Katrina Cakes are very similar to Mandy Cakes, except I'm actually writing down the recipe this time and Katrina Cakes are simply vegan, whereas Mandy Cakes are vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free. I started with the Joy of Cooking's standard muffin recipe and morphed it into this:
Mix in one bowl:
2 cups Flour (Bob's Red Mill All Purpose)6 Tbsp Cocoa Powder (Scharffen Berger Unsweetened)
1 1/2 Tbsp Baking Powder (also Bob's Red Mill)
tiny pinch salt
Mix in a second bowl:
1 cup Sugar (evaporated cane juice)
1/4 tsp Organic Molasses
1 cup Hemp Milk
6 Tbsp Organic Coconut Oil, melted
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
Pour the contents of the second bowl into the first bowl and whip until smooth. Then add about 1/3 cup of Mini Chocolate Chips and portion into a pre-greased muffin tin (I greased it with coconut oil). Bake on the top rack at 400 degrees F.
This makes about 16-18 cupcakes.
Funny Story: My first batch of cupcakes burned, filled our apartment with smoke, and set off all the smoke alarms as I was writing the above. That all took less than 10 minutes! Sooo, here's some lessons learned:
1) Keep an eye on the clock! (batch number two has been in the oven for 6 minutes now...)
2) Keep an eye on the oven! (nothing burning yet, and the temp inside the oven is in fact 400)
3) Bake cakes at the top of the oven! (they were near the bottom first time)
4) Egg Replacer has a funny texture. So for batch number two I omitted egg replacer and increased the amount of baking powder and coconut oil instead. I also added a little bit more vanilla. (they might have been burnt, but that first batch was a good taste-test!)
5) Ripping the smoke alarm off the ceiling and throwing it under a bunch of blankets is an extremely effective way of making that god-awful noise stop.
The second batch came out beautifully and I topped them with coconut frosting. I used the rest of a 14oz. jar of coconut oil, plus a lot of powdered sugar (at least 1 cup), and some food coloring and edible sparkles to make the frosting. I tried to make purple, but the thing about purple is that it's not necessarily equal parts red and blue, especially when you're using cheap food coloring... sooo, if they're in the right lighting, I swear they're lavendery, but the important part is that they are sparkly!
(For the record, to turn Katrina Cakes into Mandy Cakes; just substitute some Gluten Free All Purpose Flour for the regular gluteny flour.)
