Cupcake Wars

You've probably already heard the good news by now that for the second time, a vegan baker has taken top honors on Food Network's hit show, Cupcake Wars.

Could we be more stoked that in the two episodes of the program that have featured vegans, a vegan has won both times? Heck, no!

Well, maybe there's one thing. We wouldn't mind finding a dozen or so of these incredible Chocolate Seltzer Cupcakes—which helped propel winner Doron Petersan from Sticky Fingers Bakery to victory—at our desks.

Winning Chocolate Seltzer Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

What You Need:

1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup seltzer
1/4 cup coffee, brewed strong and cooled
1/3 cup oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon vinegar

Chocolate Ganache (see recipe)
Banana Frosting (see recipe)
Caramelized Bananas (see recipe)

What You Do:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with 12 cupcake liners. In a medium-size bowl, sift sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set bowl aside.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together seltzer, coffee, oil, vanilla, and vinegar. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk until incorporated, without overmixing batter.

3. Fill cupcake liners ¾ full and bake for 19 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into each cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely.

4. Dip the tops of each cupcake into ganache so entire cupcake top is covered. Set aside for 10 minutes to allow ganache to set. Pipe a dollop of banana frosting on top of each cupcake and garnish top with two slices of caramelized bananas.