Chili Flavored Chocolate Chickpea Cupcakes

Some of my readers may know that I'm currently not eating dairy, but that has made me crave chocolate (particularly in the form of brownies and the like) more than usual.  The good news is dark chocolate (at least true dark chocolate) by definition does not contain dairy.  The bad news is most good brownies use butter.  However in my obsession with looking at pictures of baked goods, I discovered a pretty cool concept: putting chickpeas into baked goods, sometimes instead of sometimes in addition to, flour.  This was a chocolate chickpea cake, which is gluten free and dairy free (as long as you grease the pan with oil rather than butter).  It's like a flourless chocolate cake, only the chickpeas serve as a flour like substance.

I once read a blog about an obsession with cumin that even beats mine and the author said she puts cumin with chocolate.  This intrigued me and I've been meaning to try it since, but haven't had a good opportunity (actually, I was thinking about making cumin truffles this year, but ended up making lavender instead).  I think that the chickpeas kind of encourage play with savory flavors, but I could see where some people might find these extremely weird.  They are kind of reminiscent of a chocolaty chili, more than a chocolate cake, especially since I used my magic bullet to "puree" the chickpeas and it missed a few.  But I made these to bring to a Superbowl party (go Pack go!) tomorrow and had to try one to make sure they were acceptable and not super weird to serve to other people.  I ended up eating 2.  Whoops!  I adapted a recipe from Serious Eats.  I'll let you know how they go over at the party tomorrow, they might not be as good cold.  However, I think they do a good job of incorporating Superbowl-y flavors, that is, chili, in a chocolate cake.  I had a picture that I deleted right after I sent it to my computer, but it apparently did not make it to my computer.  Maybe I'll add one tomorrow.  Maybe i should frost it with avocado buttercream (and maybe something gold?), but i think that may go to far.

• 
  
• 5 oz chopped bittersweet chocolate or chocolate chips
• 1 (19-ounce) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• dash cayenne pepper

PROCEDURES1

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 12 muffin tins in your preferred method.  The recipe suggests butter and cocoa, I just used baking spray.
   1
2. 2
   In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate by microwaving in 15-second intervals, stirring with a rubber spatula each time until melted. Alternatively, heat, stirring constantly, over double boiler until melted.
3. 3
   Puree beans, eggs and vanilla in a food processor (or using an immersion blender) until smooth, about 1 minute. Add sugar, baking powder, cumin, cayenne, and salt and blend to combine, about 20 seconds.
4. 4
   Add melted chocolate and blend to combine, scraping down sides of bowl well as necessary. Batter will have a thick, pudding-like consistency. Transfer batter into prepared pan and bake until knife inserted in center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
5. 5
   Allow cake to cool for 15 minutes on wire cooling rack before inverting onto serving platter. Cool completely. Dust with confectioner's sugar just before serving.

Single Coconut Lime Cupcake

I found this recipe for a single coconut lime cupcake and I thought it was pretty much the greatest idea ever, making a single cupcake that is.  This was adapted (that is divided) from a Vegan cupcake book (vegan works well since there are no eggs, which makes it divide better), and I decided to try it and if it worked well, experiment with my own ideas more regularly.  I love cupcakes, but I hate that they make so many and they are hard to transport if you frost them before transporting them, but frosting them after transporting them doesn't necessarily work well either.  So I thought this was a great thing to try to play with.  As for the cupcake, I think I may have added too much lime juice, the batter was a little runny and the cupcake was VERY limey.  The texture was different from a regular cupcake, maybe a little sticky/spongier, but definitely not bad.  That was probably due to the fact that it was vegan and not the fact that it was a recipe for one.  But remember, when you are dealing with such small proportions, you have to be fairly careful with measuring.  I wasn't super careful because 1/4 Tbsp is hard to measure, so I just went for a little less than a tsp.  The frosting is an avocado buttercream which is great since I gave up dairy and am trying to eat more avocados.  Also it's tasty, but I unfortunately cannot eat it by the spoonful since it is WAY to sweet.
The divided recipe is here, and the original is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Single Coconut and Lime Cupcake

• 1 + 1/4 T soy milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
• Tiny drop of white vinegar (I used white wine, it is after all, only a drop)
• 1/2 T sunflower (or any other light-tasting) oil (I used canola)
• 1 T raw sugar (just use regular)
• Drop of vanilla
• 1 + 3/4 T self-raising flour (scant 1/8 cup)
• 1/2 t cornstarch
• 1 t fresh lime juice
• 1 t shredded unsweetened coconut
• pinch lime zest

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C.  I used the toaster oven.
2. In a small cup, mix the soy milk and vinegar and allow to curdle.
3. In a small bowl, whisk the soy and vinegar mixture, sugar, oil and vanilla for about 1 minute or until most of the sugar has dissolved.
4. Sift in the flour and cornstarch. Mix well to combine.
5. Stir in lime juice, coconut and optional lime zest.
6. Pour batter into one cupcake paper/tin and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted.
7. Cool on a wire rack completely before icing. Makes one cupcake.

Lime Avocado Buttercream

• 1/4 of a medium avocado
• 1/4 t fresh lime juice
• 110g icing sugar
• 2 t cornstarch
• pinch lime zest (optional)

1. In a medium-sized bowl, beat the avocado and lime juice until smooth.
2. In batches, sift in the icing sugar and cornstarch, beating well after each addition.
3. Stir in the lime zest if using. Makes about 2/3 C frosting.