I made a visit to The Barley Mow Craft Beer House, West Reading. To be honest, I was going to share a beer story from a chicks perspective based on what I selected. . . which is kinda what I’m doing. Things just took a sweeter than expected twist.
I wanted to play with beer and this recipe seemed like the perfect excuse.
This recipe will not produce dense, mounded cupcakes. The cupcake reminds me a bit of a TastyKake cupcake, it bakes flat topped (maybe with a small dimple) versus a muffin top and does not need a pile of icing, a thin coat will do. For a vegan recipe I’m rather pleased. Maybe it’s the Vanilla Porter I picked up at The Barley Mow Craft House that did the trick.
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, whole grain white or spelt preferred
- ¾ cup organic sugar
- ⅓ cup unsweetend cocoa powder, Hershey’s Special Dark or Dutch-processed
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
- ¾ cup vanilla porter, or dark ale
- ¼ cup water
- ⅓ cup raw, organic coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 cupcake molds with cupcake liners.
- Whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and coffee powder in a large bowl.
- Stir the beer, water, coconut oil, vinegar and vanilla extract until evenly combined. TIP: Be sure all are at room temperature or the coconut oil will get clumpy.
- Fold the beer mixture into the flour mixture. Do not over mix. Think pancake mix. There may be some small clumps and this is okay.
- Fill the cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until toothpick inserted int he center comes out clean.
- Let them rest in the pan for 5 minutes, remove and allow to cool.
- ½ cup Earth Balance brand vegan butter
- ⅓ cup unsweetend cocoa powder, Hershey’s Special Dark or Dutch-processed
- 1½ cups confectioner sugar
- ½ teaspoon instant coffee powder
- 3 tablespoons beer (leftover from the cupcake recipe) or non-dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Beat the butter in a stand mixer with a whisk attchment, reduce speed and add the cocoa powder, sugar and coffee powder.
- Whisk in the beer and vanilla.
- If the mixture is too stiff add a bit of beer, if it is too thin add a bit more sugar.
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