We interrupt our regular broadcast to bring you One Bowl! Vegan! Double Chocolate! Fudge Frosted! Cupcakes!

Sounds like a complete mouthful I know, and these actually are, in a delicious way. I made these the other day when in a cupcake kind of mood. Cupcake moods are defined by that instance you look in the baking drawer and discover you have way too many cupcake liners in colours you don’t ever recall wanting or buying. Orange, fire engine red and green polka dot, to name a few.

Not long after baking these, I started to notice vegan chocolate cake recipes popping up all over the internet and realised that not only are there a lot of said recipes out there, but like mine, they are pretty much all the same with minor variations in the type of sugar used or the ratio of vegetable oil to flour and cocoa powder.

Around this time, I also read an article where a chef claimed to have pioneered a technique used in a particular dish. Quite amusing when it’s obviously untrue, but since so many prize originality above all things, it seems almost expected that the wheel should be reinvented on a regular basis.

In an effort to reduce clutter, this is one less vegan chocolate cake recipe. The frosting is made with bittersweet chocolate, water, custard powder, brown sugar, cocoa powder and malt.

You heard it here first. I’ve actually completed my Christmas shopping ahead of time. It’s the first ever documented occurance of its kind, in all the many odd years that I’ve been enduring December gift buying through gritted teeth. The Christmas cards were even mailed out two weeks ago. Someone actually sent a reply exclaiming surprise at how organised I was.

Next year, I’ll probably revert back to spending the dying shopping hours of Christmas Eve frantically looking for necessary presents. But for now, I get to sit back and bask (and bake) in the glory of readiness.

Because most of my shopping was done online this year, I came across some lovely things during my travels, which I’m bookmarking for future reference. Call it a head start for Christmas 2012 if you like.

-this takoyaki grill pan

-the Lebkuchen spice blend from Gewurzhaus

-this journal to accompany the Keepsake Box I sent my niece

-vintage treasures from emerald + ella and Cake Vintage

-a subscription to Gastronomica

-Tasmanian apple brandy

-or maybe next year I’ll just settle for sending some very special cards

In the meantime, if you happened to make the gingerbread cake from a previous post, and still find yourself in possession of a bit of leftover apple sauce, you may want to make these chocolate cookies as well. Use a suitable alternative to the recommended flours below if you want to want them to also be gluten free.

Vegan double chocolate cookies :
(based on a recipe from Babycakes by Erin McKenna)

1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Combine the oil, sugar, apple sauce, cocoa powder, salt and vanilla in a bowl. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. The cookie dough will be quite wet at this stage. Chill it for about 15 mins or long enough for the dough to be scooped and rolled into balls.

Preheat the oven to 160′C (325F). Scoop walnut sized portions of cookie dough, roll each into a ball and arrange them on lined baking trays, leaving an inch of space between each ball of dough to allow for spreading. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cookies feel soft but not raw in the middle. Once cool, they will be crisp on the edges and slightly chewy in the center. Just the way chocolate cookies should be.

Once upon another lifetime ago, I decided to ‘do my bit for the environment’ and adopt a vegetarian lifestyle. This lasted several years until eventually I gave it up as my interests in cooking and restaurants grew to the point where I wanted to be able to learn from eating/tasting everything at least once.

Chefs are often notorious for being quite vocal about their dislike of vegetarians and vegans. Sometimes you can’t blame them, when customers claim to be vegan right up to the dessert course, where they knowingly order the creamiest dish on the menu.

These days, my kitchen lifestyle choice is to cook with eggs and butter, in moderation, but I’ve always been interested in what vegan baking has to offer. Working under certain constraints sometimes inspires you to think more creatively.

When we were in New York late last year, I got a chance to visit the famed vegan/gluten-free bakery, Babycakes NYC. Inspired by the trip, I even bought their cookbook. Unfortunately, despite the many delicious things we tasted at their store, I couldn’t get the book’s recipes to work for me. For example, this Babycakes banana bread I made recently, with agave nectar, coconut oil and other expensive ingredients, looked better than it tasted.

Despite being discouraged, it didn’t stop me from wanting to try the vegan chocolate cake recipe in Flour by Joanne Chang. You can’t help but love the simplicity of the recipe (Essentially, combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients. Bake. Eat.) and the lack of having to seek out speciality ingredients.

This is by no means the best chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten. As a vegan (and low-fat!) cake, it is suitably moist with a pleasing chocolate flavour. A recipe worth attempting especially if you have long deleted eggs and dairy from your baking life.

Vegan Low-Fat Chocolate Cake :
(from Flour by Joanne Chang)

210g unbleached all-purpose flour
100g caster sugar
40g Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder, or 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
240g water
50g canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsulfured light or dark molasses

Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat the oven to 175′C. Butter and flour a 6-inch round cake pan. [I used a slightly smaller pan and reduced the baking time by about 10 minutes]

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, caster sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt. In another medium bowl, whisk together the water, oil, vanilla and molasses. Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and mix together with a wooden spoon until the batter is smooth and homogeneous. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed in the middle with a fingertip. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 1 hour. Then invert the pan onto the rack, lift off the pan, turn the cake right-side up, and let cool completely.

Just before serving, dust the top with icing sugar. [I topped the cake with a vegan chocolate sauce instead]