Mish and I have been dying to try out recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the Worldby Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero for a very long time, and we finally did on Friday. Because neither of us had ever made vegan cupcakes before, and Mish has never made cupcakes from scratch, we decided to go with a simpler recipe: Simple Vanilla and Agave Nectar Cupcakes. For the frosting, we made a Chocolate Ganache using the recipe from the book and adding a little bit of our own invention. Here’s the result:
These were the most moist cupcakes I’ve ever had! I’m guessing that’s a result of using agave syrup in lieu of sugar and eggs/milk. I mean… wow. I’m not vegan {though I may be slowly heading that way, if it weren’t for bacon…}, but I have a feeling I’ll be making many more vegan cupcakes.
Psst: check out author Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s website, The Post Punk Kitchen, for more unbelievably delicious vegan recipes. :)
The United States of America is 235 years old today! Well, at least the original thirteen colonies are, but let’s not split hairs. How are you celebrating? Stan and I went to a cookout at my Dad’s house on Saturday. I brought homemade red velvet cupcakes and was the only one wearing red, white, and blue {Stan said I looked like Captain America}. We also blew up a watermelon:
Today was a good day. I didn’t sleep in as late as I would have liked, but I got a lot done for the brochure I’m making for the Poor & Pretty Bath Sweets line. When Stan rolled out of bed, I made us a scrumptious breakfast of whole wheat french toast, eggs, and bacon, which we munched on happily while we watched gophers play in our backyard. Did I mention I love our apartment?
After filling up our bellies, we took a stroll in downtown Glastonbury and checked out some neat local businesses. Stan made friends with the resident Corgi at Emmy Lou’s, a very quaint shop with lots of beautiful home decor and handmade accessories.
Oh, and we just happened to stop in at Sugarbelle for some cupcakes…
…Yeah, I didn’t fool you. That was probably the main reason we went to Glastonbury ;) I picked up an Almond Raspberry, Chocolate Raspberry {I was in a raspberry mood}, and Lemon. I’ve only eaten the chocolate raspberry so far. It was super moist and the Swiss meringue buttercream frosting was amazing, but I didn’t get much of a chocolate taste from the cake itself. On the plus side, that means it wasn’t overpoweringly chocolatey, which happens often with chocolate cakes, I find.
With all of the craziness that is May {birthdays, graduations, weddings, Memorial Day…}, I’m not having a big birthday bash until this coming Saturday. Though I’ve done pretty small celebrations for the past couple of years, my mom wanted to throw me an immortal-themed murder mystery party. So, this Saturday, a few friends and I will be dressing up as faeries, wizards, vampires, werewolves, or watchers {think Giles from Buffy, only more stylish}, and trying to solve a murder while also trying to keep our own secrets safe. Scandalous!
I, of course, chose a faerie character — the water faerie, Nineve. I found the perfect dress at Uptown Consignment, and Stan paid for half as part of my birthday present. My mom and I have been busy planning fun menu items {like salsa = “blood & guts” for vampires} and testing recipes {like this one for raspberry lemon cupcakes}, and I’ve been coming up with great DIY ideas for decorations and costume components, like the tissue paper pom-poms I created using this tutorial, and the candles Stan and I made together. I can’t wait until Saturday!
Ms. Jillian Farrell is going to tsk-tsk me for how late I am posting this, but, in my defense, my brain is mush from studying for exams :(. Sunday, Stan and I met Jill and her friend Mary for breakfast at Bolo Bakery, a Portuguese bakery in Plainville right next to the hair salon I used to live on top of a few years ago. Initially, we went there to acquire cupcakes like the one seen in Jill’s post, but it was 11am and Stan and I hadn’t eaten breakfast.
I ordered “The Portuguese” — 2 fried eggs, prosciutto, and Portuguese Gouda cheese served on a Portuguese roll; and a bowl of fruit. It was the best breakfast sandwich I’ve ever had, hands down. As for cupcakes, I had to get the Red Velvet after Jill raved about it so much, and I also bought a Pistachio one because I’d never had a pistachio cupcake before. They were only $4 each and ENORMOUS {I took a picture holding it for reference}. It took me two days to eat the red velvet, and I couldn’t finish the pistachio, but they were both insanely delicious. The cream cheese frosting on the red velvet was very thick, but not too cream cheese-y, while the pistachio frosting was a chocolate mousse.
Anyway, I highly recommend Bolo — either for breakfast or for desserts {they have tons of other yummy pastries, doughnuts, tarts, etc.} and their lunch menu looks pretty spectacular, too. They’re located at 33 Whiting Street in Plainville.
