Avocados and Chocolate?

I love birthdays... especially when I get to bake the cake!

Last weekend was my brother's twenty-first birthday. A fan of everything chocolate, I had to make sure his cake had extra chocolatey goodness.

Glazed Chocolate & Avocado Cupcakes

Yes, you read that right. Avocado. You wouldn't believe how moist and rich it makes these little bundles of deliciousness.

Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups flour*
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 ripe avocado, pitted and peeled**
1 cup pure maple syrup
3/4 cup soymilk
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

Icing
1/2 cup soft silken tofu, drained
3 Tbs pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup semisweet vegan chocolate chips, melted

*I usually bake with half whole wheat flour and half unbleached white. It turned out well for me with this recipe

**the bigger the better!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (not convection). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with foil liners (I prefer foil because it doesn't stick to the little cakes, but you can use paper if you so desire!). In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate large bowl or in a food processor, purée the avocado, maple syrup, soymilk, oil, and vanilla until creamy and smooth. Pour the avocado mixture into the flour and mix well.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before attempting to glaze.

For the icing: Blend the tofu, maple syrup, vanilla, and salt until smooth. Add the melted chocolate, and blend until smooth. This will turn out almost like a pudding (in fact, you could eat it just like pudding!).

To glaze: dip the tops of the cooled cupcakes into the icing, pulling straight out to form professional-looking peaks at the top (mine didn't turn out so well this time because I was pressed for time and I did not let them cool completely!). If you would like the glaze to harden, simply place the cupcakes in the refrigerator for about five or so minutes, and voila, they're ready for devouring!

Oh, and I apologize for the terrible picture. Like I said, I was pressed for time, and I wanted to snap a quick shot before they disappeared!

Tears of a Chef

Favorite knife. Check.
Cutting board. Check.
Sunglasses.... Check!



Alright. Bring on the onion.

You may laugh (and I admit, I do look a bit ridiculous chopping onions with giant sunglasses on...), but dammit, it works. If I don't wear them, I always end up with big, fat, salty tears pouring out my face like a water fountain. Which makes my makeup run. Which invariably ends up my eyes. Which makes them sting like fire. Which makes me rub them with my onion juice-covered hands... Which- well, you get the picture. So, yes, even though people my laugh, I don't care. You can go ahead and "tough it out like a man," but I will continue to wear my sexy, rhinestone-studded onion glasses.

If you are nerdy enough to want to know why they make you cry, I will gladly explain the evilness. As soon as you commence the chopping, the onion cells release enzymes that decompose other substances in the onion (among them amino sulfoxides), and the remnants quickly arrange themselves into a volatile gas. The gas eventually reaches your eyes, reacts with the H2O that keeps them moist, and forms a mild sulfuric acid. In order to dilute this acid and prevent damage to the eye, your body produces tears. And, if you are like me, when this happens, you like to rub your eyes... but this actually makes the irritation a lot worse, of course, because of the onion juices all over your hands.

You can try all the other "remedies" such as breathing through your mouth, sticking your tongue out, or even chewing gum (vegan, of course!), but let me save you the pain: they do NOT work! Onion glasses. They are the only way to go.