Reviews added to
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=20910.0 will be compiled here!
If I missed a review, let me know.
Basic cupcakesGolden vanilla cupcakes-classic (willwolf)
-amazing (jessacita)
-they're not as fancy as the ones in the book, or the ones posted on this thread, but they're my first try. I think I did a pretty good job for my first try. (laurabs)
-edible, muffinlike and disasterous. nothing to rage about at all! they all tasted off to me. and i have good success w/ all my own cupcake recipes, so i dont think its my technique. i dunno. has anyone else had failures like this? its gotten to the poiint where i have just thrown them out b/c no one will eat them! (LA)
- good, but I didn't make any frosting, so it was very basic. (melthibs)
-tasty classic. really vanilla-y! and i hate yellow cake. (fb)
-made up my own variation based on these- and it worked! I used the cinnamon icing from the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip recipe to make Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes, and they were awesome, if I say so myself. Here's what I did if anyone wants to try it out:
-Prepare the Golden Vanilla Cupcakes with a teaspoon of cinnamon (as recommended in the Variations). I also made them Really Golden (with the turmeric) and used applesauce instead of canola oil, but those choices are optional
-Prepare the Cinnamon Icing, adding an extra heaping TB or two of powdered sugar to make it thicker (mine was way too liquidy with the recommended amount; I just did a guesstimate measure with a regular spoon)
-When cupcakes cool or are 95% cool, carve out a cone in the middle of the cupcake a'la the Tiramasu cupcakes (or other cupcakes like them; the technique is described with the Tiramasus) and set cone aside
-Fill cavity with cinnamon icing, at least close to the top
-Press cupcake cone back into cavity slowly so as to gradually press icing out over the top of the cake; spread spilled-over icing with a knife (the paper prevents icing overspill down the sides) (feelinsoreal)
-I made french toast cupcakes with these, and added 1 tsp cinnamon to the batter. I topped `em with the creamy maple frosting and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar. They were a huge hit! Everyone kept asking me what I put in them and they all said it was the fluffiest frosting they'd ever had. (icephrosty)
-put them in a muffin tin. Out came 6 huge, delicious little bundles of vanilla joy! I poked a hole in the middle and shoved in some sliced, fresh strawberries. I made the lemon buttercream and piped it into the middle and then topped it with even more frosting. Topped it off with another slice of strawberry and it was very tasty! (secondbase)
-(with peanut buttercream) definitely another VCTOTW winner! (willwolf)
- with chocolate buttercream filling and chocolate ganache topping and those were wonderful as well! (tryp66)
-good (bumblb)
-fabulous (jkl)
Really golden cupcakes-did this for my Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes, and they were awesome (feelinsoreal)
Flavored golden cupcakesStrawberry tallcakes (fluffy buttercream frosting)-I haven't tried one yet but the batter was good! I'm going to eat mine later; right now they're chilling in the fridge. I basically stuck to the recipe but I did add a teaspoon of strawberry extract to the batter.(feelinsoreal)
Lemony vanilla cupcakes (lemony buttercream)Mix-ins vanilla cupcakesBasic chocolate cupcake-another classic (willwolf)
-amazing, especially with peanut butter frosting!! (jessacita)
-edible, muffinlike and disasterous. nothing to rage about at all!they all tasted off to me. and i have good success w/ all my own cupcake recipes, so i dont think its my technique. i dunno. has anyone else had failures like this? its gotten to the poiint where i have just thrown them out b/c no one will eat them! (LA)
- (with peanut buttercream) knocked my socks off! (AP)
-(with chocolate buttercream) DH loved them, the rest are going into work so I don't eat them! (ranu)
-They aren't perfect (nothing to decorate with, really)..and they stuck a bit..but they are darn tasty...and they look ok, too! (AC)
-made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream filling and chocolate ganache topping for Triple Chocolate Cupcakes. (tryp66)
-filled with peanut buttercream frosting, chocolate ganche on top, and a swirl of pb frosting on top pf that. it was for my omni-boyfriend's birthday and he LOVED them. (random4180)
-I made basic chocolate cupcakes but added 2 tb peanut butter to the batter (I decreased the oil slightly too). They came out great! Then I frosted `em with peanut buttercream (icephrosty)
-Made them (which I've made before) into a cake, and it turned out beautifully! I used an 8x8 square pan, and it was pretty perfect. I think the 8" (?) circle pan would be great, as well as an 11x7. I think it baked for about 20-25 minutes. I added chocolate chips. Yum! (AC)
Peanut butter chocolate heavencakes (peanut buttercream, rich chocolate ganache topping-spectacular!(tryp66)
-very popular (melthibs)
Peanut butter bombes (peanut buttercream, chocolate ganache topping-just made these, sooo delicious (willwolf)
-They are fantastic!! These are the Your Basic Chocolate Cupcakes + Peanut Buttercream + Rich Chocolate Ganache. Soooo good! (willwolf)
-one of my faves (willwolf)
Chocolate mocha cupcakes (fluffy buttercream)-very good (bumblb)
German chocolate cupcakes (coconut pecan fudge frosting)-These are fabulous! They are a variation under Your Basic Chocolate Cupcake recipe, using the chocolate cupcake with the Coconut Pecan Fudge Frosting. (willwolf)
Chocolate orange cupcakes (orange buttercream)-edible, muffinlike and disasterous. nothing to rage about at all!they all tasted off to me. and i have good success w/ all my own cupcake recipes, so i dont think its my technique. i dunno. has anyone else had failures like this? its gotten to the poiint where i have just thrown them out b/c no one will eat them! (LA)
-awesome. Unfortunately it was very hot yesterday and the frosting had trouble staying firm, leading to some spillage; but they firmed up in the fridge and were fine. I used zest in the batter. Also, in anyone else's book, does the directions for the Orange Buttercream frosting not tell you when to add the lemon zest? Mine didn't, so I just added it with the extracts.(feelinsoreal)
Cookies 'n' cream cupcakes (fluffy buttercream)-made them (fee)
-COOKIES N CREAM!!!!!!!!!!! (secondbase)
-with mint joe-joes (ponycakes)
-super rich and tasty (willwolf)
-they were so good - and were gone super fast! I think they were the only things to sell out (they were definitely the only vegan treats there). people (vegans and non-vegans) loved them. woo hoo! (laurabs)
-(With homemade chocolate ice cream!) the cookies are a great addition to the cupcake batter itself, AND in the frosting! (jessacita)
-one of my faves (secondbase)
-Yummy! Everyone liked them. Of course. (KMK)
-loved those! They were a huge hit, and I was the only vegetarian at the party. Tip - if you don't want to spend $5 for one package of cookies (seriously, Paul Newman?), the 365 Whole Foods brand of oreo-esque cookies are only $2.50/box and you get enough cookies for two dozen cupcakes, including the frosting and the half-cookie decoration. (feelinsoreal)
-by far superior (feelinsoreal)
-i. love. oreos. also, i like that the frosting *can't* be piped, so that I don't have to try and mess it up =D
bostom creme - pretty cool idea, though i wound up having more pastry creme than could fit, and the creme was actually not very sweet to me. i halved it, though, so the proportions might not have been precise. (fb)
-were devoured! i kinda messed those up, too, and thought they may not go over well. how delightfully mistaken i was. i swapped the entire cup of soy milk for kahlua, and i think that's why they sank in the middle. i make up for it by dolloping a big ole smoosh of icing in the middle, so it wasn't so obvious. (queen bee)
-really good. when i did the frosting for the C & C ones, i did like the frosting recipe suggests and halved the recipe (since it was just for topping - not topping and filling). the C & C variation doesnt mention halving it but it was definitely the perfect amount. (propinecone)
-My least fave probably. I didn't dislike it, just didn't like it as much as the others. Probably coz I'm not the biggest fan of buttercream frosting in large quantities and I think I put too much on. I want to try them again, but make the mint icing instead and put the crushed up Mint Newman O's in that. I think that would be to die for! (tryp66)
-huge hit with kids (THHF)
-LOVE. our absolute favorite. (bumblb)
-definitely add to both the batter & the frosting! The cookies in the actual batter give the cupcakes a great texture. I wouldn't skip it. (jessacita)
-I actually prefer them using the vanilla cupcake recipe & adding cookies to that to adding cookies to the chocolate cupcakes. Also, If you are piping the frosting, make sure to really finely crush up the cookies you put in the frosting or else they will clog your frosting tip. (lisa)
-They were very successful. The people there weren't kids, but they loved it! (melthibs)
-used vanilla batter instead of chocolate as previously suggested. My nieces and nephews and kids gobbled them up. Personally, however, I was just not impressed with them. I generally make the vanilla cupcakes with canola oil instead of the margarine method because I find it more reliable, but the texture is more muffin-y than if I use earth balance and cream it with the sugar (although when I do that the cupcakes tend to sink). But I am finding that I am just not a fan of vegan buttercream frostings. Even if I whip it until light and fluffly, to me they taste heavy and greasy and are lacking some flavor elements--very much along the lines of the stuff that comes in a can. Maybe it comes out differently with lemon or chocolate, but I think I'm going to steer clear of vanilla in the future. (jkl)
-rose nicely and had a nice texture. the kids wolfed down the Cookies N Cream Cupcakes within five minutes. (mdv)
-Made them for Easter, a great cupcake enjoyed by the young and the young at heart. The chocolate cupcake, with crushed Oreos blended in, were light, fluffy, rose nicely and were not overly sweet. Chocolate cupcake texture and taste doesn't get much better than this. The buttercream frosting, with crushed Oreos mixed in, is very sweet. Alone this frosting is way too sweet for me. But a generous dollop of this frosting on a fluffy cupcake makes for the perfect cupcake-frosting marriage. (Saskia)
-Despite it being almost 100 degrees out yesterday, and being crazy for wanting to turn on the oven, I made my first batch of cupcakes from WCTOTW! I went simple and whipped up a batch of the Cookies N Cream ones...followed the recipe EXACTLY, except that I ran out of sugar, so I don't think I got quite the 3/4 c. into the batter (no worries, they were sweet enough). I prepared the fluffy buttercream frosting and chopped up the cookies with my Pampered Chef chopper to mix in. Frosted them and placed them in the fridge so that the heat of the kitchen wouldn't affect them. After dinner, I had my BF test one..and he ended up eating two! They were really tasty, not too sweet, and the texture was perfect! I can't wait to experiment with more of these goodies over the weekend! (iowachick)
-made them with strawberry creme oreos, per Meikmeikas suggestion(I am probably spelling that wrong). I'm not a huge fan of cookies and cream anything, but they were good. My husband and daughter liked them. I will say that I way prefer the chocolate cake recipe from JOVB. These fell in the middle and were a bit crumbly. I probably wont make them again. (nmpixie)
Flavor extracts and liquorsChocolate ginger cupcakes (rich chocolate ganache)Sexy low-fat vanilla cupcakes (with fresh berries)-I used this to make the base for the lemon-blueberry cupcakes. It doesn't rise quite as magnificently as the golden vanilla, and the texture isn't quite the same. But, by itself it's still good. (it's just that the golden vanilla ones are amazing) (fb)
-a favorite standby base recipe, then different flavored toppings and frostings.... i like that it's low-cal (dalida)
Simple vanilla and agave nectar cupcakes-very tasty and no sugar (willwolf)
-These are soo good. The texture is more sponge-cakier than the golden vanilla cupcakes, and the agave just makes the vanilla flavor better. I never thought agave alone had much flavor, and I'm not one into subbing agave for sugar everywhere, but these were just really really awesome. However, they dry out fast. When I make the chocolate version, I'll freeze them. (fb)
Chocolate agave cupcakesVanilla gluten freedom cupcakes-had a nice texture, but I thought they tasted like really really sweet cornbread, probably due to the corn flour. If I make them again, I might try potato flour or more white rice flour instead of the corn flour. They tasted more like you should eat them with chili instead of chocolate frosting. (pp)
Chocolate gluten freedom cupcakes-really good. Nice texture! I would make them again as-is. (pp)
-I had to sub out almond flour instead of quinoa flour, but everything else was the same. I only ended up with nine (but that could have something to do with me eating the batter with a spoon). I didn't have time for a buttercream frosting, so I dusted them with powdered turbinado sugar and added a swirl of orange icing left-over from sugar cookies. I have no idea if she liked them since I just handed them off to her, but my husband ate two and I ate one before I could rescue the six remaining ones for her. Neither of us are gluten-intolerant, but seriously, you would never know they were gluten-free. Yummy. (krs)
Classic cupcakesCarrot cake cupcakes (with cream cheese frosting) (-wow--they're amazing! I even had my dad taste the frosting before putting them on the cupcakes (they're for his birthday tomorrow), and he said he would never know it wasn't made with real cream cheese! Which is great news because I really dislike Tofutti on its own, but used in a frosting--wow! For the cakes, I added nutmeg, ground cloves, and allspice & about tripled the amount of cinnamon (I always do this for spice cakes), and yummmmmm! I already can't wait for another one tomorrow! (jessacita)
-with the pulp that gets left over after making carrot juice, and it turned out not tasting like carrots (i've never had carrot cake before). This one was also too sweet to my tastes, but i loved it when i made a second batch with 1/2 the sugar! The carrot pulp acted kinda like applesauce-egg though... (applecider)
-they kind of fell =( I hate watching cupcakes fall to their doom after leaving the oven. It's like "No! No! Stop! That's far enough!" sigh...
I dunno, I always want less other-junk in my carrot cake. No coconut, not walnuts, no raisins, no friggin pineapple... and when i made them i actually neither had walnuts nor raisins and i subbed with roasted almonds and dried rainier cherries. Those paired pretty well with the flavor, but next time i shall seek less other-stuff and more CAKE. (fb)
Gingerbread cupcakes (with lemony frosting-another good one. (ponycakes)
-really potent ginger power. practically spicy, which is what i like. really is gingerbread. (fb)
-go-ooood. They kind of remind me of the Kickass Molassess Cookies from this site, but in cupcake form. (pp)
-They were delicious. I was a little worried that the amount of ginger and molasses in the recipe would make them too spicy but I guess it got evened out by the maple syrup. I added a little extra lemon to the frosting because I didn't think it was lemony enough on it's own. A good choice all around (biodancer)
-They had great flavor. They definitely need to be adjusted for high altitude, and they came out really oily. The tinfoil wrappers were soaked through, and everyone got greasy. I will make them again, but try it with less oil. (nmpixie)
Crimson velveteen cupcakes (with old-fashioned velvet icing)-They were good, but not super wonderful. I also didn't get the right food coloring so they ended up looking much more brown than red. Still tasty, though. (asenath)
-one of my favorites. very light chocolate, moist, rich. i've been meaning to make it without food coloring, but im afraid my brain is going to perceive them as tasting different because of it. (fb)
-hands down my favorite icing so far from this book. The "pudding" changes the icing entirely; my mom said it tasted like white chocolate icing. Not as fluffy as buttercream; it's more of a thick glaze, but i like it way better (also melts less quickly than buttercream) (fb)
-everyone loved them! My ex-boyfriend's new(ish) girlfriend exclaimed that they were the best cupcakes she's ever had. I swear someone says that everytime I take vctotw anywhere. Awesome. (lotus)
-very popular (melthibs)
-I decided to use blue food coloring instead of red because it's his fav color. I topped them with tofutti cream cheese icing and they were a big hit. I love the subtle chocolate taste these cupcakes have, plus they aren't crumbly or oily. (icephrosty)
-I made the red velvet recipe as a whole cake, baked at the same temperature, for about 30-33 minutes. It works out fine. (fb)
Peanut butter cupcakes (quick melty ganache)-(with chocolate ganache on top and choco mousse filling) (ponycakes)
-classic combination (willwolf)
-Instead of doing the chocolate ganache, I did the chocolate buttercream frosting because I already had all the ingredients. Then I topped them with chopped peanuts and a chocolate-covered peanut on top. These were so delicious. The batter was absolutely divine. I think it's the molasses that does it. (KMK)
- (with chocolate buttercream) aaaaa-may-zing! I think my favorite so far. I figured the fat in the peanut butter would be enough, so I replaced all of the oil (except about 2 tsp.) with applesauce, and they were still super-moist & delicious! Yum yum yum! A hit with my co-workers, too. (jessacita)
-Super light and fluffly cupcakes. Very tasty. (iluvtomatoes)
-has never failed. and it has a pretty good balance of peanut buttery-but not overpowering. The rise nicely, with a crisp top before refrigeration. (fb)
-took to an omni potluck last winter and they were gobbled up. Unfortunately, there were so many other desserts that quite a few ended up coming home with me. Too bad I had to eat them all myself (krs)
-very good, but not as good as I was expecting. I believe this to be something I did though, because they came out too muffin-like. I didn't use paper liners, made them in a very muffin-y pan, and used ground up peanuts-peanut butter. I didn't have the ingredients for any of the VCTOTW frostings/icings, so I used a vw one. They are still tasty. I just noticed that it does call for "natural peanut butter," which is I guess what I used. I also remembered that I used apricot-applesauce for the oil (with a little oil added). So, that probably accounts for the muffin-like texture/density. (AC)
Chocolate cherry creme cupcakes (basic chocolate cupcakes, fluffy buttercream frosting-my husband keeps asking me to make the cherry chocolate creme again for him to work potlucks (lauuren)
Black forest cupcakesBrooklyn vs Boston cream pie cakes (golden vanilla cupcakes, rich chocolate ganache topping-liked these, but didn't love 'em (secondbase)
-fantastic, in my top 3 (willwolf)
-one of my faves (secondbase)
-one of my faves (willwolf)
-one of my faves!! Perfectly chocolatey and creamy! (dalida)
-These were pretty good, but I'm not sure about the pastry cream. The flavor wasn't quite right for me - not bad tasting or anything, just not what I expected/remembered pastry cream tasting like. Also, I had a lot left over, since it's hard to get that stuff into the cupcakes! Every one at work liked these though... they asked for something "not too chocolatey" (fb)
-more difficult but very deelish....worth the extra prep work (dalida)
Maple cupcakes (with creamy maple frosting and sugared walnuts)-I topped my french toast cupcakes with the creamy maple frosting and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar. They were a huge hit! Everyone kept asking me what I put in them and they all said it was the fluffiest frosting they'd ever had. (icephrosty)
-They are closer to muffins, and that's perfectly fine by me.(fb)
-I made a variation of the Maple Cupcakes last night, so they turned out more like "French Toast Cupcakes." They were fucking amazing. SO GOOD. I can't wait to get home from work to have another. (jessacita)
Pineapple right-side-up cupcakes-Fortuitously, there was a bottle of Malibu staring me down in the kitchen, so I added a few splashes to the crushed pineapple topping to make Piņa Coloda cupcakes! I also garnished them each with a raspberry like Isa recommended. I don't really think raspberries go with it, but they needed some color. Next time I will add shredded coconut instead, I think. Or a piece of fresh pineapple. Very good and easy! You just plop the topping on with a spoon. No messing piping. And the only "special" ingredient is a can of crushed pineapple. (KMK)
-really good and everyone liked that the pineapple cupcakes had some spices in them. (propinecone)
-The cake part came out really dense for me - I'm pretty sure I over-stirred =/ But it was still tasty. I don't think it would have come out beautiful like the Golden Vanilla ones anyway, because of the small amount of oil. Also, I wasn't sure about measuring the pineapple - how much juice to include or not include. BUT the topping was really tasty (I subbed brown sugar for white sugar) (fb)
Chocolate mint cupcakes (basic chocolate cupcakes, quick melty ganache)-I looooved these (fee)
-very yummy. (ponycakes)
-pretty good, but as far as chocolate cupcake goes, i still prefer...cookies 'n' cream (fb)
-My husband would usually rather eat chocolate and mint together than anything, but that was his second favorite (lauuren)
-for a family potluck (I'm the only vegan- hell, I'm the only remotely vegetarian person in my family) and they were a hit. no one would ever guess they were vegan because they taste so rich and decadent. and they look adorable to boot (random4180)
-very popular (melthibs)
S'mores cupcakes (quick melty ganache, shaved chocolate, fluffy buttercream frosting)-yum to the extreme. (ponycakes)
-these were great, rose great, then i made them again, and the batter seemed way too liquidy and they sunk. and again. not sure what magic i did the first time, but i really want to try these again, so i'm eyeing the batter texture before putting them in the oven next time. (fb)
-They were heavenly! (tryp66)
-These definitely have to be adjusted for high altitude baking. They also had a lot of oil and were kind of greasy. Great flavor, though. Next time I will halve the oil.(nmpixie)
Brooklyn brownie cupcakes-disastrous attempt. I followed the directions exactly & made sure to not overfill the liners (as the instructions noted), and they sank HORRIBLY! Into messy, mushy, sunken blobs. I couldn't even get them out of the cupcake tin without them just caving in on themselves into a little ball. They tasted all right, but looked really terrible. Those were to share with my co-workers on my birthday, so needless to say... I had to scramble to get something else made! (jessacita)
-pretty good, esp. considering it was my first edible home-made "brownies". the tops cracked like the picture! (magicalness!) but the cherry preserves i used weren't fully blended, so there was the random weird piece of cherry. (fb)
Banana split cupcakes (fluffy buttercream frosting, quick melty ganache)-banana split!! (i used strawberry preserves instead of pineapple though) (ponycakes)
-so delicious, top 3 (willwolf)
-Everyone reading this thread needs to stop what they are doing and make the BANANA SPLIT CUPCAKES. They are the best thing EVER, and I have tried 80% of the cupcakes in that book (including all the variations) (secondbase)
-OH MY GOD YES....amazing. for serious. i make them with strawberry preserves instead of pineapple though..so. delicious. (ponycakes)
-one of my faves (willwolf)
-one of my faves (secondbase)
-I cannot stress enough how wonderful these are!! They also make a great presentation with their swirly mounds of buttercream frosting, drizzles of chocolate ganache, and toppings of chopped walnuts and colorful sprinkles. Soooo good! (willwolf)
-huge hit with kids (THHF)
-with strawberry jam for a another friend who is lactose intolerant. I think I could sum up the whole experience as a two-day series of catastophies. It was all my fault, of course, but still a horrible mess. To begin with, I swirled the jam/chocolate a couple of times as per Isa's instructions, but that apparently isn't sufficient. Sinking would be an understatement. They completely collapsed after taking them out of the oven, leaving me with a dozen donut-shaped cupcakes. I cooled them overnight and decided to fill the collapsed cavities with frosting the next morning before taking them to my friend. Since my beaters died months ago, I tried whipping the frosting with my immersion blender. When I couldn't get it light and fluffy enough, I decided to put it in my Vitamix. Needless to say, I blended too long and I ended up with frosting soup. I plopped the whole container in the freezer and took it out about every half hour to blend again. I finally gave up and stuck it in the fridge and went to see my friend with only lemon sugar cookies. I ended up blending the frosting again later in short spurts until it was smooth and thick (but definitely not fluffy). Then piped it on and topped with ganache and walnuts. No cherries, though, since I hate marachinos and no sprinkles since every freaking brand has cornstarch in them (hubby has a corn allergy). So now since I was planning to take them to my friend but it's too late, we are stuck eating them all. Not that they aren't good, but they are so sweet I almost can't handle it (which is really saying something). I ended up having a bit of leftover frosting, but I'm thinking if it would have been fluffier, I would have ended up using less to get the same big mounded effect. Oh well, live and learn (and always have the proper kitchen equipment). (krs)
-rose nicely and had a nice texture. I prefer the flavor combination of these over the cookies n cream (mdv)
The Elvis (peanut buttercream)-extremely good! I gave most of them to a friend as a thank you gift and spent at least a day or two feeling resentful about it! (asenath)
-These are pretty good, but more muffiny. Not super sweet, and the banana/pb flavors are only mild. (fb)
Tropical paradise (coconut glaze, pineapple topping)Continued after next post.
