Test Kitchen: Babycakes NYC Cupcakes

Ilan, my son, reached his first birthday on September 25. And, there was some serious family expectation, not only to host a birthday party, but to feed him his first sugary treat to place that candle on. I wasn't ready to introduce him to sugar and chocolate and more sugar just yet. I'm trying to keep him on a healthy whole food diet for as long as humanly possible or at least until outside influences prevail.

Lisa, my WeeMunch partner in crime, sent me two modified recipes for carrot cake and zucchini cake as alternatives (We'll post these soon). But then Goop.com (yes, reading Gwyneth Paltrow's weekly newsletter is a guilty pleasure) sent out three recipes from New York based Babycakes that are vegan, sugar and gluten-free deserts. I was so curious about the taste, that I chose to test drive their cupcake and icing recipes.

The cupcakes definitely taste vegan, sugar and gluten-free. That said, they're still really tasty. The texture of the cupcakes turned out more like a brownie texture, and we pumped up the vanilla icing by adding real vanilla bean. I wouldn't likely ever make these again and that's because if you don't have items like arrowroot starch, coconut flour, and garbanzo and fava bean flour on hand, you'll be looking at shelling out a lot of money just to get the basic ingredients from your local health food store, and, in the end, I'm not sure it was quite worthwhile.

Recipes

Chocolate Cupcakes
YIELD: 1 dozen

1 cup garbanzo and fava bean flour
1/4 cup potato starch
2 tablespoons arrowroot
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil
2/3 cup agave nectar
6 tablespoons applesauce
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup hot water or hot coffee
Frosting for serving (see recipe below)
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line one, standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, potato starch, cocoa powder, arrowroot, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt. Add the oil, agave nectar, applesauce, vanilla, and hot water directly to the dry ingredients. Stir until the batter is smooth.

Pour 1/3 cup of the batter into each prepared cup. This portion will almost fill the cup up entirely. Bake the cupcakes on the center rack for 22 minutes, rotating the tray 180 degrees after 15 minutes. The cupcakes will bounce back when pressed and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean. Remove from the oven.

Let the cupcakes stand for 20 minutes. Transfer them to a wire rack right side up and cool completely. Using a frosting knife, gently spread 1 tablespoon of Frosting over each cupcake. Place the cupcakes in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Vanilla Frosting
YIELD: enough for 1 dozen cupcakes

1 1/2 cups soy milk
3/4 cup soy “Better Than Milk” powder
1 tablespoons coconut flour
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup coconut oil
2 tablespoon lemon juice
In a blender or food processor, combine the soy milk, “Better Than Milk” powder, coconut flour, agave nectar, and vanilla. Mix the ingredients for 2 minutes. As the machine blends, slowly add the oil and lemon juice, alternating between the two until all parts are incorporated. Pour the mixture into an airtight container. Place the container in the refrigerator for 6 hours, or for up to 1 month, before using.

Source: goop.com