The second of two important birthdays is now behind me. After some very poor planning for my husband’s birthday, and the resulting debacle cake wise, I was determined to plan my sister’s dessert in advance. I was also feeling a bit gun-shy about trying another cake so I decided to go for birthday cupcakes. My sister had requested something in the way of vanilla cake with chocolate icing so I chose the Golden Vanilla Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

I decided to make them the day before, just in case.

This recipe was very straightforward - not a lot of ingredients. Excellent. I chose to use canola oil in place of margarine where given the option. So far, so good. Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World is a very well laid out little book. Excellent layout and typography, great photographs and, most importantly, really useful culinary information - particularly with respect to the nuances of vegan specific ingredients. I found it to be most informative.

I wanted to spell out a Happy Birthday message on the cupcakes so I figured I’d need to make two dozen. I made them in two separate batches just in case things did not go as planned.

I monitored the internal oven thermometer readout like a hawk - the instructions state the baking time to be between 20 to 22 minutes and strictly caution against opening the oven before at least the minimum baking time has elapsed. At 20 minutes I poked one with a toothpick. It came out clean so I removed the cupcakes and set them to cool as directed - first in the pan, then remove and cool completely on the rack so they don’t get soggy bottoms.

No one wants a soggy-bottomed cupcake.

After the first batch of cupcakes was completely cooled I thought some testing was in order. Tasty but not fantastic. Very moist. A bit on the dense side. Perhaps they could have done with the full 22 minutes of baking time - noted for the second batch.

As the 22 minute mark rolled around for the second batch I sussed up the cupcakes through the oven door. They weren’t turning at all golden so I thought maybe it wouldn’t hurt to add an extra minute to the baking time. I let them cook for 23 minutes, baking rebel that I am.

The second batch looked and tasted exactly the same as the first, despite the extra 3 minutes baking time. Hmmm. Maybe that’s just how they’re meant to be. Very moist and slightly dense. The canola oil option was supposed to encourage a lighter cupcake to materialize. My baking powder, baking soda, cider vinegar, etc, is all brand spanking new. It could simply be something my vegan baking newbie head doesn’t yet get.

I decided to make the Chocolate Ganache icing from More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts, by Fran Costigan. I halved the recipe because I knew I wouldn’t be using all of the 3-cup yield. I chose to try Fran’s recipe because it seemed to bare the closest resemblance to traditional ganache - cream and chocolate (Fran’s recipe calls for Soy creamer of course). Everything went smoothly until the cooling stage. For a reason unbeknownst to me the ganache kept solidifying in the bowl as I was trying to ice the cupcakes. This was remedied by occasionally returning to the stove to remelt it as I was working. Slightly irritating but not disastrous. The cupcakes tasted great in concert with the ganache. Awesome.

While each cupcake was still wet with ganache, I dropped silver dragees in place to spell out my birthday message. Sister was thrilled. Behold the happy results.