VeganMoFo Field Trip Report: Papa Ganache

To kick off VeganMoFo 2011, we took a road trip to visit Papa Ganache, a wonderful vegan bakery in Keyport, NJ.





Box full of goodies!!


Obscene close-up of the Cookies n' Cream. The frosting was so amazing. It was so light and airy. It complemented the cake perfectly without taking over. I have never had a frosting that was almost as light as whipped cream. It was lush and delightfully different.


S'more cupcake. And yes, that's a graham cracker crust on the bottom. Not to mention a dollop of chocolate ganache just waiting for you on the inside.

Pumpkin cheesecake cup. This was dense and sweet with an impressive pumpkin pie/cheesecake balance. The uppercut of chocolate was a lovely touch. A great option to slap on the holiday dessert table. One bit of constructive criticism: This would work best served chilled so it can properly set.

Papa Ganache's menu labels this "The Best Brownie Ever", which will not be argued considering it's a fudgey, chocolate-chip-packed brick of effing yum ready to fool omnivores everywhere. This would be a challenge to finish in one sitting (definitely not a bad thing).

Peanut butter cup...cupcake. Forget the awkward description - this takes the traditional "peanut buttery yet candy-sweet" concept of the Reese's treat and translates it vegan-style to a delicate, whipped frosting. The generous spoonful of ganache saves it from the mediocrity of "yum-o buuuut..." - a little sugary peanut butter flavor can go a long way, and the additional layer of chocolate fabulously complements.

Vegan MoFo 2010

It's everyone's favorite time of year, when blog 'scuse me? enters a month long food coma. We've been working hard all year to come up with some exciting Vegan MoFo content. Consider this our least lame Vegan MoFo ever! So what do we have in store for you?

• Brunch with blog 'scuse me? - adventures with me and Tara to find the perfect weekend midday meal.
  


• Cupcake Throwdown! - a friendly competition of vegan cupcakery.
  
  
• Vegan food porn posts on our twitter and tumblr.
  


• The blog 'scuse me? IMDB Bottom 100 Movie Club - where we watch the worst movies as rated by everyone's favorite internet movie database, discuss it on our facebook page, then post our reviews.

This month's movie: Troll 2

A story about goblins in the town of Nilbog who love to eat their "vegetables". The rare sequel that surpasses the original.

...and much more so stay tuned!

Check out more blogs participating in this year's Vegan MoFo!

Martha Stewart (Encouraging Animals to Remain) Living

I love cupcakes. In June, the Martha Stewart Show celebrated these tiny confections with the reverence they deserve. During what I'll refer to as "Cupcake Week", she invited the mastermind behind Trophy Cupcakes in Seattle (not vegan). After watching her make these Chocolate Graham Cracker Cupcakes with Toasted Marshmallow (follow the link for the recipe and video), I had to veganize them.

Veganizing this was pretty easy, I basically used the most straight forward replacements.

• For the eggs, EnerG Egg Replacer (if you try something different, tell me how it turns out)
  
• For the whole milk, soy milk with 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (to help it curdle a little)
• For the butter, non dairy margarine (I usually use Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)
• For the marshmallow topping, vegan marshmallow mix (see below)

If I'm missing something or you have any questions, let me know. These cupcakes were too good not to share.


Cupcake prep: graham cracker crust plus bittersweet chocolate.


Here they are ready to go in the oven with a fresh sprinkling of graham crackers and chocolate.


Here's a gorgeous picture of the little babies fresh out of the oven.


My version of marshmallow topping... actual marshmallow. My topping came out super delicious, but the cake was moist and chocolatey and could pretty much stand on its own, if you're feeling lazy. You may notice that I did not toast the topping. I'm afraid of torches. It's mainly that devilish blue flame.





Check out that awesome graham crackery cupcake crust.