Lifestyle,  Recipes

Easy Vegan Cupcakes

Today’s post is coming to you from the lovely Gemma from Mummy’s Waisted blog. Luke and I love cooking and baking together, but as Luke has no food allergies, we have never really ventured into the world of vegan or gluten free recipes. Gemma has put together the perfect Vegan Cupcake recipe that’s great to make with children and ensures that even those children with food allergies do not have to miss out on all the fun!

Easy vegan cupcake recipe at https://lukeosaurusandme.co.uk Great for baking with children who have food allergies!

It is estimated that 5-8% of children in the UK have a food allergy, not including those with food intolerances. Whilst there are a wide range of Free From products available, these are often very expensive and children can feel isolated when they have to have something ‘different’. I suffered from a dairy intolerance as a child (when Free From hadn’t yet taken off) and I often remember being sent to parties with ‘special food’. There is a child in my son’s class with a dairy and egg intolerance, and it prompted me to find a recipe that could be enjoyed by all of the children together.

I’ve seen great success with a basic vegan chocolate cupcake recipe from the Vegan Society, with my kids (and husband) not noticing any difference. So I thought I would try to channel my inner Mary Berry and adapt it to different flavours.  My experiments were successful eventually, and I have come up with a basic recipe which you can then add whatever flavouring or ingredient you choose. It’s a great recipe for baking with your children, as there’s not many ingredients and you can’t overmix it! I made some with my 2.5 year old daughter and she loved stirring the liquid and dry textures (plus tasting the finished products!)

Easy vegan cupcake recipe at https://lukeosaurusandme.co.uk Great for baking with children who have food allergies!

Easy vegan cupcake recipe at https://lukeosaurusandme.co.uk Great for baking with children who have food allergies!

A few tips specific to this recipe:

  • The ‘batter’ is very runny, this is to be expected but it means you do need to take care with getting the mixture into the cases!
  • You will need a mixing bowl, plus an extra bowl for the dry ingredients, a measuring jug and a whisk for stirring
  • If you do add in additional ingredients, try not to add anything which is too ‘wet’ as this makes the cakes very sticky. Dried fruit and chunks of chocolate are perfect. I used apple and sultana, but found that apple puree made for a better texture overall. I also include a sprinkle of mixed spice.
  • You could switch the plain flour for gluten free and the caster sugar for granulated sweetener, but make sure you follow the conversion guidelines on the packet carefully!

The Recipe

250ml soya milk

1 tsp vinegar

130g plain flour

7g bicarbonate of soda

5g baking powder

130g caster sugar

80ml vegetable oil

Optional – 300g ingredients of your choice (dried fruit for example)

  • This recipe will make 12 cakes if you include the extra ingredients, 8 cakes if not.
  • Preheat the oven to 170 fan / 180c / gas mark 6
  • In the main mixing bowl, measure out the soya milk and add the vinegar to it. Mix gently and leave for a few minutes for the milk to curdle.
  • In the other bowl, measure out the plain flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. You can sift the ingredients at this stage, but it is not essential (you could break up any big lumps with a fork).
  • Add the caster sugar and oil to the soya milk bowl and whisk until the liquid is combined and foaming. Add the dry ingredients into the liquid in two batches, and whisk until you get a smooth batter. Try to whisk out any large lumps, tiny ones are fine.
  • At this stage, you can add the extra ingredients into the batter or save it to decorate the tops after you have filled the cake cases.
  • Fill the cake cases (to about 0.5cm from the top) and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. The cakes will be fairly firm to the touch.

Gemma is a mum to two children and has recently changed career from accountancy to internet marketing. She runs Waist Trainer UK and writes a blog as Mummy’s Waisted, which features healthy living and family life.

Blog: www.mummyswaisted.co.uk

Twitter: www.twitter.com/mummys_waisted @mummys_waisted

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mummyswaisted @mummyswaisted

[et_bloom_inline optin_id=optin_5]

Rachael is a 31 year old mum to 10 year old Luke and 5 year old Oscar. She lives in England and writes about family life, crafts, recipes, parenting wins(and fails), as well as travel, days out, fashion and living the frugal lifestyle.

20 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

*Some links on this blog may be affiliate links. Lukeosaurus And Me is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk