Thursday, February 5, 2009

apple butter muffin cakes

is it is a muffin or is it a cupcake? this hybrid treat has the whole wheat texture of a morning muffin with sweet cupcake icing to top it off. this came about when i was making treats for work and realized some folks may not share my love of under-sweetened treats. so i piped vanilla-cinnamon florets on my apple butter muffins and - voilà - miss v muffin cakes!

  • 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 cup turbinado sugar + 2 tablespoons
  • 1 cup apple butter (recipe here)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 cup soy margarine (smart balance light)
  • 1/4 cup flax seed oil
  • 1/4 cup water
in two bowls, separately mix up all wet and all dry ingredients. make a well in dry ingredients, and fold in the mixed wet ingredients. mix thoroughly by hand for about 1 minute, until all the dry clumps have been broken down. lightly coat muffin pan with non-stick spray, and fill each cup about 2/3 full. bake at 350°f for approximately 20 minutes. stick a toothpick or knife in the middle and make sure it comes out clean.

you can use any frosting you would like... i used the standard butter cream frosting recipe in vegan cupcakes take over the world, and added about 1/8 cup cinnamon and 1-2 teaspoons vanilla powder.

chef's note: these will not rise a lot, so if you want larger muffin cakes, you'll have to fill the tin fuller. :)

16 comments:

Lauren said...

Wow! Looks so delicious! Love any dessert that includes apples! :)

Jen said...

i'm all about eating dessert for breakfast, icing or no icing.

Anonymous said...

those sound FABULOUS! GOOD to know they dont rise alot!

Bianca said...

Best of both worlds! Healthy and yet still cupcake-y.

Anonymous said...

This sounds really nice, especially with the homemade apple butter.

Meg said...

I have been wanting to make something with apple butter...thanks for this!

allularpunk said...

i haven't had a muffin in so long. these look wonderful!

Anonymous said...

These muffin cakes look really good with apple butter - delicious!

Lisa said...

so cute!

Amy said...

Mmmmm I love cake and I love, love, LOVE muffins! These sound and look wonderful!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

HOLY YUM!!

Anonymous said...

I love not otto sweet muffins that are sort of like cupcakes. A little frosting never hurts either!! Can't wait to try it.

Chris said...

Is it ironic when most "muffins" are just tall versions of cake batter and some "cakes" are dense and crumbly like muffins should be? I think so. But thank you for reconciling this (or at least coming to terms with it) :)

By the way, I just discovered your blog and am really impressed. Keep up the great posts!

Usha said...

This looks fabulous, perfect for breakfast :-)

Anonymous said...

Yummm, delish!

Piroska4 said...

My kids absolutely adore these. I use whole wheat pastry flour for the whole 1 1/2 cups, and brown sugar since I usually don't have turbinado sugar. When I need to make them gluten free I substitute almond flour for the wheat flour, and add a touch of binder like xanthan gum or similar. Fantastic.