Me: “Honey, I think I’m going to bake something… what would you like?”
Brad: “Um, something with chocolate? Oh wait, I think we’re out of eggs!”
Me: “I have just the thing!”
I’d been saving this recipe for a rainy day when I was sort of out of typical baking ingredients… like eggs. Or milk. Now, I also didn’t have flax seeds, but I did have both the vinegar and the unsweetened applesauce, so I went for it!
These were supposed to be “self-frosting” cupcakes. And they sort of were. But mine certainly didn’t come out as pretty as the original post. That being said, they were absolutely delicious.
Few things are more delightful to me than peanut butter and chocolate. I’m so fortunate that my husband doesn’t have a peanut allergy; I can’t imagine living without it. I have a peanut butter sandwich nearly every day for work; my typical after-dinner snack is a Jello chocolate pudding with a dollop of peanut butter. So naturally, I was excited for this recipe.
It didn’t let me down. These vegan cupcakes were totally moist, and very chocolatey. The applesauce added an excellent texture to the cupcakes, and overall they were super easy to make. As you can tell, I wasn’t particularly successful with the “frosting” part of the cupcake – but that didn’t take away from the taste at all. In fact, they were so good that we made them twice in one week!
I highly recommend this recipe. Please let me know if you try it with the flax seeds, I’m not sure what they add to taste or texture. (I generally have to stay away from anything seedlike with Crohn’s, but sometimes it can work.) And if you have any ideas on where I may have gone wrong with the frosting, I’m all ears!
In many vegan recipes, flax and liquid act as an egg replacement. That could affect your leavening and self-frosting predicament. Or you could just call them magic brownie-topped cupcakes! This recipe looks like a winner either way.
I agree with the comment above both flax and chia act as egg replacers. I have IBD myself so I just grind the amount of seed in my coffee grinder, mix with warm water or liquid and it works just fine. The best part is that there are no seeds to irritate your tummy. You can keep chia forever, just about, and it’s loaded with more nutrition than flax.
So… good luck on your next adventure. I think mine may be GF with cashew butter. yummy.