The Cake Merchant

Vegan Mini Vanilla and Chocolate Swirl Cupcakes (and how to make mini cupcakes)

Vegan-Mini-Chocolate-and-Vanilla-Swirl-Cupcakes

I don’t post a lot of mini cupcakes on here, which is a shame, because I make them quite often. Whenever I bake for an event, people almost always request the mini variety, but I’m usually in such a rush to get them out the door, I don’t get a chance to take pictures before I have to pack them up and take them to an event. This time, I made sure to set aside a few moments to take pictures of what has to be one of my very favorite mini cupcake recipes.

Vegan-Mini-Swirl-Cupcakes

It’s a good idea to know to turn any cupcakes recipe into mini cupcakes. Generally, any regular cupcake recipe will yield approximately 3 times as many mini cupcakes. The original vegan chocolate cupcake recipe, which is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, makes 12 standard cupcakes, and I usually get between 36-40 of the mini version. I find that this cookie scoop makes it easy to divide the right amount of batter for mini cupcakes into the pans. Also, the baking time for mini cupcakes is usually around 9-11 minutes, but it’s a good idea to keep a close eye on them near the end of the baking time, since it can be a minute between being done and overbaked.

Vegan-Swirl-Mini-Cupcakes

The swirly frosting was really easy to make. I filled one 16-inch decorating bag with vanilla frosting, and another one with chocolate frosting, making sure that neither was much more than half full. Snip off about an inch off the end of each bag, and place them both side by side in another 16-inch decorating bag that has been fitted with a piping tip (I used Wilton 4B). Close off the top of the bag with a rubber band or twisty tie, and pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes as usual. It’s a good idea to pipe some icing onto a piece of waxed or parchment paper to test it out the swirly effect before piping directly onto the cupcakes.

Vegan-Swirl-Mini-Cupcakes

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Vegan Peanut Butter Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies

When I think of coconut oil, baking is not the first thing that comes to mind. My parents are from India, so my memories of the stuff are the blue bottles of Parachute coconut oil at my Grandmother’s house in Calcutta. She would rub it into my hair at night when I was a kid, and then I’d wash it out in the morning. I thought it was kind of weird, but I just went with it.
Now coconut oil is a thing here in the US. People use it for everything these days- face wash, furniture polish, deodorant, cooking, and even mixing it into peanut butter. Have you ever tried coconut peanut butter? The combination of peanut butter and coconut sounded weird to me at first, but this stuff us truly addicting, and I thought it would be delicious in cookies. With coconut oil. Because coconut oil makes baked goods healthy, right? At least it cancels out the sugar.

Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies

The original vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe I used uses canola oil, and while it is delicious, I subbed melted coconut oil and coconut peanut butter. You can also use regular peanut butter in place of the coconut peanut butter. Fact: adding peanut butter to anything enhances the deliciousness.

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Mini Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes with Blackberry Frosting

Last week, I got to escape the heat and go to my hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Fort Wayne is not a bustling metropolis, but it beautiful in the summer, and there is a bounty of fresh produce. My parents are avid gardeners, and I love spending time in the kitchen with my mom and cooking with the freshly picked vegetables.

Just down the road, there is a farm that has some of the best berries I’ve every tasted. Even though there’s been a drought in Indiana this year, there were still plenty of berries. They were smaller than usual, but still just as sweet.

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