Vegan Quinoa Cocoa Cupcakes With Vegan Chocolate Frosting

My goal is to make 1 batch of vegan baked goods every week. This week, I wanted to find a fun unique vegan chocolate cupcake. I knew I would be limited in my choices, due to the ingredients on hand. I had about 2 cups of cooked quinoa in the refrigerator and came across a cupcake recipe made with quinoa.
I had a feeling the recipe would be a disaster, but knew if it was good, it would be really good. From start to finish, this recipe intrigued me. While mixing the ingredients, the batter was so dry that I thought I did something wrong. I decided to add another tablespoon of oil and 3 more tablespoons of water. This was a good choice because I don't think the cupcakes would have turned out, if I didn't. Next time I make this recipe, I may add more liquids to see how it changes the recipe. The batter was really thick, which makes it easy to put into the cupcake liners. While watching the cupcakes baking in the over, I watched them rise up into the top of the cupcake liners and they looked moist.
I let the cupcakes cool and frosted them with a vegan chocolate frosting recipe. I like the stiffer frosting, so I can use a frosting bag. I will use more powdered sugar the next time I make the frosting, so it gets thicker. I halved the recipe, but probably could have quartered it. I have enough frosting leftover to frost another batch of 12 cupcakes.
Matt loved his cupcake, as did I. Enjoy!


Vegan Quinoa Cocoa Cupcake Recipe
 http://www.vegan-food.net/recipe/1493/Quinoa-Cocoa-Cupcakes/


Ingredients

• 3/4 Cup cooked Quinoa
• 1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
• 2/3 Cup White Sugar
• 1-1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 3/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder
• 1/2 Cup Whole-Wheat Pastry Flour
• 1 Cup White Flour
• 2 Tablespoons Water

METHOD

First, rinse off just over 1/3 cup of dried quinoa. ( It has a bitter coating that must be rinsed off. ) Before baking, pre-cook the quinoa. Place quinoa in a covered pot with about 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, and simmer approximately 25 minutes. Check to ensure quinoa does not boil dry. Allow to cool. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tin with paper liners.
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients well.
Bake at 350 degrees for about twenty minutes, or when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Vegan Chocolate Frosting
(You could easily make 1/4 of this recipe and have enough frosting for 1 batch of cupcakes)
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6441.0 


Ingredients

    1 cup vegan margarine
    4 cups powdered sugar (make your own if you want - blend sugar and cornstarch)
    2 tablespoon vanilla
    4 tablespoon soy milk
    1/2 cup cocoa powder (or more)
    dash of salt

Directions:

The vegan margarine should be at room temperature when placed in bowl. Blend until mushy, and then add vegan powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, chocolate and soy milk. You can add in more soy milk to make it a bit smoother but not too much. Spread on cake and enjoy.