Every now and then I get the urge to bake up some Vegan goodies and last week the idea of making some Oreo inspired cupcakes came to mind. I don't think of myself as being an amazing baker and it's definitely something I have to be in the mood for. I especially like baking when I have an event coming up and where I can share my creations with others. This is great because not only can I showcase how amazing Vegan cakes can taste, but it also means I am not left with 20 cakes in my house waiting to be eaten!
My Vegan chocolate Oreo cupcakes are a combination of a couple of recipes and my own ideas.
I don't often list recipes on my blog but I have had a lot of requests for this one so here goes!
Ingredients you will need for the chocolate sponge cake:
230ml soya milk
1 tsp vinegar
140g caster sugar
90ml vegetable oil
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
125g plain flour
45g cocoa powder
3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
* Recipe taken from The Vegan Society website.
Preheat your oven to 180C / gas mark 4 and prepare some cupcake cases onto a tray.
Whisk together soya milk & vinegar in a bowl and set aside for a few minutes to curdle.
Add sugar, oil & vanilla extract and then beat until foamy.
In a separate bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt.
Add in two batches of wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few small lumps are ok).
Pour your mixture into your cupcake liners about three quarters of the way deep and bake for 18 - 20 minutes.
Once you feel your cupcakes may be ready insert a toothpick into the cake and ensure that it comes away clean before removing from the oven.
Transfer your cakes to a cooling rack and allow to completely cool down before icing.
Depending on how your cakes come out of the oven you may like to cut the tops of the cakes off so that you have a flat surface to ice on. As you can see some of mine were a bit lop sided but I didn't want to cut any of the cake away as they were quite small already.
Ingredients you will need for the chocolate 'butter' icing:
75g dairy free margarine
75g vegetable fat / shortening
650g icing sugar
100g cocoa powder
80-100ml of soya milk
1tbsp vanilla extract
* Recipe from the Miss Cupcake Vegan Cakes book
Using a hand held mixer, mix together the margarine, vegetable fat and the vanilla until creamy (about 30 seconds). Add half the icing sugar, all of the cocoa powder and milk and continue mixing, slowly at first and then bringing up to speed until combined. Add the rest of the icing sugar and mix for about a minute until you have a smooth consistency.
If the icing is too firm then add in more milk. If it's too soft then add in more icing sugar.
Once your icing mixture is ready and your cakes have cooled down, it's time to get icing!
I like to use a piping bag when icing cakes but I also find that spreading the icing on with a spatula type utensil is also great and gives your cakes more of a 'frosty' look.
And don't forget your final touches - the all important Oreo cookies!
I cut each one in half and gently pressed into the tops of the cakes.
I have to say that I am really pleased with how these turned out, especially as I had never made any before. They tasted divine! I shared them with my friends on Friday night and they went down a storm! Many couldn't believe that they were Vegan and contained absolutely no dairy which I love because it goes to show that you really don't need any animal ingredients to make great tasting cakes.
These look so so tasty! and boy oh boy do I need to buy myself a piping bag, your cupcakes look so professional :)
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