Thursday, July 1, 2010

Eggs? Who Needs 'Em? Best Chocolate Cupcake

When we found out my youngest son was allergic to eggs, I was scared, shocked and sad. It was scary to see him have a reaction, number one, and feel so helpless. Thankfully his body reacted properly and with Benedryl and a trip to the doctor he was fine. After testing we found he was severely allergic so it means absolutely nothing with egg.

Well, being the foodie and nurturing mom that I am, all I could think about was what I couldn't make for him. (We are praying that he will grow out of it, as egg allergy is the most common allergy to grow out of.) The first thought was baking. I mean how the heck do you bake without eggs? And what in the world was I going to do for his first birthday cake? And what about helping make cookies with me and his siblings as soon as he can stand on a stool?

I got on-line and to my surprise I found several egg-less cake recipes that got good ratings. I started seeing the hope shining through.

Then just the other day I got a newsletter from the Martha Stewart website and they happened to be featuring allergy free treats. You can check it out here. What I found was the most delicious chocolate cake recipe.

Normally I don't always test things out before I try them for the first time and much of the time it's when I'm having guests over. Maybe it's the thrill of it all...sorta like sky diving for foodies-major rush. But I didn't want to chance it for my son's first birthday. This weekend I tried this recipe out. WOW. It was so fantastic. I highly recommend it. These cupcakes were light and airy, chocolaty and moist.

I also used the recipe on her site for the icing that went with the cupcakes. It was okay. I had read the comments below the recipe and one lady said it was overly sweet. Initially I thought, "what a dumb statement," frosting is just that...extremely sweet, lady. But after I made it, I would have to agree that it was oddly, overwhelmingly sweet. I don't know if it was the ratio of butter to sugar, whatever it was, I just wasn't a big fan. So I've got a great cake, but I would love some ideas on egg-free frosting. If you have a good one, please share in the comment box below. I'm open to different flavors, types, just make sure it's egg-free. I know most are, but I just don't want any recipes for 7 minute frosting, ya know? (I have vivid memories of making that as a kid at my neighbors house. It was the best frosting I had ever had.)

Even if you don't have an egg allergy, you will adore this cake. And if you do, you will be super pleased to have this in your recipe box now. Delish!


Divvies Chocolate Cupcake

Oven: 350 degrees

Makes 1 dozen

1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)


3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.


In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together oil, vinegar, vanilla, and water until well combined. Add flour mixture to the mixer and mix until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary. Batter should look and feel more watery than normal cake batters.

Pour batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each cup 1/2 to 3/4 full. Transfer to oven and bake, rotating pan halfway through cooking, until a cake tester inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

Immediately remove cupcakes from muffin tin and transfer to a wire rack. Let cool completely before frosting

15 comments:

  1. lauren this is such a great post and a recipe i will be sure to pass on to those with egg allergies - or vegan, right?

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  2. Mmmm, this is a great vegan recipe too! Wonderful!

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  3. Sorry to hear about the allergy. You received another sunshine Award from little ole ME. Come by my blog to get it! And follow the instructions within the post.

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  4. Great cupcake recipe. I'm so used to vegan cupcakes having the egg subsitute. I can't wait to try this.

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  5. What an incredible recipe! I love that photo - peekaboo.

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  6. So happy that it's vegan too. I didn't even think of that! cool.

    thanks Lisa for the sunshine award! workin' on a post right now.

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  7. I've never tried a vegan cupcake before! These look so adorable and I'm glad you were able to find a recipe you liked and worked for you!

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  8. Love the cupcake photo! Your eggless cupcakes look delicious.

    I have a mocha frosting recipe (eggless), but since you're serving these to kids, you probably don't want to include a little coffee in the frosting you put on your eggless cupcakes. :)

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  9. These look great!I don't think I've ever had an eggless cupcake before. This is a great recipe to keep in mind in case I ever find myself wanting to bake something delicious for vegans or those with allergies. They look so good I just might want to try them just for the hell of it! :-D

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  10. These cupcakes look divine. I prefer a lighter, moist cupcake. Thanks for sharing I have been looking for a different cupcake recipe.

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  11. Here's the delicious decorator icing recipe I received from a cake decorator I took a few classes from!

    2lb bag of powdered sugar
    2c Crisco (use namebrand)
    4T meringue powder
    3T cornstartch
    1/2c water
    1/2t salt
    1t vanilla
    1t almond

    Mix 2c of powdered sugar with the crisco and meringue powder. In a seperate cup mix water, cornstarch, salt, vanilla & almond. Mix well until the salt and cornstarch are dissolved. Add to the above mixture along with the rest of the bag of powdered sugar.

    Let me know if you try/like it! :) Michelle

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  12. Thank you everyone! I think you will really enjoy these. Honestly, since I made them, I can't stop thinking about them, but I'm just going to have to wait for his birthday.

    Michelle- thanks so much for the frosting recipe. It sounds wonderful, unfortunately, it has meringue powder, which is dried egg whites:( So I can't use it for Wil, but it will be a good one to have. Thanks again!

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  13. Hi Lauren,

    I love eggless recipes and this looks delicious. Thanks for posting. I have quite a few eggless cookie recipes. Subscribe to my feed so you can get the recipes when I post.

    Thanks,
    Joanne

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  14. I'm so interested in this because there are no eggs or even egg substitutes.. I cant wait to try it out!

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  15. I have a recipe for a vegan chocolate cake that is very similar to your recipe. I'm not vegan but it's my favorite chocolate cake, so simple, and moist.

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