Eggless Brain Cupcake

My son is in kindergarten, and his class recently had a Halloween party to which I volunteered to bring snacks for. Since I have a culinary degree, signing up to bring food is always my number one choice, and when I can be creative and fun, I’m all over it.

I was informed that one of the children has a nut allergy, and another has an egg allergy. So usually, baked goods are out of the question. When I told the organizing mom that I would bring cupcakes, I could tell that she didn’t believe I could pull it off without excluding some children.

My original idea was to use bananas or applesauce in place of the eggs, and I was also told that using flax seed was an excellent egg substitute – but unfortunately I couldn’t find any in my area, and it was too late for me to order any online. But when I came across the recipe, i was surprised, and my 8th Grade Science Project (the ever-standard fallback of a volcano) came flooding to mind when I saw this. (See, Mr. DeLong? The volcano does come in handy in real life. I still haven’t needed the “two trains coming at each other at X MPH…” question though.)

The cupcakes were actually terrific. I was surprised at how good they were. they were moist enough to chow down on without any frosting at all. but my son is a 5-year-old boy, who loves bolidy functions and being as gross as possible. When we were moving through the grocery store, he saw Martha Stewart’s magazine (Halloween issue – and trust me when I say I am typically not a MS fan at all.) and loved the “brain cupcakes”, and begged me to make them. So I found an eggless frosting recipe and went to it.

Cupcakes

(adapted from Gourmeted.com)
Makes about 30-36 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup cold water
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp vinegar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray cupcake pans with vegetable oil spray.
2. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix all the wet ingredients (except for the vinegar) in a separate bowl.
3. Stir in the wet ingredient mixture with the dry ingredients until well combined.
4. Mix in the vinegar rapidly and immediately fill the cupcake pans 1/2 to 2/3 full.
   Bake for 15 minutes, or until set.
5. Allow to completely cool in the pan.
6. Enjoy on their on or frost with your favorite frosting.

Buttercream Frosting

makes enough to generously frost the above recipe with some left over

Ingredients

• 2 sticks butter, soft
• 1# confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2oz – 1/2 c lukewarm water
• red food coloring (I used gel, but drops would work too)

Preparation

1. Whip butter and vanilla until fluffy.
2. Add in sugar slowly, whipping until light and fluffy.
3. Use water to loosen up the frosting if it gets too thick.
4. Add in red food coloring until desired color is achieved.

Now, a word. One thing I absolutely detest is what is called “American Buttercream.” Most people know it as the stuff that’s in the middle of an Oreo cookie, or what Wal-Mart puts on the birthday cakes. I find that stuff absolutely revolting. I hate it with every fiber of my being. It basically has two ingredients: Powdered Sugar and Crisco. (God, even typing that made me want to puke.) My favorite type of butter cream (and meringue, actually) is the Italian – where you cook the sugar into a syrup and add it in while whipping. American Buttercream is sickly sweet, and always leaves an icky coating on your tongue. Gah. But people like it because there is no color in Crisco: your frosting will be pure white. And it’s cheap. (as a defense to these arguments: 1) when you whip butter it gets lighter in color, and if you want pure white, then make your own. It’s dead easy- just whip heavy cream until it turns into butter; and 2) you get what you pay for.)

The above frosting recipe was pretty good. Better than Wal-Mart, that’s for sure. But it did still remind me of it. The frosting was certainly too sweet for my palate, and if I ever make this again, I’m definitely cutting a lot of it out, and possibly replacing it with something that provides some flavor. If it weren’t for the child that had a nut allergy, I probably would add a bit of almond extract or something to give it a little more kick. But if you like really sweet stuff (and you’re a fan of Wal-Mart frosting) then you’ll probably like it just how it is.

Now, that aside, the assembly it really easy. All you need is a pastry bag with a fairly wide round tip. I used to have one, but at some point, my sin must have thought it was a toy, because I couldn’t find it. So I did the trick of using a Ziploc bag and cutting off one of the bottom corners. Worked just fine. Load it up with frosting (not too much, though – it warms in your hands really quickly, and it’ll lose its shape – so load in enough to do maybe 4 or 5 cupcakes before needing to get more) and really all you have to do is squirt it out in squiggly form on one side, and then the other (the brain has a division/seam down the center, so all you have to do is try and keep that in mind).

The kids ate these up. (Literally.) Enjoy!