Painting Project #1

Painting Project #1

Before

The mantle: An ugly brown color with some type of wooden lattice work.

Before:

The front wall of our house. It was an ugly sea green color. I hated it! Yuck!

And After:

The mantle. Disney's Ariel's Song. Anthony actually picked out the color :)

We actually picked that color for the front wall but decided to make the mantle "pop" and use it there too. It was bright at first, but we really like it! So not boring AT ALL :)

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

After making the Basic Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes, I thought I'd try the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. Chocolate on chocolate...how could it be bad? So yummy! Here's the recipe, I hope you enjoy it too :)

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

¼ cup margarine, softened

¼ cup shortening

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted if there are clumps)

2 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted

3 Tablespoons soymilk

1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Cream together the margarine and the shortening until well combined. Add the cocoa powder and incorporate well. Add the powdered sugar in about ½ cup batches and beat well, adding a little splash of soymilk after each addition. When all ingredients have been well incorporated, add the vanilla and beat until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes with a hand mixer, 7 minutes if mixing with a fork).

Variation:

Add a teaspoon of coffee extract for mocha buttercream

Basic Vegan Chocolate Cupcake

Your Basic (Vegan) Chocolate Cupcake

My best friend Christina is a vegan. I admire her for that. Although I love vegetables and fruits, I'm a meat and potatoes kinda girl.

She's always suggesting new recipies for me to try. Most of them have been very good. Some, not so much :) (ahem...chocolate "pudding" that's really mashed up avocadoes mixed with vanilla and cocoa powder!)

She told me about a cookbook called Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. She told me about how good these recipies were and how everyone that's tried them when she makes them loves them. So, I decided to get the book and put her "claims" to the test. I decided to try the Basic Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.

The verdict? Delicious!! Holy cow, Anthony ate 3 of them in one day! I don't really even care for chocolate cake but I have to say, these were so good! VERY rich! I gave some to a friend of mine (so they wouldn't stay in our house) who has two kids and she said they all thought they were really good. So, thank you Christina for telling me about the cupcake book. I can't wait to try some different flavors!

Your Basic Chocolate Cupcake

1 cup soy milk

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

¾ cup granulated sugar

⅓ cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla extract (I used more vanilla)

1 cup all-purpose flour

⅓ cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

2. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, and vanilla extract, and other extract, if using, to the soy milk mixture and beat till foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat till no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are okay).

3. Pour into liners, filling three-quarters of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack and let cool completely.

* I topped them with the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

(recipe in a separate post)