Strawberries and cream cupcakes (Vegan)

Makes 12 cupcakes

Strawberries and cream cupcakes (Vegan)

Pretty in pink!
These cupcakes are just delightful; a joy to make and almost too pretty to eat!
Don’t worry, I somehow managed to eat them 😀

The inspiration for these cupcakes was my birthday. Who says it has to be birthday cake? It’s my birthday and I’ll have cupcakes if I want to 😊
I was also pretty sure strawberries and cream would be a hit with my friends (of course they were!). The secret for packing in loads of flavour and for the pink colour is using freeze dried strawberries powder in the no-butter cream. A game changer.  

So if you are planning a garden party, a tea party or just want a sweet treat, give them a go.
Remember to tag @apinchofzing on Instagram if you make these beauties.  

Cupcake ingredients
1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon cider vinegar or lemon juice
2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup sugar
a pinch of salt
1 cup chopped strawberries
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons rapeseed oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

No-butter cream ingredients
100g vegan spread
150g icing sugar (sifted)
2 teaspoons freeze dried strawberries powder (sifted)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 190C. Line a cupcake baking tray with cupcake cases.
2. Heat up the soy milk for 30 seconds in the microwave and add the cider vinegar. Leave to curdle and move to the next step.
3. In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt). Mix in the chopped strawberries.
4. Add in the wet ingredients (curdled milk, oil and vanilla extract) and gently mix together, trying not to break the fruit. Don’t overmix.
5. Place a large tablespoon of the mixture to each cupcake case and split any excess left between them.
6. Bake for 20 minutes. Leave the cupcakes to cool down completely before decorating with no-butter cream.  
7. To make the no-butter cream, use a stand mixer to cream the vegan spread with sifted icing sugar, sifted freeze dried strawberries powder and vanilla extract. Mix until pale and fluffy (about 5 minutes on high speed). Add more freeze dried strawberry powder if you like.
8. Pipe the strawberry cream on top of the cupcakes and enjoy.

Pumpkin cake with Chai buttercream (Vegan)

Makes 10 servings

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  Pumpkin cake with Chai buttercream

This is what I think autumn tastes like: sweet pumpkin and Chai spices!
With autumn here, I get a bit overwhelmed by the amount of pumpkin recipes popping up everywhere I look, making it hard for me to choose one to bake. Therefore, I started simple using inspiration from two reliable sources: Nora cooks vegan and Sally’s baking addiction.  The result was delicious! So if you are looking for a pumpkin recipe to start with, go with this one. Embrace autumn!
What other pumpkin baked goods have you made successfully and would recommend?

Ingredients

Pumpkin cake
1 tablespoon ground flax seed or chia seed
1 can pumpkin puree (425g)
1 and ¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup rapeseed oil
¼ cup soy milk
1 and ¾ cup plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Chai spice mix
2 and ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 and ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1 and ¼ teaspoon ground cardamon
½ teaspoon ground all spice

Chai no-butter cream
100g Flora buttery
150g icing sugar (sifted)
1 teaspoon Chai spice mix
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method 
1. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Line a 2 lb loaf tin with Flora and coat in flour.
2. In a small bowl, mix the ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons of water and leave to set.
3. In a large bowl mix the pumpkin puree, sugar, oil, soy milk and flaxseed mix.
4. Add and mix in the four, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and spices. Do not over mix.
5. Pour the batter in the loaf tin and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. You may have to cover the cake with aluminium foil after 30 minutes, to prevent it from burning on top.
6. Once baked, remove from the cake tin and leave to cool down.
7. Mix the Chai spice ingredients in small bowl or jar.
8. To make the no-butter cream, use a stand mixer to cream the Flora with sifted icing sugar, 1 teaspoon Chai spice mix and vanilla extract. Mix until pale and fluffy (about 5 minutes on high speed).
9. Pipe the Chai butter cream on top of the cold pumpkin cake and enjoy with a warm cup of coffee.

Pumpkin cake with Chai buttercream (Vegan)

Lemon and blueberry scones (vegan)

Makes 8 scones

The taste of summer: lemon and blueberry scones.
Delicious, moist and bursting with flavour!

My go to scones are the traditional English scones, which are just amazing with clotted cream and strawberry jam.
However, this year’s beautiful summer inspired me to make the scones playful, with fresh blueberries and zesty lemon. I also went for a different shape, inspired by the American style scones.
Topped with blueberry and lemon glaze for extra zing!
Top tip for the blueberry glaze: if you don’t happen to have freeze dried blueberry powder laying around, crush some fresh blueberries and use the blueberry juice instead of the lemon juice. That will give the glaze the lovely purple colour.

Have fun making these scones and enjoy them with a nice cup of tea 🙂

Ingredients

Scones
175ml soy milk + a splash for glazing
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
350g self raising flour + a handful for rolling
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 lemon (zest)
85g Flora spread
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup blueberries

Lemon glaze
50 icing sugar (sifted)
4-5 teaspoons lemon juice

Blueberry glaze
50 icing sugar (sifted)
4-5 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon freeze dried blueberry powder

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Heat up the milk for 30 seconds in the microwave. Add the cider vinegar and vanilla extract. Leave to curdle and move to the next step.
3. In a large bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the Flora spread with a teaspoon to break it down into smaller chunks. Rub in with your fingers until the mixture looks like fine crumbs. Stir in the sugar and lemon zest. Pour in the milk and mix with a knife until it all comes together. Yes, a mix with a knife, trust me.
4. Scatter flour on a work surface, tip the dough and fold in the blueberries. Fold 2-3 times until the dough comes together. Don’t overwork the dough. Roll the dough into a circle, about 4cm deep. Cut it like a pizza, in 8 triangles, using a knife dipped in flour.
5. Place the scones on the baking tray, brush the tops with soy milk and bake for 10 minutes.
6. To make the lemon and raspberry glaze, mix the ingredients in a small bowl. Drizzle over the cool scones and decorate with more blueberries and lemon zest. Enjoy with a cuppa!

Lemon and blueberry scones (vegan)

Carrot Cake (Vegan)

Makes 8-10 servings

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The best carrot cake! Filled with sugar and spice, and all things nice.

You can tell this cake is special only by looking the ingredient list. It took some testing to get right, but it was worth it. The result is a surprisingly light and moist carrot cake.
My inspiration came from my indecision; I couldn’t decide between hummingbird cake and carrot cake. Why compromise when you can have the best of both worlds?

This carrot cake packs a lot of flavour and is perfect with a cup of tea. The recipe makes two sponges, which you can stack together to make a big cake, or you can keep them as two separate cakes. I’ve included photos of both options.

Give this a go and let me know what you think. Have you ever had a better carrot cake?

Ingredients
Carrot cake
250g carrots (finely grated)
2 pineapple rings (chopped)
70g walnuts (chopped)
1 orange (zest only)
2 tablespoons crystallised ginger (optional)
125ml oil
100g caster sugar
50g brown sugar
300ml plant milk
2 tsp vanilla essence
375g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp all spice
a pinch of salt

No-butter cream
100g Flora buttery
150g icing sugar (sifted)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease with Flora, and coat in flour, two 20cm round cake tins.
2. Prep work: peel and finely grate the carrots; chop the pineapple rings; chop the walnuts; zest an orange; soak the crystallised ginger in hot water.
3. In a large bowl mix the oil, caster sugar, brown sugar, plant milk and vanilla essence.
4. Sift in the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and spices. Mix until combined.
5. Stir in the grated carrot, chopped pineapple & walnuts, the zest from one orange, crystallised ginger and a pinch of salt.
6. Divide the batter between the two cake tins and bake for 25-30 minutes. Check with a toothpick, as every oven is different. Once baked, remove the sponges from the cake tins and leave to cool down completely.
7. To make the no-butter cream, use a stand mixer to cream the Flora with sifted icing sugar and vanilla extract. Mix until pale and fluffy (about 5 minutes on high speed).
8. To assemble the cake: pipe some no-butter cream on one sponge and place the second sponge on top. Decorate with more butter cream. Enjoy a big slice with a cup of tea!

Thanks for the recipe inspiration go to Veggie Desserts.

Black Forest Cake (Vegan)

Makes 10 servings

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Chocolate, cherries and cream – heaven!
Don’t know about you, but I can’t think of many combinations better than this one.

The black forest cake is one of my favourite cakes and surprisingly easy to make. It’s as simple as chocolate sponge, chocolate cream, butter cream, cherries and cherry syrup.
Every element is quick and easy to make with basic ingredients.
The chocolate cream is a game changer; you won’t believe how delicious whipped chocolate ganache can be! And now you know how to make the most amazing chocolate cream for any cake in just 5 minutes.
For the Black Forest cake you can use fresh cherries, cherries in syrup or cherry jam. I’ve used fresh cherries on this occasion because they are in season.
I’ve left the best news for last! You will end up having leftover ingredients to make yourself a little cake to test before serving this to your guests. You know…for quality testing 😊
The chocolate sponges turn out quite domed, so you will need to cut the top off to level them; use that extra sponge for your mini cake. There’s also going to be some leftover cream; just enough for you to build your mini cake. Remember to save yourself some cherries and syrup for that as well.
Enjoy a real treat with your loved ones. No one will believe this is vegan!

Ingredients

Chocolate sponge
1 tablespoon Flora buttery and 1 tablespoon flour to coat the cake tins
1 and ½ cup soy milk
2 teaspoon cider vinegar or lemon juice
2 & 2/3 cups plain flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup sugar
a pinch of salt
½ cup rapeseed oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate cream
200g dark chocolate
200ml coconut milk (from a can)

Buttercream
100g Flora buttery
150g icing sugar (sifted)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Syrup
50ml cherry brandy
75ml cherry syrup (from a jar of cherries in syrup)

Other ingredients
200g cherries or cherry jam

Method

Chocolate sponge
1.Preheat the oven to 190C. Grease with Flora buttery and coat in flour, two 20cm round cake tins.
2. Heat up the milk for 30 seconds in the microwave and add the cider vinegar. Leave to curdle and move to the next step.
3. In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt).
4. Add in the wet ingredients (curdled milk, oil and vanilla) and mix together until combined.
5. Split the mixture between the two cake tins.
6. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to sit in the cake tins for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove from the cake tins and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Chocolate cream
1. Use a microwave safe medium size bowl. Break the chocolate into chunks and add it to the bowl with the coconut milk. Heat in the microwave for 30 second intervals and mix with a spoon after every 30 seconds, until melted and combined. It took me about 3-4 30 second intervals. Do not over heat the mixture as the chocolate could burn and that will ruin the cream.
2. Leave the resulting chocolate ganache to cool down completely and set. You could also place it in the fridge to speed up the process.
3. Use a hand/stand mixer to whip the chocolate ganache until it becomes fluffy and light (2-3 minutes).

Buttercream
Sift the icing sugar. Use a hand/stand mixer to cream the Flora buttery with sifted icing sugar and vanilla extract. Mix until pale and fluffy (about 5 minutes on high speed).

Syrup
Mix the cherry brandy and cherry syrup in a jug.

Assembling the cake
1. Remove the pips from 2/3^rd of the cherries. Keep the rest of the cherries whole for decoration.
2. Level the sponges by cutting off the domes with a sharp knife. Keep the leftovers for a mini test cake.
3. Put each cream in its own piping bag.
4. Place one chocolate sponge on a plate. Soak the sponge with half of the syrup. Pipe chocolate and butter cream alternating. Top with most of the pitted cherries and keep a few cherries for decoration. Place the second chocolate sponge on top. Soak the sponge with the rest of the syrup. Pipe chocolate and butter cream alternating. Decorate with more cherries. Place the cake in the fridge and remove a couple of hours before serving to bring it to room temperature.
5. Use the leftover sponge, creams and cherries to make yourself a mini cake (for quality testing purposes). You’ve earned it for baking such a wonderful cake for your loved ones 🙂

Vegan lemon and blueberry muffins

Makes 12 muffins

These are the fluffiest most delicious muffins!
The secret to fluffy muffins is the curdled milk, also known as buttermilk.
Very easy to make, the muffins were baked under my cat’s strict supervision. I had to move fast, as he was very keen to get involved.

The muffins are incredibly fluffy and full of flavour, but also very versatile.
I love the juicy blueberries and the hint of lemon.
What makes these muffins truly special is a teaspoon of lose Lady Grey tea; it elevates the humble muffins and gives them a delicate fragrant flavour of orange, bergamot and lemon. Another great alternative is replacing the Lady Grey tea with poppy seeds.

The options are endless, you can experiment with other fruit and toppings.
In my book, muffins covered with butter cream turn into cupcakes!

The only downside is that I can’t stop making these delicious muffins now!
I hope you enjoy them as much as we do 😊

Ingredients

1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon cider vinegar or lemon juice
2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup sugar
a pinch of salt
zest from one lemon
1 teaspoon Lady Grey loose tea or poppy seeds (optional)
½ cup blueberries
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons rapeseed oil
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon lemon extract

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 190C. Line a muffin baking tray with muffin cases.
2. Heat up the milk for 30 seconds in the microwave and add the cider vinegar. Leave to curdle and move to the next step.
3. In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, lemon zest, loose tea). Mix in the blueberries.
4. Add in the wet ingredients (curdled milk, oil, vanilla and lemon extract) and gently mix together, trying not to break the fruit.
5. Place a large tablespoon of the mixture to each muffin case and split any excess left between them.
6. Bake for 20 minutes and enjoy hot or cold. The muffins stay fresh for a few days in an air tight container.

Thanks for the recipe inspiration go to No Whey Plymouth.

Vegan blueberry muffins

Cream tea with vegan scones

Makes 8 scones

Vegan Cream Tea

I don’t know if it’s the lock down, or the limited availability of vegan scones in general, but here I am having to make my own.

Traditionally a speciality of Devon and Cornwall, cream teas are delightful in any part of the world. I remember how glad I was to discover that Cream Tea is not literally cream with tea; it took me long enough to get used to having milk in my tea! Therefore, I feel I must clarify, cream tea is an afternoon snack consisting of scones, clotted cream and jam, with a cup of tea.

The recipe below will teach you how to make vegan scones and a vegan clotted cream alternative.
I found scones to be surprisingly easy to make, so don’t hesitate to give it a go yourself.
To keep it simple, I stated with the classic scone recipe form BBC Good Food and swapped the milk and butter for vegan alternatives. Successfully veganised!

The clotted cream alternative is my own interpretation of clotted cream. While most clotted cream alternatives I came across use coconut cream, I chose to use Flora spread because once whipped, the consistency and taste are more similar to clotted cream (in my view of course).
While clotted cream is not made with added sugar, I found that it is necessary to add some sugar to the Flora spread because otherwise it tasted too salty.

When you eventually get to enjoy your cream tea, it is customary to start a debate about which goes on first, the cream or the jam?
In Devon, the scones are split in two and topped with cream followed by jam. In Cornwall, the split scones are topped with jam and then cream.
Which way do you like your cream tea?

Ingredients

Scones
175ml soy milk + a splash for glazing
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
350g self raising flour + a handful for rolling
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
85g Flora spread
3 tablespoons sugar

Clotted cream
100g Flora spread
1 teaspoon icing sugar

Strawberry jam – shop bought

Method
Scones
1. Preheat the oven to 220C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Heat up the milk for 30 seconds in the microwave. Add the cider vinegar and vanilla extract. Leave to curdle and move to the next step.
3. In a large bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the Flora spread with a teaspoon to break it down into smaller chunks. Rub in with your fingers until the mixture looks like fine crumbs. Stir in the sugar. Pour in the milk and mix with a knife until it all comes together. Yes, a mix with a knife, I think it’s odd, but I’m not a pastry chef.
4. Scatter flour on a work surface, tip the dough and fold 2-3 times until it becomes a bit smoother. Don’t overwork the dough. Roll the dough into a 4cm deep rectangle and cut 8 circles using the rim of a glass dipped in flour. Shape the leftover dough into a ball to make an extra scone.
5. Place the scones on the baking tray, brush the tops with soy milk and bake for 10 minutes.

Clotted cream
To make the clotted cream, use a stand mixer to cream the Flora with the sifted icing sugar until pale and fluffy (about 5 minutes on high speed).

Enjoy the scones with clotted cream, jam and a cup of tea! Remember to try settle the debate about which goes on first, the cream or the jam?

Thanks for the recipe inspiration go to BBC Good Food.

Vegan Lemon and Blueberry Cake

Makes 8-10 servings

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Fluffy cake, vanilla no-butter cream with zingy lemon curd and fresh blueberries for a pinch of zing! Also meet Beer the cat!

This time I am not only sharing the lovely birthday cake my husband made for me, but also introducing our recently adopted boy, Beer. Beer is a rescue cat we adopted the day before the lock down started. He is always keen to try our bakes 😊

This year I had a quarantine birthday; a bit unusual. So unusual that my husband baked for me this amazing birthday cake!
The sponge is my Victoria sponge recipe with added lemon zest and extract to make it lemony. The vanilla butter cream is again the same that I use in the Victoria sponge. Both made with Flora buttery.
It was my husband’s first attempt at making lemon curd. Really worth making your own lemon curd; it’s very easy to make and tastes delicious.
Combine lemon and blueberries and you are on to a winner!

The cake is incredibly fluffy and moist, and stays like this for days.
I usually make the sponge and lemon curd the day before serving the cake (to allow it to cool down completely) and make the no-butter cream on the day I plan to serve the cake.

I hope this cake makes you feel like it’s your birthday!

Ingredients

Lemon sponge
200g Flora buttery
250g sugar
200g plant yogurt (I used Alpro simply plain)
200ml plant milk (I used soy milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
zest from one lemon
400g self-raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Lemon curd
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon corn flour
1/2 cup soy milk
¼ cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
zest from one lemon
a pinch of turmeric for colour

No-butter cream
100g Flora buttery
150g icing sugar (sifted)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Blueberries – 150g

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease with Flora, and coat in flour, two 20cm round cake tins.
2. Use a stand mixer to cream the Flora and sugar until pale and fluffy (about 5 minutes on high speed).
3. Mix in the plant yogurt, milk, vanilla & lemon extract and lemon zest until combined (don’t overmix). Don’t panic if the mixture curdles at this point, it will turn out perfect once baked.
4. Sift the flour and baking powder and add to the mixing bowl. Mix just until combined, without overmixing.
5. Divide the batter between the two cake tins and bake for about 30 minutes. Check with a toothpick, as every oven is different. Once baked, remove the sponges from the cake tins and leave to cool down completely.
6. To make the lemon curd, use a small pot. Mix the sugar and corn flour; this will prevent any flour lumps from forming when cooking the curd. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on low heat, while constantly whisking, until the curd thickens. Should take about 5 minutes for the curd to thicken. The curd will thicken more as it cools down. Leave to cool.
7. To make the no-butter cream, use a stand mixer to cream the Flora with sifted icing sugar and vanilla extract. Mix until pale and fluffy (about 5 minutes on high speed).
8. To assemble the cake: spread some of the no-butter cream on one sponge, top with some blueberries and lemon curd. Place the second sponge on top. Decorate with more butter cream, lemon curd and blueberries. Enjoy the birthday feeling!