— by Margo Sugarman

When I first visited Israel as a child, one of the new tastes that I have experienced and loved was the iconic Nesher malt beer. As a child, the concept of drinking beer, even though it was alcohol free, was very exciting. The taste of this local malt brew was wonderfully caramelly and rich, and to this day, I love the taste, which brings me back to my first visit to Israel.

While cupcakes are definitely not an Israeli confectionery, one way of bringing a little Israel-ism into these small cakes is by baking them with malt beer. When I came across a parve cupcake recipe, that used stout beer, on Chef Chloe’s vegan cooking website, I knew I had to make a few adaptations to make it more Israeli by using malt beer instead. Malt beer is said to also have additional health benefits (although I am not sure whether they survive baking at 350 degrees). The result is a very moist chocolate cupcake, that’s parve, and uses no eggs either.

Full recipe after the jump.
You can frost these cupcakes with any frosting you wish. I use a Tofutti-based cream cheese frosting for parve. Otherwise, any butter or cream cheese frosting will work well.

Malt Beer Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2/3 cups brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 12/ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup malt beer
• 1/2 cup oil
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

How to do it

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C)
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix until the mixture is homogenous.
3. Line a muffin tin with #5 cupcake liners, and fill each to about two-thirds full with batter.
4. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting.

Makes 14-16 cupcakes

Parve Frosting

1. In a medium bowl, mix 90g (3 oz) Tofutti cream cheese and a few drops of vanilla extract until combined.
2. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, and mix until combined. Continue adding the powdered sugar until you get a good spreading consistency — about 300g (10 oz) powdered sugar (3 cups). (Note: When you use the Tofutti cream cheese to make frosting, you won’t reach a stiff spreading consistency as you do when using butter or cream cheese. This frosting will always be glossy and soft.)

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. In a medium bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of soft butter, 100 grams of 25% fat cream cheese, and a few drops of vanilla.
2. When it is smooth, gradually start adding powdered sugar (about 300 grams of powdered sugar in total), and mix until you get a good spreading consistency (the mixture should not fall off the spoon or should not run off the beaters).

Vanilla Butter Frosting

1. In an electric mixer, beat 110g (4 oz)  unsalted butter, 60 ml milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 250 g (10 oz) powdered sugar, until completely smooth.
2. Gradually add up to another 250g (10 oz) powdered sugar, and beat until the frosting has a smooth spreading consistency.

Margo Sugarman is the creator of The Kosher Blogger, a website of keeping kosher and loving good food.