Vegan Cupcake Extravaganza Part I: Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

This Friday night kicked off a weekend filled with lots of cupcakes! Two recipes are for people and the third recipe is for people + your furry friend.  All vegan and people & dog approved.

Happy happy birthday Megan, Sandra, Eric, & Amora!

Vegan Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Soy Whipped Frosting

Guinness isn’t vegan!!! I didn’t know that but was informed by Lisa, an AMAZING animal advocate, that Guinness uses isinglass.  I found this statement from Guinness online:

“All Guinness brands are free from animal matter.  However, isinglass, which is a by-product of the fishing industry, is used as a fining agent for settling out suspended matter in the vat.  The isinglass is retianed in the floor of the vat but it is possible that minute quantities might be carried over into the beer.”

What is isinglass?  According to Wikipedia:

“Isinglass is a substance obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish.”

Well that’s just not cute.

Anyway, so all you vegan and non dried swim bladders of fish eaters out there, try some oatmeal stout and you are good to go!

I’ve been wanting to try and bake with beer so I looked for a stout beer cupcake recipe.  I found a recipe by Dave Lieberman on The Food Network’s site and veganized it.  Egg replacers instead of eggs, vegan sour cream, oat milk, etc.  I wasn’t sure how the vegan sour cream would do but it turned out fine!

I think the longer the cupcakes sit, the less beer-ish it tastes.  I swear when I first took it out of the oven and tried one I could definitely taste the beer.  But by the next day the flavors of the chocolate and stout seemed to meld together more and only a hint of the beer could be tasted and probably only by a hardcore stout drinker.

It’s very chocolate-y and moist and something a little different from the usual cupcake.

For the cupcake:
In a medium bowl place:
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups AP flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- pinch of salt

In a large bowl place:
- 1 bottle of oatmeal stout beer
- 1 stick of earth balance vegan spread, melted
- 1 TBS vanilla paste

Measure and set aside:
- 3 egg replacers (I used Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer, follow package instructions)
- 3/4 vegan sour cream

Mix together the dry ingredients, set aside.

Mix together the stout, melted butter, and vanilla.

Stir in egg replacers.  Add sour cream and mix until smooth.

Slowly mix dry ingredients to wet ingredients.  The batter is on the runny side.

Spoon (or some people prefer to pour the batter into a ziplock bag, snip the tip and pipe it in) batter into paper lined mini or large cupcake tins, filling each about 3/4 full.    (I made mini cupcakes and this recipe made about 84 mini cupcakes!)

Bake at 350F, until the cupcakes have risen, use a toothpick to test if needed.  Let cool and remove from pans.

For the frosting:
- 1 container of Soyatoo whipping cream (about 10 oz)
- a few tsp of Lieber’s Unflavored Jel
- a few TBS of powdered sugar (start with this amount, then taste and add more if you’d like)

This recipe is based on a non-vegan one I used to use.  The vegan gelatin helps to stabilize the cream and the powdered sugar adds a bit of sweetness.  Personally, I think it tastes better not super sweet, but add as much powdered sugar as you’d like.

Place all ingredients in a bowl and whip with an electric beater until stiff.

Spoon dollops of frosting on the tops of COOLED cupcakes.  Place in refrigerator to set.  I accidentally left a few extra frosted cupcakes out overnight and by the next day, the frosting has really stiffened up, which is good because it means it won’t melt or get runny.  I ate them and didn’t get sick lol but I would still recommend that you put in the refrigerator if you are making them a day ahead.

If you are putting on any fondant decorations, I would recommend putting them on right before you present the cupcakes.  If you don’t, it may bleed onto the white frosting, esp. if you leave it in a warm car for like, 10 minutes  It’s a good way to make Halloween-ish cupcakes though!

Sprinkles seem to hold up fine!