After winning a copy of Hannah Kaminsky’s Vegan Desserts, I immediately wanted to make something. I settled on the sweet potato casserole cupcakes since I had almost all the ingredients.
The cupcakes were easy enough to make, the hardest part being boiling and pureeing the sweet potatoes (which isn’t very hard at all). The icing was another story though. Total pain in the arse. It’s primarily shortening and confectioner’s sugar, and shortening is so greasy. I couldn’t get it off my hands or spoons/pastry tips/bowls easily. However messy it was though, it certainly went well with the cupcakes. Then I threw some chopped pecans on top. They went over quite well with everyone who tried one. I tried to pretend they were healthy so that I didn’t feel bad about eating a bunch of them.
This morning for breakfast I made my sick boyfriend sweet potato pancakes at his request. I used a base recipe from Vegan Brunch and changed it up a bit. They were really delicious, topped with maple syrup and pecans. I will definitely be making these again and again. Here’s the recipe if you’d like to make these (and I do think you should).
Sweet Potato Pancakes (serves 2)
adapted from Vegan Brunch
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
2 Tbs canola
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup pureed sweet potato*
2 Tbs maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Add in the oil, almond milk, pureed sweet potato, maple syrup, and sweet potato. Mix well, although some lumpiness is okay.
Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat and spray with oil/PAM. Scoop out 1/4-cup of the batter into the pan and heat for about 5 minutes, then flip and cook another few minutes until done of both sides. Top with pecans if you wish and maple syrup. Enjoy the deliciousness.
*The easiest way to make pureed sweet potatoes is to boil peeled and diced sweet potatoes until tender, and then puree with a hand blender or food processor until smooth. Totally easy stuff.
Ahimsa 
October 2, 2011 at 9:54 am
I love the sweet potato double feature. The easiest way to get the shortening off of your hands is with a drop of dishsoap. It cuts through the grease. The cupcakes look delicious!
October 2, 2011 at 10:08 am
Thanks for the tip! I’ll keep the dishsoap nearby next time I make these. 🙂
October 2, 2011 at 11:19 am
Mmm the cupcake and the pancakes look amazing!
October 7, 2011 at 7:20 am
Sorry about the frosting difficulties, but I hope that they were worth the effort in the end. Next time, you could always try to swap in a different frosting from the book… I think that the frosting accompanying the Mango Tango Cupcakes might work nicely with the sweet potato flavors, too.