The ladies of the Post Punk Kitchen intend to knock the Food Network of its pedastal and be crowned the reigning queens of the kitchen. Or not. They do however love to cook up creative vegan recipes in their Brooklyn kitchen and record them for your viewing pleasure.

In the first episode of the Post Punk Kitchen, Isa Moskowitz, author of Vegan With a Vengeance and her culinary collaborator Terry Romero, whip up some vegan sushi, including cucumber rolls, sweet potato rolls and spicy tempeh rolls. After sushi, it's time for some dessert, specifically vegan chocolate-orange cupcakes that pack some extra punch with the assistance of an old friend named Grand Marnier.

The recipes from the Post Punk Kitchen show that following a vegan diet doesn't mean one is sentenced to life eating plain tofu and raw carrots. See the recipe for the Chocolate-Orange Cupcakes below and then click here to watch the entire first episode, which includes video instruction for the aforementioned sushi and cupcakes. You can also hit the jump to vist the PPK website for more great recipes!

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa (like Droste)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier
2 oz semi sweet chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon finely grated orange peel

Directions
Melt the chocolate in the microwave (1 minutes high heat) or my preferred way - a makeshift double broiler (boil some water in a small sauce pot, put a small saute pan over the sauce pot, lower heat, add chocolate, stir occasionally with a plastic spatula until melted ), let cool.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa, set aside.

Whisk together wet ingredients (oil through Grand Marnier) until foamy, add orange peel. Add wet ingredients to dry and combine. Fold in melted chocolate.

Line 16 (or possibly more) muffin tins with cupcake liner. Pour batter in, filling cup 3/4 of the way.

Bake at 350 20-25 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Simple icing: Equal parts soybean margarine, vegetable shortening and confectioners sugar (For this recipe 1/2 cup of each should suffice). Grated orange zest to taste. Cream everything well with a soft spatula.

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