Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my babies, Quarrian born 28th of May 2007 and Aralia Rose born 27th of May 2009. This is the first of many birthdays they will have together. My two litte jamosie rugrats. We all love you. xox 

Maple Pecan Cupcakes with Maple Frosting

This is my favourite cupcake...and it must be this egg and dairy free recipe. If you are not keen on 'vegan' cupcakes, never fear.... this one is delicious. Full of flavour, no eggy taste, not at all dry.  Excellent egg free recipe. 

   

Cupcakes

1/2 cup soy milk (or any substitute)

1/2 tsp vinegar 

1 1/3 cups self raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 Tbs brown sugar

candied pecans (to cut down on sugar, just add normal pecans)

Maple Frosting

3 tbs maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla essence

1-2 tbs vegetable margarine 

2 cups icing sugar 

To candy the pecans 

1. Chop a cup of pecan nuts and lay them on grease proof paper.

2. Take 1/3 cup white sugar and put in in a heavy based pan. Add 3 Tbs of maple syrup and a pinch of salt. Melt the sugar down and once the crystals have dissolved, let it boil for about 3 mins exactly. Watch it like a hawk because there is just a few seconds between it caramelising and burning and burnt sugar is like burnt rice. NOT good.

3. Pour evenly over the pecans and set aside to cool and set.

Make the cupcakes

4. In a bowl, add soy milk, vinegar, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, oil, maple syrup, brown sugar and mix together. 5. Add the flour and mix until there are no lumps. Then break up the candy pecans with the end of a rolling pin until they are in small pieces. Add them to the mixture.

6. Spoon mixture into cupcake cases about 3/4 full. Bake in preheated oven on about 180 degrees Celsius for about 15 mins. Test middle with a skewer before taking out.

Frosting

7. Beat all the ingredients for the icing together until thick and creamy. If too runny, add more icing sugar, If too thick, add a little water.

8. When cupcakes are cool, ice with maple vanilla icing. decorate with pecans, sprinkles, whatever you like. Or for a healthy take, just leave the icing off. Great for snacks and lunches.

Iron cupcake: London Baby!!

This is me and Marcus and Melissa (mscupcake.co.uk) at the London Iron Cupcake Challenge. I met Melissa at the Greenwich markets, she makes all her cupcakes without eggs and dairy. They are so delicious, I don't know how she does it! And they all look so cute!

You can read the Official write-up about the iron cupcake on Sam's blog 'the caked crusader'.  The iron cupcake competition is such a cool idea. The night was so much fun. So many yummy cupcakes and so many cool people!