Yes, you read that right. I've been thinking about making them for a while, inspired by some baked ones I've seen online. My Twitter friend, Sarah Henning, pointed out these to me and hinted that I should make some raw Star Wars cupcakes.How did she know we were such big Star Wars fans (my hubby probably wouldn't have married me, if I had no interest in the flicks)? Why hadn't I done this before?
I guess I just never had the opportunity, so last night, I vowed to change that. I whipped up some date paste and the basic raw whipped icing from my e-book (it's Cafe Gratitude's whipped icing from this book that I'm so grateful they allowed me to use; they have been so supportive of my blog), and dreamt up some flavor ideas while I slept.Silly me thought that was all the preparation I needed, although I was anything but prepared this morning. I'm still amazed that they turned out as cute as they did. I just wished Darth Vader looked a little more like Vader (Jacob keeps teasing me about this one).
Oh well, at least we had fun making the video. Hayden and I rocked the Princess Leia look, while Jacob did the videotaping. You'll have to actually watch the video to see what costume he's wearing (he makes a brief appearance to battle Princess Hayden with carrot stick and celery lightsabers).
And now for a little more info about what's in these raw vegan cupcakes:
Princess Leia Cupcake
The base of this beauty is a girlie girl pink cupcake, much like the strawberry one Hayden and I made in this video/post. Just follow the recipe for our Rawdorable Strawberry Lemonade Cupcake (Hayden wanted cashews in this one), minus the lemon. Don't forget to hollow out the center and fill it with some of the basic whipped icing (Then cover it up with the "cake" you removed from the center).The top is frosted with more basic whipped icing, and decorated with some quick chocolate icing eyes (cocoa powder mixed with pure maple syrup) and a strawberry heart mouth. The hair is piped out of more whipped icing blended with cocoa powder to create a light brown.
Stormtrooper Cupcake
The stormtrooper has a white cupcake base made out of 1/4 cup coconut flakes and 1/4 cashews finely ground into a "flour." It is then mixed (I like using a whisk to keep a light flaky texture) with about a Tablespoon of date paste (dates soaked and then blended into a paste), a touch of vanilla and a dash of sea salt.The "cake" is filled with basic whipped icing, just as I did with the strawberry cupcake. It is then iced with more of the icing, and decorated with the same quick chocolate icing (cocoa powder mixed with pure maple syrup).
Darth Vader Cupcake
Darth Vader has to represent the dark side, so he had to be a chocolate cupcake, like the one I use as my German Chocolate Cupcake base (see recipe here). I spiced it up with some cinnamon and cayenne pepper, and hide some basic whipped icing and a cherry inside (a little like a black forest cake).The top is frosted with the same chocolate frosting as in my Raw Neapolitan Brownies/Blondies. The details are piped on out of more of the basic whipped icing.
Yoda Cupcake
The flavor for the Yoda cupcake started with the color. I needed a "swampy" green shade for his face, which was made my mixing some Vega Complete Whole Food Health Optimizer in Vanilla Chai (my favorite flavor) with more of the basic whipped icing. The greens in the Vega powder provided the perfect shade.I also added more of the Vega powder to the cupcake base for some added chai flavor (although you could substitute some green powder and chai spices). It's filled with some raw caramel bar filling (I always thought Yoda snagged one of Luke's candy bars in the movie - I guess you have to see it to know what I mean -, so I mixed together some date paste, nut butter, pure maple syrup and chopped pecans to create a candy bar filling).
I opted to pipe the icing on top to look like yoda's wrinkled skin and used tiny romaine leaves as supports. The details were piped on with basic whipped icing (his eyes) and quick chocolate icing (cocoa powder mixed with pure maple syrup).Just a quick note
You may have noticed that I didn't mention agave nectar in any of these recipes. As it seems that everyone is on the fence about using it these days, I, myself, rarely use it anymore. It is still listed in my old recipes and in my e-book, but I tend to eliminate or substitute it with other sweeteners. Feel free to do the same.
For example, I used date paste in the basic whipped icing this time in place of the agave. I also didn't add it to the cupcake bases.
To make the quick chocolate frosting, I substituted pure maple syrup for the agave, but you could also try date syrup (a runnier version of the date paste), yacon syrup, coconut nectar, etc. It's up to you. Use these recipes as inspiration and make what works for you :-)
BTW, as good as they are, raw cupcakes aren't meant to be eaten every day. Save them for special occasions, and take the time to really make them special!
