A few weeks ago, the publisher of My Sweet Vegan contacted me about reviewing Hannah Kaminsky's much sought-after vegan dessert cookbook. Of course I said hell yes! I've been drooling over Hannah's luscious-looking desserts on other people's blogs for way too long.But drool no more (well, actually I guess I'm drooling even more now that the book is in my possession). It's filled with mouth-watering full-color photos of cakes, pies, tarts, scones, and cookies. She even has a recipe for Matzoh Toffee, which the lovely Stephanie of Poopie Bitch made me for Xmas last year. So, so delicious. It made me sad that I didn't grow up in a Jewish household, eating that stuff all my life!
For my first My Sweet Vegan creation, I decided on the Not Nog Cupcakes — a perfect holiday cake and a wonderful excuse to splurge on a carton of Silk Nog:
I also got a chance to use the vintage holly berry cupcake toppers I ordered from Estelle's Sweet Baking Supply on Etsy.com.As for the cakes, they are absolutely delicious! Unfortunately, I overfilled about half of the cupcake liners, so several spilled over. And that caused the tops to rip off a couple. But that was no fault of the recipe ... just my silly baking blunder. The cake batter was thicker than what I'm used to and I didn't realize I was over-filling. Oops!
The glaze — a mixture of brown sugar, corn syrup, and dark rum – added a delicious hearty sweetness. I subbed a mixture of evaporated cane juice and water for the corn syrup, a substitution recommendation I found here on the Taste of Home website. I'm not a big fan of conventional corn syrup and that's all that is available in the stores near my house. I didn't have time to make the 20-minute drive to Whole Foods for an organic syrup. But the substitution seemed to work just fine.
There are loads more recipes I'd like to make from My Sweet Vegan, so stay tuned. And I just received another bundle of vegan cookbooks — all dessert cookbooks — from the Farm's Book Publishing Company to review. Plus, I'm still fleshing out the dessert section for my cookbook. Needless to say, you'll likely see more sweet treats on my blog this December!
16 comments:
i can't believe i still don't own Hannah's book. methinks i need to add it to my christmas wishlist now. w00t! cuppies with rum sound awesome, and i love the little holly berry cupcake toppers, Bianca! they're so festive & adorable - i need to check out all the awesome on etsy, fo 'sho!
happy friday!
My Sweet Vegan is amazing and Hannah is lovely! Great to know that you liked the book :D
LOVE Hannah's book!
I love that cupcake topper- so cute!
I recently won a copy of this book (hoooray!) and I'm gonna started with baking from it tonight. So excited!!
That cupcake looks so pretty and YUMMY!
I remember the first time I saw Hannah's blog, I thought, "This baker really rocks!". This is a great cupcake to display for this holiday, and I love the decoration ~ holly is my favorite symbol for this time of year. Thanks!
Your cupcakes look yummy. I have My Sweet Vegan, but have only tried one recipe from it so far. I need to find some more excuses to bake!
Oops, that last Anonymous comment was from me. I forgot to sign in!
that book's been on my wishlist for ages now, i must buy it!! those cupcakes sound really good.
I love Hannah's blog. Thanks for the review! Your cupcakes sound delish. (I bet they'd be perfect with a scoop of 'nog ice cream!)
I've been wanting this book forever! Bring on the sweets - you're not scaring me away with your last sentence! :-D
How cute are those festive cupcake toppers!!
Gorgeous cupcake, Bianca! I need to get that book asap because just like you I'm always drooling over Hannah's dishes, she is just amazing!
Thank you for reviewing my book, and I'm so happy that it's lived up to your expectations so far! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on anything else you decide to try. :)
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