Christmas Candy Cane Cupcakes by "G"

Unfortunately I haven't had time to cook and post Christmas recipes like I would have liked to but I will be taking photos and posting the recipes for what I cook for our Christmas feast unfortunately they wont be posted until after Christmas. I promise to do a Christmas special next year though and show you a whole heap of ideas leading up to Christmas. But for now to fill the void I have this amazing cupcake recipe from our resident photographer, none of this would be as good as it is without her photos, the beautiful "G".


So without further ado, if you want to do something different for a Christmas desert or you just want something yummy to snack on ;) give these Candy Cane Cupcakes a whirl!!!

This is a cupcake that I came up with for the festive season.

Its largely based on recipes from the book 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World' by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero – which I highly recommend to any Vegan Cupcake enthusiasts. If you have the book, its your basic cupcake recipe and the cream cheese frosting recipe with some additions and changes.

The Cup Cake base

Ingredients;

I like to use organic and raw ingredients where possible

1 cup of soy milk

I tsp apple cider vinegar

¾ cup granulated sugar

1/3 oil(I recommend coconut oil, and if solidified, soak the container in hot water til it melts).

1 tsp vanilla extract(if you can find a good quality organic variety, results are always better).

½ tsp chocolate or peppermint essence/essential oil. Depends if you want to have a more overall peppermint cupcake or a distinct difference taste between cupcake and frosting (the essential oil gives a stronger peppermint taste so I prefer to use it – just make sure its suitable for consumption, such as 'Young Living')

1/3 cup of cocoa, you can also use raw cacao. With the cocoa, make sure it is a good quality rich variety such as dutch pressed, its harder to find but the chocolate cupcake comes out richer.

I cup of plain flour

¾ tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

Method;

-Pre-heat oven to 180 Celsius and line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners. I used free standing ones for this and sat them on a tray, they will however, naturally miss-shape slightly when you add the batter

-Whisk soy milk and vinegar in a medium side bowl, til it becomes light and fluffy.

-After a few minutes, add the rest of the wet ingredients and the sugar. Keep whisking til completely mixed.

-In a separate bowl, sift together all the remaining dry ingredients til completely mixed.

-Add gradually to wet ingredients, mixing as you go. Make sure no dry spots remain, but don’t over mix the mixture.

-Pour the mixture into cupcake liners, about 2/3 full. I use an ice-cream scoop to deposit the mixture into the liners(the ones with the release mechanism are best and less messy.)

-Bake for 18-22mins, check with a cake skewer if ready.

Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients;

¼ cup vegan margarine such as Nuttelex or Melrose Omega spread

¼ cup vegan cream cheese(I found Tofutti Cream Cheese is the best to use)

2 cups icing sugar, sifted if you are going to use pure.

1 tsp peppermint essence or essential oil.

Method;

-Cream margarine and cream cheese til soft and fluffy with a electric hand beater

-Add the sugar in ½ cup batches as you continue to beat.

-Finally, add the peppermint in ¼ tsp batches, adding more or subtracting some to your own taste.

-Cool in fridge til ready, or spoon into your piping tool of choice. I recommend a 13 star or round tip to give a bigger swirl.

*Tip, if you have nothing to use, an A4 plastic sleeve works well, just spoon mixture into one corner to form a cone, and cut hole at corner to suit.

Candy-Cane Topping

You will need approx 4-6 larger candy canes *check ingredients to make sure they are vegan(some colours use crushed beetles).

Crush the candy canes to form crumbs, I use a mortar and pestle, but a small nut mixer or similar would work better. How fine or chunky you make them is up to you, however, I have found that the larger pieces don’t work as the rest of the cupcake will be soft in comparison. I like to crush them to the point where you can still see some detail but the crumbs are still fine and even.

Assembly

Once cupcakes are cooled, pipe frosting onto them in a swirly, fashion – think like what soft serve ice creams look like.

Sprinkle the crushed candy canes on the frosting

You could also finely grind up some candy canes to a fine consistency resembling raw sugar and add one mini candy cane on top as a garnish.

Enjoy!

P.s Re-refrigerate til ready to eat.