Peanut butter, chocolate (and tofu) invade yer oven

Yay! We have a new contributor. The wonderful Martuna Martinez is a very talented writer and vegan baker, which makes us super-happy and proud to have her on board. Vegan baking in the Czech Republic ain't easy, but this lady makes it seem as effortless as shoving a burger in your mouth (and much more delicous). Enjoy!

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Frosted Cupcakes
Unlike mufiny (read moofineeh), cupcakes are hard to find around Prague--much, much more so if you're sniffing for the vegan kind. Well, a vacuum-packaged muffin just won't do when you've got that cupcake itch, so, here's a totally indulgent and totally cruelty-free sun-kissed vanilla cupcake with chunky chocolate-peanut butter frosting.


Stuff you'll need for the cupcake part: (Makes about 12)

paper cupcake liners (unless you like scrubbing)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbs applesauce
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup soy milk or any other non-dairy milk (though soy milk is the cheapest)
1 tbs sunflower oil
3 tsp vanilla extract

You'll want to preheat the oven to 170C. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. In yet another bowl, combine all the other stuff and pour in with the dry mix. Stir, stir, pour into cupcake liners and bake for about 25 minutes. (I assume everyone's familiar with the toothpick test, right?) Let cool before smearing on the frosting.


For the frosting:
(Makes more frosting than you'll need, so that you can enjoy it by the spoonfuls while the cupcakes are bakin'.)

1 chocolate bar, about 100 grams (if you're going to go vegan here, watch out for ingredients like sušené mléko, mléčný tuk and syrovátka)
1/4 cup of peanut butter, crunchy or smooth, whatever you like
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 package of tofu
2 tbs plain soy yoghurt

Break the chocolate into small chunks and melt them in a double boiler, or, if you're lazy, a microwave.
Crumble the tofu with your fingers and, using a hand mixer or a blender, smooth everything until creamy.


Be smart:
Because there's tofu and soy yoghurt involved, if you don't devour the little wonders in a day, you'll want to refrigerate them.