Showing posts with label clementine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clementine. Show all posts

ooooh my darlin clementine..vegan cake!

18 March 2009

last week, i realized that my big wonderful bag of clementines (left over from the clementine cupcakes last week) were getting a little shriveled and i was just not going to be able to eat them fast enough to safe them. then i remembered that i saw a recipe on the vegan yumyum blog about candying clementines and a clementine cake, so i got to work!


step one was candying the clementines...
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when you candy citrus, it makes the peel and rind completely edible. i had about 8 or 9 good clementines left, so i pierced them 8-10 times and added them to about 3 1/2 cups of sugar and 2 3/4 cup of water in a big pot and let them simmer for about an hour (according to lolo, you can simmer these for 1-2 hours, but the longer you simmer - the more bitter they will be).

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i was hoping to get a nice sweet candied clementine out of this process that i could maybe eat up with some cream fraise or something, but mine turned out quite bitter after an hour and i am not sure that i could deal with the idea of eating them just as they were. it might have been some mistake i made along the way, but after i drained the clementines out, i did end up with clementines with edible peel that were great to blend up for the cake and also some wonderful clementine flavored simple syrup for drinks and desserts in the future (make sure you save that part!).

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next, i started making the cake. i blended up the drained clementines with my emulsion blender to get about 1 1/2 cup of puree and added it to: 1/2 cup vegetable oil - 1 1/4 cup soymilk, or other non-dairy milk - 1/4 cup sugar - 2 cups all-purpose flour - 1 1/2 tsp baking powder - 2 tsp baking soda - 1/2 tsp salt. and i baked it for about 45 minutes on 350.

i also attempted the fondant on lolo's site, but i failed and it became more of glaze...which was less pretty, but very yummy. really, you just need to make sure you look at the vegan yum yum site because her photos are a million times more elegant than mine and she has a lot more detail on the process which is really helpful.

after all was said and done, there were some things that didn't work out just right, but it made a really good vegan cake with a nice balance of savory and sweetness. i brought the cake to work and my coworkers all were really into it and i got a ton of compliments, so i will call it a success.

clementine cupcakes...

04 March 2009

clementines are in season for about $4 for a big box and they seemed so perfect for some sweet sunshine on a dreary winter day...

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clementine cupcakes!

makes about 15 cupcakes

zest of 3 clementines
juice of 3 clementines
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter (8 tablespoons)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sugar

preheat the oven to 350. mix together flour, baking powder, zest and salt in a bowl. in a separate bowl, stir together milk, vanilla, and juice, mix. cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer, and add the eggs. slowly add in the dry mixture and then the milk mixture.
fill your liners about 3/4 of the way full and bake for 20-25 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes clean. let cool before frosting.


clementine icing!

  • 1 stick of butter, softened (8 tablespoons)
  • 4 cups confectioners' sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon clementine zest (about one clementine)
  • juice of about 2-4 cementines
  •  
  • beat butter until light and fluffy. slowly add the confectioners' sugar, vanilla & clementine peel. add juice...this is the only slightly tricky part: add the juice little by little until you reach the consistencey you like for your frosting. just add it little by little while it is mixing.  for a stiffer frosting, you can just add the juice of 2 clementines, but i was going for a more fluffy smooth frosting with a lot of flavor, so i added juice from about 3 1/2 clementines and it was just about right. 


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they were seriously yummy! some of the best cupcakes i have ever made i think!


 
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