I got an invite to a friends engagement party and was wondering what kind of gift I should buy for them. I spoke to friend who is also going to the engagement party and she said she was thinking about making some cupcakes for them. She asked me why I was not doing some as I’m the baker in our friend group but my friend whose engagement party it is, is vegan and I have never made vegan cupcakes before so I was a bit apprehensive until my friend suggested that we make them together.
So, this recipe has a few items that I have never brought so I did wonder where I could find them. Luckily, I could get the free-egg mayonnaise at Tesco in the Free From isle as well as the vegan margarine.
Vegan Banana Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 240 g self-raising flour
- 140 g golden caster sugar
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 240 g egg-free mayonnaise
- 2 large bananas mashed
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Buttercream
- 80 g vegan margarine
- 250 g icing sugar
- 25 ml almond milk
- 2 tbsp smooth peanut butter
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Heat oven to 170C/150C fan/gas mark 3. Line muffin tins with 16 cases.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, 1⁄2 tsp salt and bicarbonate of soda. In another bowl mix the mayonnaise, mashed bananas and vanilla extract.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with a spoon until just combined (don’t overmix or your cupcakes will be heavy). Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake for 20 mins.
- Leave in the tray for 5 minutes then move to a cooling rack.
Buttercream
- For the icing, combine the vegan margarine and icing sugar in an electric mixer, then add the vegan milk and continue to mix on a slow speed until completely combined. Turn the mixer up and combine for a further 3 mins.
- Finally, stir in the peanut butter. Pipe or simply spread the icing on top of the cakes. Store in an airtight container and eat within 2 days.
- For the fondant (optional). Use white ready to roll fondant icing then add whatever colour food colour gel you would like then fold the fondant over and work until the fondant is the colour you would like it to be. Then use cutters to get your decorations then add to the top of the cakes.
My friend really loved these and actually said this was the nicest gift she got. As it was something different and personal for them. They turned out amazingly and super surprised as the consistancy of these cupcakes given that it is not a usual cupcake recipe. She also loved them as her mum had made just a regular cake for the engagement party which was not vegan friendly so she could was happy as she could still have some cake.
The fondant spells out Mr and Mrs to be. Me and my friend wanted to do an engagement still topping and what better way then to use fondant.
