Raw Wednesdays: More Cupcakes!

For Raw Wednesday this week I decided to attack a chocolate craving and try another recipe from The Little Rawdorable Cupcake Book That Could. Since I had the ingredients on hand, I decided to tackle the Cocoa Avocado Cupcakes and Pudding-Style Frosting.

Earlier this week, I discovered the cutest silicone cupcake molds at Ross and figured that, though I treasure my ramekins, these would make for a more festive and photogenic cupcake presentation.



I started by checking the recipe and upon seeing "cocoa" listed as an ingredient, began to wonder if that was the same as the "cacao" I usually see on raw food blogs. As it turns out, for our purposes, they do mean the same thing, but there is a matter of raw to be aware of in this case. So for these I used this.

For those of you interested, I learned some new things on Chocolate Linguistics.

The cupcakes and frosting went together easily and I had a bowl of frosting left over that made for a wonderful post-yoga pudding snack. The cupcakes look so adorable and taste amazing. They are the perfect post-work snack - not too sweet, but rich and chocolatey.



I don't have a functioning color printer at the moment, so I might need some help to participate in the Ellen Quest for Raw Cupcake Domination.

Also I caved today and bought all three e-books from Sweetly Raw. The last thing I need is one more dessert book, so apparently buying three makes it OK. And it does, especially if having them helps me to cut out refined sugars and flours and to try new things.

And here's a bonus kale salad with raw dressing:

Raw Cupcakes

As I mentioned yesterday, I attempted my first batch of raw cupcakes from the recently released Rawdorable cupcake ebook. It wasn't my first experience making raw desserts, but as a die-hard cake lover, I was wondered if I would love them like I do cake.

Luckily for me, I have years of veganism to keep me from acting like a child about analogues. I don't eat a lot of fake meats or cheeses, but when I do, I know better than to expect it to be exactly the same as its animal-based counterpart. It is, afterall, a different substance. One time I did have Vegan General Tso's Chicken from Whole Foods and it was so chicken-like that it freaked me out.

But people often smugly tell me, through mouthfuls of food, that the vegan dish is delicious, but that they can tell the difference. So you're telling me after however many years eating a Standard American Diet, you can actually tell the difference between ricotta cheese and cashew ricotta? You don't get a medal for that.

Again, it's a different substance - different and better. It is better for you, better for the animals, and better for the planet. See, I can also tell the difference. And you love it. And I have learned to love things for what they are, not for what they're supposed to be similar to or what they replace.

And I love raw cupcakes. I wasn't dissapointed b/c I knew they weren't going to taste like flour, sugar, and fats baked in an oven. The texture of the cake portion was different but sweet and satisfying and frosting is frosting. Even after halving the recipe, I have way more than I needed, so it's happily waiting in the freezer for the next batch.

I don't have a lot to say about the actual making process. My food processor got a work out. But I do have some terrible pictures taken on my phone!



Here is the "batter." It was pretty delicious on its own and I would have had no problem eating all of it sans frosting, but then when is that ever actually a good idea?






Here are my cupcakes pressed into ramekins, awaiting frosting. I need to get some of those cute silicone cups for future endeavors.









And here is the frosting that's so worth waiting for. I wish I could tell you why I didn't think to take pictures of it chilling, beautifully smooth, in pyrex.



And finally here are my finished cupcakes! I was blown away by how well they turned out. The frosting is decadent and the cakes are sweet with a dliehgtful texture. I'm already looking forward to making more.