local Fitz's Root Beer in the cupcake. Gives it a St. Louis feel for his out of town guests. It would be really cool if I could actually use Fitz's extracts for the root beer extract part and cream soda extract part. Somehow I doubt they give that stuff away though. Anyone have any connections?

Footnote

This cupcake was chosen for the wedding!

Margarita Cupcakes: Can a Cupcake be Dangerous?

Margarita cupcakes, like margaritas themselves, go down smooth, leaving you with just a small tickle in your mouth from the salted rim (yes, the rim of the margarita cupcakes has salt, but it's mostly sugar).  The margarita cupcakes won't get you drunk, but they are boozey.  There's tequila in both the margarita cupcake batter and the margarita frosting.  

The Margarita Cupcake Back Story

I was invited to a Memorial Day game of wiffle ball (a game I hadn't played in years - and as it turns out still haven't). The last two parties that were hosted by the wiffle ball couple involved margaritas in some way so I felt that this one should, too.

Although we were were sitting on picnic tables in a shady St. Louis park, the cupcakes transported us to a glistening island shoreline.  There was no alcohol allowed in the park, but who would suspect that the margarita cupcakes I brought contained tequila?


Margarita Cupcake Recipe

I found a recipe for margarita cupcakes on Baking Bites, one of my favorite blogs.  The margarita cupcake recipe originally came from a Vegan cupcake cookbook called Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I'm not a vegan, but one nice feature of this cupcake was that the party's host, who is lactose intolerant, was able to eat them (he put up with the small amount of butter in the frosting).


Yield: 12 cupcakes

• 1/4 C lime juice
• 1 1/2 tsp lime zest (1 lime)
• 1 C plain or vanilla soy milk (Regular 2% milk would also work.)
• 1/4 C vegetable oil
• 2 tsp tequila
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 C sugar
• 1 1/3 C all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. In a large bowl, mix together lime juice, lime zest, soy milk, oil , tequila, vanilla and sugar.
2. In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. 
3. Add the dry ingredients to the lime mixture and stir until just combined. 
4. Divide evenly among 12 cupcake liners.
5. Bake at 350 F  for 20-24 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the cupcakes spring back when lightly pressed.

Margarita Frosting Recipe

While the flavor was spot on, I found the original frosting recipe to be a bit too clumpy. Here is my modified version.  You may also consider cutting this recipe in half.  I ended up with a lot more than I needed.

• 1/4 C butter or nonhydrogenated shortening, melted
• 1 tbsp heavy whipping cream or soymilk
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp tequila
• 2+ C confectioners’ sugar
• coarse colored sugar and salt for “rims”
• Umbrella toppers (optional)

1. Cream together butter/nonhydrogenated shortening (depending on whether you want the frosting vegan or not), heavy whipping cream or soymilk, lime juice, tequila, and confectioners’ sugar.
2. Add in more sugar as needed to make the frosting smooth and spreadable. 
3. Spread the frosting on the cupcakes.
4. Combine colored sugar and salt in a small bowl.
5. Roll the edge of each cupcake in the sugar/salt mixture.
6. Top with umbrellas.

Other Margarita Cupcake Anecdotes

1. Margarita cupcakes are not dangerous because of the alcohol. They are dangerous because one of my cupcake tasters cut the roof of his mouth with the coarse salt. We're talking blood and all. I call that user error.
2. Margarita is clearly not a winter kind of flavor, so I didn't expect it to be a wedding contender at all. I just made it because it seemed like a perfect wiffle ball summer thing. However, I've been informed that a family member of bride to be said, "I don't know what a blog is, but I know a great cupcake when I eat it." Apparently, he tried to convince the couple to adjust their wedding theme so that this cupcake could make an appearance. We'll have to make sure he gets to taste some of the future flavors. I like fans!

Update

The margarita cupcake was chosen for the wedding! The others that were selected were Soda Fountain Cupcakes and Gingerbread Latte Cupcakes.