Here in North Carolina the past few nights have been very chilly, which means it’s in the 20’s at night.  Below 30 degrees is cold to those of us in the tar heel state!  After taking the dog for his evening walk my family and I come inside and are searching for something warm.  Tea and hot chocolate tend to hit the spot but I’m thinking these Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcake recipe would be a perfect post dog walk treat, for us humans of course!  The vegan cupcake recipe which is topped a coconut whipped cream frosting was originally posted to Food 52.

Having recently feasted on a Cumbs Bake Shop “Almond Bliss” cupcake (pictured), I thought to gather some almond cupcake recipes for you.

How about a Vegan Chocolate Cupcake with Almond Buttercream and Raspberry Glaze?    The “Oh She Glows” blog site has both the recipe and fantastic photographs for step-by-step instructions, including a video to guide you through piping.

Or, how about Honey, Lavender, and Almond Cupcakes, complete with the directions for making your own lavender milk for the frosting?  The recipe from Lily Vanilli in England is in metrics, but worth the math exercise to get you there!

Finally, from the Love & Olive Oil site, let’s go for the Vanilla Almond Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream Frosting.  This yummy recipe includes almond extract, vanilla bean seeds, and coconut milk.

I recently discovered Fantasy Cupcakes on line, a lovely UK bakery that won a gold heart prize in the North West Fine Foods Awards, beating out 400 entries in the general foods competition.

Vegan Mudpie Cupcake

So I e-mailed Fantasy Cupcakes to ask for their secrets at taking a vegan cupcake into the mainstream.  The owner, Melinda, thought that the bitterness of the chocolate was the primary flavor of the cake and that it lingered on the palate.

Here’s a list of Melinda’s tips for vegan mud pie cupcakes:

• Use a little apple cider vinegar in the sponge batter instead of soya milk curdled with vinegar;
• Mix the wet ingredients together and fold in the dry ones; and,
• For the frosting, melt rich, dark chocolate mixed with soya cream, leave it to set, beat in a little powdered sugar until a firm(ish) spreading consistency is reached, spread onto the cupcake in a dome shape with a small palate knife, and dust with a good quality cocoa.

Melinda said the frosting recipe was an adaptation from a recipe for a vegan chocolate torte which was a family favorite for years.

For my two pence, I’d recommend using Cadbury’s cocoa powder.  It’s make in the UK and has more bite to it than its US Hershey counterpart.

I have yet to try vegan cupcakes but if they taste as good as these cupcake by Joylicious look, I’m sure I will love them!  These cupcakes, called best vegan chocolate cupcakes with vegan banana ice cream combine three things I love, chocolate, peanut butter and bananas.  The best part is that they not only look delicious but actually sound healthy.  I’ve always thought vegan recipes would be hard to make but after reading the ingredients and directions these actually sound doable.  Below you will find the recipe for the cupcakes but for the banana ice cream you will have to read Joylicious’s original post!  While there be sure to look around, I noticed a (non-vegan) mini pumpkin spice cupcake recipe that also looks amazing.

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ATC giveaways are going to a place they’ve never been before.  This week we are are giving away make-up!   Now you may be asking yourself, “What does make-up have to do with cupcakes?”  Well, it has everything to do with Etsy crafter, CAKE Mineral Makeup.  They sought out to create deliciously decadent highly-pigmented mineral makeup.  CAKE Mineral Makeup is 100% PURE minerals.  It is free of preservatives, talc, oils, fragrances and other potential skin irritants. 100% vegan! 100% cruelty free!

I love the bright colors and was so excited about them I quickly shared them with my daughter and sister.  All three of us have sensitive skin and loved their eye shadow.  No breakouts, just beautiful color!

 This week, two lucky fans will have the chance to win a 4 pack of amazing colors.

To enter this giveaway, just visit CAKE Mineral Makeups’ Etsy shop and take a look around.  Then come back to ATC and click on the comment area below.  Tell us what was your favorite color eye shadow and what item you believe they should add to their shop.  One winner will be chosen on Monday, November 22nd. 

The raw vegan diet seems to be all the rage lately.  Eating raw foods is uber-healthy and good for the planet too.  And “raw foodists” often claim that one doesn’t have to go 100% raw to reap the benefits of consuming raw foods.  Do I want to be healthy?  Of course!  Am I willing to give up cupcakes in order to go raw vegan?  Uh …

Well, thanks to Shannonmarie, who is known to the blogosphere as Rawdorable, I don’t have to.  She has created an amazingly innovative, entertaining, and useful “uncookbook” full of tantalizing raw cupcake recipes.

Her ebook details how to make the “cake,” gives us several different options for yummy frostings, and even describes how to make raw fondant.  Who ever heard of healthy fondant?

Her recipes range from basic to exquisite, from Pumpkin Spice to Citrus Confetti, from Basic Chocolate to Ruby Red Chai.  I’m telling you, Shannonmarie is a genius of the cupcake world.  And she’s one of those rare healthy cupcake geniuses.  (If you don’t believe me, try the Zippi Zucchini Cupcake!)

The book is jam-packed with gorgeous, inspiring photographs.  I’m tempted to blow some of them up and frame them. 

The Little Rawdorable Cupcake Book That Could is available at Rawdorable for $12.95.  It will be the best thirteen bucks you’ve invested in a while!