Breaking Bad Cupcakes

With the series finale creeping up, my friends and I found it appropriate to make Breaking Bad cupcakes. If you google Breaking Bad cupcakes, you are likely to only find vanilla cupcakes sprinkled with blue rock candy. We wanted to take things a little further and spent hours deciding on how to relate every element of the cupcakes to the show. We started with a honey cake spiced with a dash of chili p. The cereal milk ice cream filling was infused with Corn Flakes, given how Walt Jr. does nothing but eat breakfast. The ice cream was also made with ric(in)e milk. The frosting was doused in whiskey due to the constant guzzling of WhistlePig. Unfortunately, the closest place to me that sells WhistePig is over 600 miles away, so I went with Maker’s Mark. And, of course, I followed the crowd and garnished my cupcakes with blue rock candy meth. Although all of these elements may not sound like they would mesh together well, I swear it's awesome. Even if you’re not a fan of the show, which by the way crawl out from the rock you're living under, they are still great cupcakes.

Chili P Honey Cake

Ingredients 

-1 cup almond milk

-1 tsp apple cider vinegar 

-1/2 cup safflower oil (or any light oil)

-3/4 cup sugar

-2 tsp vanilla extract

-1 1/2 cups flour

-1/2 tsp baking soda

-3/4 tsp baking powder

-1/4 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp nutmeg

-1 tsp chili powder

-1 tsp cayenne pepper

-2 tbs cornstarch 

-1/2 cup honey

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°

2. Combine the 1 cup almond milk and 1 tsp apple cider vinegar and set aside for a few minutes until it starts to curdle.

3. Mix the almond milk and vinegar mixture, 1/2 cup oil, 3/4 cup sugar and 2 tsp vanilla extract.

4. Add in 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 3/4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt and 2 tbs cornstarch.

5. Add 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp chili powder and 1 tsp cayenne pepper. Despite its name chili powder isn't actually very spicy, so I decided to add in some cayenne pepper. If you don't want your cupcakes to have a kick then skip this step.

6. Stir in 1/2 cup honey. If you are a non-honey eating vegan this could be substituted for agave or molasses.

7. Fill your cupcake liners about half full. Usually I recommended filling them 3/4 of the way, but something in the honey makes these rise more than other cupcakes I've made. Bake for 20 minutes.

Cereal Milk Ice Cream

This ice cream was again created by Collin Miranda. His idea was to create a vegan rice milk adaptation of the cereal milk made by Momofuku. It ended up tasting like cornflake ice cream. Maybe if enough people bother him about it I can get him to post his recipe. If your friends aren't ice cream masters, you could always use any store bought ice cream. I think these cupcakes may be good with out a filling as well.

Kitchen decorations my friend Ally made for the occasion 

Whiskey Frosting

I have actually made whiskey frosting on the blog before so excuse the repost of this recipe.

Ingredients 

- 1 cup margarine (I used soy free earth balance)

- 1 cup Crisco

- 7 cups powdered sugar

- 1 1/2 tbsp almond milk

- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- 4 tbsp whiskey 

Instructions 

1. Start by beating together the 1 cup Crisco and1 cup margarine. 

Feel free to make butter snowmen

2. Once the mixture starts to get fluffy add in the sugar one cup at a time and beat for a few more minutes. You may end up wanting to add more sugar depending on the texture of the frosting.

3. Add in the 1 1/2 tbs almond milk, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla, and 4 tbsp whiskey. Feel free to add more or less whiskey depending on your preference.

Assembly

Empty the middle of each of the cupcakes with a small knife.

Make sure Richard Simmons is watching.

Fill each cake with a generous amount of ice cream.

I pipe my cupcakes with a piping tube but filling a plastic bag with frosting and cutting off the tip works if you don't have anything else. I used store bought blue rock candy to garnish.

Vegan Arnold Palmer Cupcakes

I fell asleep watching the Food Network the other night and woke up to Paula Deen making Arnold Palmer cupcakes. God knows I would never let that woman’s food near me, but it sounded good so I thought I would try a vegan recreation. I teamed up with my ice cream genius of a friend Collin Miranda to make these. I made a lemon cake with an almond frosting and a candied pecan crumble, we filled the cakes with a vegan tea ice cream that Collin made. I know I always say everything on this blog is good, but ice cream filled cupcakes have to be best thing I’ve ever made. 

Lemon Cupcake

Ingredients 

-1 cup almond milk

-1 tsp apple cider vinegar 

-1/2 cup safflower oil (or any light oil)

-3/4 cup sugar

-2 tsp vanilla extract

-1 1/4 cups flour

-1/2 tsp baking soda

-3/4 tsp baking powder

-1/4 tsp salt

-2 tbs cornstarch 

-2 tbs lemon zest 

-3 tsp lemon juice

Instructions

 

1. Preheat your oven to 350°

2. Combine the 1 cup almond milk and 1 tsp apple cider vinegar and set aside for a few minutes until it starts to curdle.

3. Mix the almond milk and vinegar mixture, 1/2 cup oil, 3/4 cup sugar and 2 tsp vanilla extract.

4. Add in the 2 tbs of lemon zest and 3 tsp of lemon juice. If you read my post on margarita cupcakes you'll remember how much I hate zesting and squeezing fruit. I invested in a three dollar juicer that made the process a bit more bearable than last time. 

5. Add in 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 3/4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt and 2 tbs cornstarch. 

6. Fill your cupcake lines 3/4 of the way full and bake for 20 minutes.

I doubled this recipe and ended up with 22 cupcakes 

Almond Frosting

Ingredients 

-1/2 cup soy free earth balance (or any vegan margarine)

-1/2 cup crisco

-5 cups powdered sugar

-4-5 tsp almond extract

-food coloring (optional)

Instructions 

1. Beat together the 1/2 cup of earth balance and 1/2 cup of crisco until it becomes fluffy.

2. Beat in the 5 cups of powdered sugar one cup at a time.

3. Add in the almond extract. Use more or less of this depending on your taste.

4. I dyed my frosting a light almond color. 

Candied Pecan Crumble  

Ingredients 

-Light Oil

-1/2 cup sugar

-2 tbs water

-1/4 tsp cream of tartar

-3/4 cup halved almonds 

Instructions 

1. Line a baking sheet with tin foil and cover it in a light layer of any light cooking oil. I dipped a paper towel into some coconut oil.

2. Combine the 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tbs of water, and 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar in a medium sauce pan. 

If you are unfamiliar with cream of tartar it is normally found in the spice section of grocery stores. Its technical name is potassium hydrogen tartarte, it is a byproduct of wine making and, you know, science. 

3. Put over medium heat until and stir until the sugar starts to dissolve. Once the mixture starts to boil, stop stirring. It will start to form a syrup like consistency and turn a light amber color. 

Here is an example of what it shouldn't look it. Be sure to keep your eye on this mixture until the second it starts to change color. I looked a way for a minute and turned back to this burnt stinky mess. 

4. Once the mixture has turned a light brown stir in the pecans.

5. Pour over the oiled tin foil. Use a fork to separate out all of the pecans. 

If you don't separate the pecans it will become one giant hard to break cluster. As you can see the instructions for this pecan crumble are less instructions and more me showing you what not to do. 

6. Once cooled, put the pecans into a plastic bag and crush them with something heavy to create the crumble. 

Assembly 

The one flaw with these cupcakes is that they have to be eaten right away upon being put together, otherwise the ice cream will melt. I cut a small hole into each cupcake with butter knife and we placed about two tbs of ice cream into each of them. 

Collin is going to be doing a guest post later in the week talking about his ice cream. 

After being filled with ice cream, I piped each cupcake with the almond frosting and sprinkled them with the candied pecan crumble on top of a paper plate. 

Pay no mind the the hot sauce in the middle of this photo. 

Vegan Almond Joy Cupcakes

I think Almond Joy is a bit of a reject candy. They are the ones usually left in the bottom of your halloween bag. However, all of my friends that hate Almond Joy loved these cupcakes. A little girl I used to live next door to asked me if I could make Almond Joy cupcakes a few years ago, and I just remembered the idea this week. I imitated Almond Joy by making an almond cake with a coconut filling and a chocolate frosting. Make your filling first so that it has time to set in the fridge until the rest of the cupcake is finished.

Almond Filling

Ingredients

-6 oz soft tofu

-3/4 cup sugar

-5 tbs cornstarch

-14 oz coconut milk

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-3 tsp coconut extract 

-1/2 cup shredded coconut 

Instructions

1. Chop up your 6 oz tofu and put it in the food processor on high for 1 to 2 minutes, until it is smooth. If you don’t have a food processor you can put the tofu in a bowl and use a hand mixer. This may take a little longer.

2. Whisk together the 3/4 cup sugar and 5 tbs cornstarch for a minute.

3. Slowly add in the 14 oz of coconut milk. Stir until the mixture starts to get thick. After 5-7 minutes it should have a pudding like consistency.

4. Once the mixture is thick, add in the blended tofu, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 3 tsp coconut extract, and 1/2 cup of shredded coconut.

5. Pour the mixture into a bowl and set it in the fridge until it is time to fill the cupcakes.

Almond Cupcake

Ingredients 

-1 cup almond milk

-1 tsp apple cider vinegar 

-1/2 cup safflower oil (or any light oil)

-3/4 cup sugar

-2 tsp vanilla extract

-4 tsp almond extract

-1 1/4 cups flour

-1/2 tsp baking soda

-3/4 tsp baking powder

-1/4 tsp salt

-2 tbs cornstarch 

Instructions 

1. Preheat your oven to 350°

2. Combine the 1 cup almond milk and 1 tsp apple cider vinegar and set aside for a few minutes until it starts to curdle.

3. Mix the almond milk and vinegar mixture, 1/2 cup oil, 3/4 cup sugar and 2 tsp vanilla extract.

4. Once blended, add in the 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 3/4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt and 2 tbs cornstarch. 

5. After the ingredients are all blended, add in the 4 tsp of almond extract. I accidentally spilt all of my almond extract on the counter after adding in 3 tsp. I added in a very small amount of rum to make up for the lost almond extract, it ended up working out but it would be better with 4 tsp of almond extract. 

6. Fill your cupcake lines 3/4 of the way full and bake for 20 minutes. 

Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients

-1/2 cup margarine (I use soy free Earth Balance)

-1/2 cup Crisco

-5 cups powdered sugar

-1 1/2 tbs almond milk

-1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

-2 cups cocoa powder

 Instructions

1. Start by beating together the 1/2 cup Crisco and 1/2 cup margarine.

2. Once the mixture starts to get fluffy, add in the sugar one cup at a time, usually around 5 cups but feel free to improvise if it seems too thick or thin.

3. Add in 2 cups of cocoa powder.

4. Finally add in 1 1/2 tbs milk, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla, and 2 tsp almond. 

Assembly 

1. Cut a nickel sized hole into each of the cupcakes. 

2. Take the coconut filling out of the fridge and place a small amount in each cupcake.

3. Pipe your cupcakes with the chocolate frosting, or spread it on top with a knife. I then decided to garnished my cupcakes with some coconut shavings and salted almonds.

Vegan Margarita Cupcakes

 

I made these cupcakes years ago using dairy products and wanted to see if I could do a vegan version. Right after I finished this recipe I was asked to make beach themed cupcakes for a middle school party. I figured that these would be perfect, and then remembered that they are full of tequila. While there isn’t enough liquor in these to inebriate anyone, to avoid rampant mothers I recreated a PG version. I’ll explain those more at the end of this post. I doubled everything in this recipe and ended up with 20 cupcakes.

Margarita Cupcake

Ingredients

-2 limes

-1/4 cup safflower or vegetable oil

-1/2 tsp vanilla

-1 cup almond milk

-1 1/2 cups flour

-3/4 cup sugar

-1/2 tsp baking powder

-1/4 tsp baking soda

-1/2 tsp salt

-2 tbs tequila

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°

2. I had no idea I had such a dislike of zesting and juicing things until making these cupcakes. So let's get the limes out of the way first. Zest and juice 2 medium sized limes into your bowl. 

3. Stir in 1/4 cup oil, 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1 cup almond milk.

4. Add in 1 1/3 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda and  1/2 tsp salt. Make sure this is mixed well and there are not any lumps.

5. Add 2 tbs tequila. If this is too strong for you, add 1 tbs. I wouldn’t recommend using more than 3 tbs because there will be too much liquid.

6. Fill the cupcake holders 3/4 of the way full and bake for 20 minutes

Margarita Frosting

 

Ingredients

-1/2 cup soy free earth balance (or any vegan margarine)

-1/2 cup crisco

-5 cups powdered sugar

-1 1/2 tbs tequila

-1 1/2 limes

- option food coloring

Instructions

1. Beat together the 1/2 cup of earth balance and 1/2 cup of crisco until it becomes fluffy.

2. Beat in the 5 cups of powdered sugar one cup at a time.

3. Add in the 1 1/2 tbs tequila and the juice of 1 1/2 limes. If the frosting still feels to thick, feel free to add more tequila or lime juice until you feel you have the flavor right.

4. I decided to dye the frosting a light green. Food coloring and I don't get along too well, and I ended up dying my hands green. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get this off, other than practically rubbing your skin off with steel wool, I would appreciate it.

 

After piping these cupcakes with frosting, I added a ring of sugar to mimic salt on a margarita glass. I purchased lime sugar at the Tea and Spice Exchange. If you happen to have one near you I highly suggest taking a look inside. They have some great flavored sugars.  

 

 When I remade these for the middle school I used the same cupcake recipe and left out the tequila. For the frosting I replaced the tequila with another lime because I still needed the moisture. I decorated these cupcakes to be a bit more campy than the original margarita cupcakes.

 

Vegan Blueberry Maple Cupcakes

These were my take on a breakfast cupcake. They are pretty crumbly, fairly messy and definitely require a fork. I used the same vanilla cake recipe that I used on the apple pie cupcakes a few posts back. It’s a little lighter than vanilla cakes I’ve done in the past. If you are not a fan of blueberries, this recipe could work with any fruit filling. Before you get started on anything, take your bag of frozen berries out of the freezer to defrost. Sometimes microwaving frozen fruit can cause the fruit to get hot and mushy, and who likes hot mushy fruit?

Vanilla Cupcake

 

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup margarine

- 3/4 cup sugar

- 4 tbs arrow root

- 2 cups flour

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/4 tsp baking soda

- 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1 cup almond milk

- 1/3 cup oil (I used safflower)

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Cream together 1/2 cup margarine and 3/4 cup sugar, add in the 4 tbs arrow root.

 3. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl: 2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp baking powder.

4. Alternate adding in dry ingredients and 1 cup milk to the margarine and sugar mixture. Then add in 1/3 cup oil and 1 tsp vanilla.

5. Divide your batter into a lined pan, I came out with 10 cupcakes. This recipe could make a dozen if you use a smaller liner.

6. Always be sure to double check all of your ingredients and taste test your cupcakes before you bake them. I realized a little to late that I forgot to add vanilla and had to scoop all of the batter out of the pan.

7. Bake for 20 minutes.

Blueberry Filling

Ingredients

- 6 oz bag of frozen blueberries

- 4 tsp sugar

Instructions

1. Mash your thawed blueberries in a bowl until they are mostly broken up.

2. Stir in 4 tsp of sugar, add in more sugar if this is not sweet enough for you.

(keep this filling in the fridge until you are ready to use it)

Maple Frosting

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup margarine

- 1/2 cup Crisco

- 5 cups powdered sugar

- 1 1/2 tbsp almond milk

- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- 6 tbs maple syrup.
I would recommend trying to find pure maple syrup for this recipe. Most store brand maple syrups contain added sugars. Look out for butter flavored syrups as they often contain dairy.

Instructions

1. Start by beating together the 1/2 cup Crisco and 1/2 cup margarine.

2. Once the mixture starts to get fluffy, add in the 5 cups of sugar one cup at a time and beat for a few more minutes.

3. Add in 1 1/2 tbs almond milk, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla, and 6 tbs maple syrup.

4. I decided to dye my frosting a syrup color. Totally optional.

 I used brown, copper and lemon yellow shades of Wilson food coloring

Assembly

1. Cut a quarter sized hole in each of your cupcakes. I’ve tried every fancy cupcake hole making tool there is and have found that nothing works better than just using a knife.

2. Fill each hole with blueberry filling. As the cupcakes sit the filling will saturate the cake a bit.

3. Pipe on your maple frosting and garnish with a few blueberries if you are feeling fancy.