Kumquaty Red Velvet Cupcake February 26, 2013

I have some leftover beet pulp from making my CAB juice and wanted to make a red velvet cake…and then I realized I didn’t really know what a red velvet cake was other then red. So I went to a website that I knew would be full of cake recipes to compare

Red Velvet Chocolate Cake from Martha Stewart

2 1/2 cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 teaspoon salt
4 tbs cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups canola oil
2 large eggs
1/4 cup red food coloring
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons white vinegar

Martha Stewart Traditional Red Velvet Cake

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted, plus more for pans
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 one-ounce bottles liquid red food coloring
3 tablespoons lukewarm water
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon white vinegar

Martha Stewart Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups hot water

So the difference between a chocolate red velvet cake and a traditional red velvet cake isn’t much, only a difference of 1 tbs of cocoa powder and the traditional uses butter while the chocolate red velvet uses vegetable oil…..Now the difference between the chocolate cake and the red velvet chocolate cake is ALOT more chocolate in the regular chocolate cake 1 1/4 cups more cocoa powder. I thought there wouldn’t be any buttermilk in the regular chocolate cake but this regular chocolate cake uses buttermilk too. The other difference I see is the addition of vinegar in both of the red velvet cake recipes.

The all knowing wikipedia states

“James Beard’s 1972 reference, American Cookery,[1] describes three red velvet cakes varying in the amounts of shortening and butter, also vegetable oil. All use red food coloring, but the reaction of acidic vinegar and buttermilk tends to better reveal the red anthocyanin in the cocoa and keeps the cake moist, light and fluffy. ”

So I think I can skip the vinegar since the main point of it was to make the chocolate look redder…I think the beets will do enough. And buttermilk makes a very tender traditional cake though I don’t know if it would really make much of a difference seeing there is no flour in my recipe and coconut flour makes a pretty tender cake by itself.

Kumquaty Chocolate Red Velvet Cake

1/2 cup coconut flour
3 tbs cup cocoa powder
pinch sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tbs of flax seed (ground)

4 large eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup beet pulp
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbs of sweetener (molasses, agave, whatever sweetener you prefer. I didn’t use any sweetener in my recipe and the bitterness from the cocoa was a little too intense)

Preheat oven to 350. Stir together dry ingredients. Add in wet ingredient until no dry streaks. Put 1/4 cup into lined muffin tin. Bake for 15-18 mins.

Kumquaty Carrot Cupcakes (grain free/ gluten free/ dairy free/ sweetener free) February 13, 2013

Very loosely based off of Elana Amsterdam’s Vanila Cupcake recipe in the book Gluten-free Cupcakes. Wow! why would anyone make cupcakes with almond flour this cupcake had a luxious mouthfeel and crumb I assume due to the oils in the coconut melting as you eat it…yum

Kumquaty Soft Moist Carrot Cake

(makes 10 cupcakes)

1/2 cup coconut flour + 2tbs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger powder

1 cup carrots (shredded or leftover from juicing)
1/3 cup coconut oil melted
1 tbs vanilla
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Stir together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir til combined. Put 1/4 cup of batter into each lined muffin tin. Bake for 25- 30 mins.

Serve with cream cheese icing or if you are forgetful like me and never remember to let out your cream cheese to softened just smear with some cream cheese and pour a little maple syrup on 🙂

How to make: Coconut Water/Milk/Flour/Butter?/ Decorative Bowl/Cat February 12, 2013

I bought 2 coconuts priced $1.58 ea. Out of each coconut I was able to get the equivalent amount of coconut water to an 11oz bpa free tetra pack coconut water box which costs me $1.29 a box….So I was able to get coconut milk and flour out of the same box essential for free…yay! It does require time and effort but the more I do it the less time and effort it takes as I get more proficient at being a coconut monkey 🙂

To “make” coconut water:

*Find the softest eye of the coconut
*Use a steak knife and bore a hole
*Shake coconut water out into a container to drink later
(I think there must be almost a vacuum with only boring out one of the eyes but the other two are really hard so I just *shake shake shake* and the water does comes out. There is probably a better way 🙂 )

To get the meat out:

*Preheat over 350 degrees
*Whack coconut on hard surface (I used my concrete step outside my house and hoped the neighbors weren’t watching) where the opened eye is until it cracks
*Bake at least 10 minutes
*Pry out coconut meat with a butter knife (try to not shoot yourself in the eye or hit the ceiling with chunks of coconut)
*Use a vegetable peeler and remove the brown skin on the meat
(for larger pieces I needed to bake it longer…make sure it doesn’t brown- next time I will whack the coconut more on the concrete to get smaller pieces)

Make a bowl:

*Save large pieces of husk for decoration. 🙂 Done!

Make coconut milk:

*Soak coconut in filtered water for several hours in blender
*Blend until coconut meat is completely pureed
*strain “milk” from puree

Make coconut flour:

*Preheat oven to 200 degrees
*Place coconut puree (which looks more like teeny tiney chunks) onto a cookie sheet and leave in oven for several hours until dry
*Pulse in food processor into fine flour

Make coconut butter……

*uh I tried making coconut butter with my Ninja and then my Kitchenaid food processor and it didn’t really work

Something I learned….my kitty loves coconut meat…I might have to change her name to Coconut Whiskers

see me on the Food Renegade carnival