Vegan Pumpkin Cupcakes with Chocolate Rose Frosting

These beauties are soft, spongy and moist with that dash of luscious chocolaty awesomeness at the top. Mmmmmmmmmmmm...

They are extremely healthy (unlike a conventional cupcake). Made with whole wheat flour and unrefined cane sugar.  Egg-free, dairy-free and absolutely delectable, you won't even miss these ingredients I assure you.

I'm always looking for ways to make recipes healthier. This recipe is my nani's pumpkin cake recipe which I used to gobble during my whole summer vacation at Dehradun.

I swapped the eggs with flax eggs which added omega-3s and the refined flour and sugar were replaced by whole wheat flour and jaggery.

The main ingredient of the frosting is cashews, which you can't even taste over the cocoa and rose flavors. It's unbelievably creamy and worth indulgence. Also a way to add protein, potassium and manganese in your dessert instead of empty calories.

Vegan Pumpkin Cupcakes with Chocolate Rose Frosting

PREP TIME	COOK TIME	TOTAL TIME
20 mins	35 mins	55 mins

Vegan Pumpkin Cupcakes with Chocolate Rose Cashew Frosting. Spongy, moist cupcakes with a luscious and fluffy fosting.

Category: Desserts, Snacks, Vegan

Serves: 6 cupcakes

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Ingredients

For Cupcakes
• 1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 4 tbsp Organic Cane Sugar
• 1/2 cup Canola Oil
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 cup Soy Milk
• 1/2 cup Pumpkin pureed
• 2 flax eggs

For Frosting
• 2 cup Cashews, soaked 5-6 hours in water
• 1 tsp Ground Dried Red Roses
• 3 tbsp Cocoa
• 1 Medjool Date, soaked in water, pitted
• 1 tsp rose water
• 1 tbsp Honey
• 1/2 cup Soy milk
• Pinch Salt
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Instructions

1. Make 1 flax egg by taking 1 tbsp ground flax seeds and 3 tbsp water and letting rest for 5 minutes. This recipe calls for 2 flax eggs so take 2 tbsp ground flax seeds and 6 tbsp water.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients of the cupcakes in a large bowl.
3. Add the pumpkin and other wet ingredients in a blender and blend till smooth.
4. Pour the wet ingredients in the dry ingredients and mix to form a thick batter.
5. Line the muffin tray with some oil and pour in the mixture.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 176°C (347°F) for 30-35 minutes till toothpick comes out clean.
7. For the frosting, add all the ingredients except soy milk in a blender and blend.
8. Add the soy milk 1 tbsp at a time and blend till desired consistency is reached, I used 1/2 cup. Chill in fridge for 1-2 hours.
9. Frost the cupcakes through a piping bag, decorate with sprinkles and rose petals!

Homemade Healthy Nut Butters

If you've never made nut butters at home, you're missing out! Once you make these real butters you'll never want to go and get the store bought artificial ones. Here is a recipe for homemade, preservative free nut butters which do not have any added oil or sugar in it! Just the sultry awesomeness of peanuts, almonds and cashews.

Nut butters are generally considered pretty healthy but people often overlook the amount of added sugar and unnecessary oils they are adding to their bodies with the commercially sold products. Nuts are naturally rich in proteins and healthy fats and adding extra oil and sugars to them doesn't really make sense to me and just takes away from the natural flavor nature has bestowed us with.

These nut butters easily replace cream in sauces, soups and gravy and add a depth and dimension to the flavor and texture of the food. They are absolutely delicious on their own but also make great companions with fruit or some honey on toast, they are luscious and absolutely worth indulgence.

Extremely easy to make and require just the nuts, an oven and a blender. If you don't have an oven you can also roast them in a pan on low heat without any oil, moving them around till they are golden-brown.

Then all you have to do is let them cool and transfer to a blender and blend them for 4-5 minutes on medium speed scraping off the edges every minute or so.

Let's so this.

First blend looks like this.

The oils are starting to bind everything together.

Oh yeah! The sacred spiral.

Your luscious beauty is ready!

I will be using these fabulous nut butters in many of my future recipes as they are extremely healthy and rich in good fats and high in proteins.  I've been making these since a few months following this recipe. But I've found that just roasted nuts work exceptionally well on their own, because they are too glorious already to be added any sugar or oil to. I do add a little Himalayan pink salt to bring out their natural flavors. Okay enough said, go and make this awesomeness.

Homemade Nut Butters

PREP TIME	COOK TIME	TOTAL TIME
15 mins	15 mins	30 mins

Homemade nut butters from scratch without any additional sugar or oils.

Category: Gluten Free, Breakfast, Condiments, Vegan

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 cups Peanuts
• 2 cups Almonds
• 2 cups Cashews
• 1/2 tsp Pink Salt, for each batch
• 2 tbsp honey, for each batch (optional)

Instructions

1. Toast the babies in separate batches in a 175°C (347°F) preheated oven for 5 to 10 minutes or until golden. If you don't have an oven you can also roast them in a pan without any oil, moving them around continuously till they are golden-brown.
2. Then all you have to do is let them cool and transfer to a blender and blend them for 6-7 minutes on medium speed scraping off the edges every minute or so.
3. Add 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt to every batch of 2 cup nuts. I like using this salt in most of my recipes but you can replace it with rock salt if you want.

* Store in air tight jars and refrigerate for 2-3 months.