Cake Wrecks World Tour III --- Recipes and Cupcake Contest

The photos in this post are my favorites from the cupcake competition at the book signing. The first few are the top winners as chosen by Jen and John, and the others are ones that I liked. For some reason I didn't get a picture of the grand prize winner, and it was a cute little wedding cake wreckplica. Darn.

I ended up giving John the vegan recipes I used for the Cake Wrecks book signing party, but I figured I would share it with everyone here. I got the cake recipe from Group Recipes

Vegan Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 cups organic, unbleached flour, sifted(regular flour works)
3 Tablespoons organic cocoa powder, sifted(regular cocoa works)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup evaporated cane juice (organic sugar) (regular sugar works )
1/4 tsp salt
5 T canola oil (may substitute safflower oil)
2 tsp raspberry vinegar *optional
1 tsp vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/4 cup vanilla soy milk (if batter seems too thick, add more)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Place flour, cocoa, baking powder and soda, sugar and salt in a medium size mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Pour the soy milk, oil, vinegar, and vanilla into the flour mixture. Whisk the wet and dry ingredients together until smooth, then pour into a 9 x 9 inch baking pan. (Spray cake pan with nonstick cooking spray before pouring in cake batter.) Bake at 350 F for about 25 - 30 minutes; test with a toothpick. It is done when toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a cooling rack, then remove from pan.

The "buttercream" frosting is vegan as well, and it came from Chow.com
I ended up using more soy milk than it called for because the frosting wasn't creamy enough for what I was looking for.

Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting

From: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

1/2 cup nonhydrogenated shortening
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine, we use Earth Balance
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted if clumpy
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup plain soy milk or soy creamer

Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes. Add the vanilla and soy milk, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluffy. Makes 4 cups.