Friday, February 8, 2013

Cornmeal Cupcakes with Maple Frosting and Popcorn!



I saw some cupcakes in a shop with popcorn on top and had to make some of my own! The corn and maple combination was inspired by johnnycakes(those yummy corn pancakes that you eat with heaps of maple syrup!)
The cupcakes are more like muffins, but whatever, still delicious! The recipe for the cupcakes/muffins is adapted from the PPK, and the frosting is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.










Ingredients
1 cup flour

1 cup cornmeal
 (or fine polenta)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup soymilk

1 tablespoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla

¾ cup sugar
½ cup canola oil

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix soy milk and lemon juice together and let sit for a few minutes to curdle.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, cornmeal, cornstarch, baking powder, soda and salt.
Mix the vanilla, sugar and oil into the soy milk mixture.
Fold wet into dry, and mix until combined.
Fill cupcakes 2/3 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool completely before frosting.

Maple frosting
2/3 cup maple syrup
¾ cup margarine
2/3 cup soy milk powder (I did 1/3 soy powder + 1/3 powdered sugar instead)
1 tsp maple extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
[+ Popcorn for topping the cupcakes. I used the sweet & salty kind!]

Beat margarine and maple syrup together (don’t worry if it looks a bit curdled). Beat in the vanilla and maple extracts, then gradually beat in the soy powder/sugar. Beat until it looks creamy and fluffy, adding more maple syrup if it looks too dry, or more soy milk powder if it’s too wet.