An Austrian Autumn – Vegan Pumpkin Seed Oil Cupcakes (and a big GIVEAWAY)

Thank you all so much for your support, kind words and lovely comments to my last post. I still can’t believe it has happened so to celebrate I will be hosting my 1st GIVEAWAY! Please see the end of this post for all the details of a fabulous giveaway sponsored by Pelzmann.

In the meantime, I’d like to share with you a ‘OMG! I think I’ve died and gone to heaven’ cupcake recipe.

Vegan Pumpkin Seed Oil Cupcakes.

Now I know what you are thinking but seriously trust me the cupcakes are really really delicious.

I didn’t tell my husband it was vegan, I just let him try it to get his honest feed back and honest he was – he loved them! When I told him what the ingredients were he was very surprised that it tasted so good. Now I’m not saying that vegan dishes do not taste good but you know what I mean 😉 I even tried it out with my father-in-law who screws his nose up every time he hears the word ‘healthy’ and pumpkin is not one of his favourite vegetables. He thought it was one of my usual cupcakes, he ate it contentedly and his feedback was ‘the cupcake was EXTREMELY good!’ Needless to say he had more than two. As you can imagine I was doing the happy dance 🙂

I stumbled across this recipe through the blog A Cherry on Top all things vegan. I don’t know what it is of late but I seem to be coming across all things vegan. A girlfriend of mine who is not vegetarian or vegan is trying out the raw vegan diet, I’m meeting people who are vegan, I come across a lot of blogs that are vegan………….

So when I came across Maria’s blog post ‘Triple Pumpkin Cupcake aka Steirer Cupcake‘ I just had to try it.

I changed the recipe slightly hence the change of name too. Maria’s recipe calls for grated pumpkin and if you are anything like me who is really lazy I substituted the raw pumpkin with finely grounded pumpkin seeds and normal oil with Pelzmann’s pumpkin seed oil.

Vegan Pumpkin Seed Oil Cupcakes (recipe adapted from A Cherry on Top)

Ingredients for the cupcakes
130g finely grounded pumpkin seed (unsalted)
200g flour
170g sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon powder
pinch of clove powder
250 g Soy yoghurt
100 ml Pelzmann pumpkin seed oil
50 ml Soy milch
Method
  1. Preheat oven to 180° Celcius. Line the cupcake pan with liners.
  2. In a bowl mix together the dry ingredients (pumpkin seeds, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and clove powder).
  3. In another bowl whisk together the soy yoghurt, pumpkin seed oil and soy milk.
  4. Fold in the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Do not over mix.
  5. Spoon batter into the prepared cupcake pan and bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when poked in the middle of a cupcake.
  6. Leave the cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool.
  7. Decorate with frosting once the cupcakes are completely cooled.
Ingredients for the frosting
2 cups soy milk
5 tablespoons flour
130g powdered sugar (sifted)
160g vegan margarine
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons Pelzmann pumpkin seed oil
1 tablespoon Rum (depending on your taste)
Method
  1. In a saucepan add the flour and about 4 tablespoons of the soy milk. Whisk the mixture till it forms a paste, slowly add the rest of the soy milk whisking at the same time to avoid any lumps.
  2. Put the saucepan on the stove over medium to low heat and stir the milk with a wooden spoon. Continue to stir till the milk starts to thicken to a pudding like consistency. At first you might think nothing is happening but soldier on the milk will thicken.
  3. Remove the thicken milk mixture from the stove, transfer it to a bowl, cover with cling wrap and allow to cool completely.
  4. Beat margarine and sifted powdered sugar in a bowl till creamy.
  5. Now add in the cooled thicken milk mixture, pumpkin seed oil, vanilla extract and rum. Beat until light and creamy.
  6. Refrigerate for approximately 30 mins to allow the frosting to harden slightly before piping onto cupcakes.

Tip: Before you start baking the cupcakes I suggest you start doing steps 1 – 3 of the frosting first. That way whilst you wait for the mixture to cool you can busy yourself with cupcake baking.

When I was spooning the batter into the pan I had a fear that they would be more of a muffin rather than a cupcake. But that first bite just took me straight to heaven. These cupcakes were so delicious! They were soft, fluffy, light and moist – the texture was just right. I can’t explain it, you really have to try them for yourself 😉
So there you have it, my take of Vegan Pumpkin Seed Oil Cupcakes baked using one of Austria’s best culinary delights – Pelzmann pumpkin seed oil.

And now for the GIVEAWAY!

I received some great news and a fantastic package from the company Pelzmann since the release of my article.

For those of you have seen my post Kernölgugelhupf – Pumpkin Seed Oil Bundt Cakes you would have noticed that I used Pelzmann pumpkin seed oil in the recipe. Pelzmann is a family owned and operated business. They are the market leader of pumpkin seed oil in Austria and their products meet the strictest of European standards.

Upon seeing my post and realising that pumpkin seed oil is not so readily available in some parts of the world, Pelzmann and I were in contact.

Pelzmann has kindly and very generously sent me a couple of bottles of their fine pressed culinary pumpkin seed oil for me to giveaway to you – my readers!

The lucky winner will receive the following:

  • 2 x 250 mL bottled Pelzmann pumpkin seed oil (one of Austria’s finest exports)
  • 2 x Pelzmann ‘Treat on the Spot’ waist apron
  • 2 x Pelzmann booklets which includes recipes of how to use pumpkin seed oil

To enter for a chance to win this giveaway, leave a comment below telling me how you would use pumpkin seed oil.

For extra entry points:

  1. Subscribe to receive charmed updates via email (left side panel). Leave a separate comment letting me know you did so.
  2. Like The Charmed Cupcake Facebook Page. Leave a separate comment letting me know you did so.
  3. Follow @Charmed_cupcake on Twitter. Tweet me letting me know you are following me through this giveaway.
  4. Tweet this giveaway using this link: http://wp.me/p2vfS6-eL and mention #pelzmann #giveaway.

The giveaway is open until Wednesday, 17th October at 23:59 CEST.

The giveaway is open internationally. Be sure you leave a valid email address when making your comments. The Winner will be chosen via random.org and announced on this post on Friday, 19th October. I will email the winner and if the winner does not respond in 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen. The giveaway kit will be shipped by The Charmed Cupcake, please allow approximately 14-20 days for international delivery.

WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT: Congrautluations to Mich Piece of Cake. I hope you will enjoy the pumpkin seed oil as much as I do.
Thank you to everyone who entered.

Disclosure: This giveaway has been generously sponsored by Pelzmann, postage covered by The Charmed Cupcake.

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Category : Cupcakes, Giveaway, Recipes
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