Raspberry and Lemon Coconut Cream Vegan Cupcakes

Okay, so I'm back making more cupcakes and trying out some recipes for spring. If you've been here since my Christmas Eve baking marathon, you'll know that I can be a bit overly fond of spending tons and tons of time on things (it was over six hours of baking if you really wanted to know). If you want to remind yourself of our awesome Christmas flavours then you can click the link below (and also read about my situation of dancing around the kitchen covered in flour whilst the 80s radio station played in the background)...

But sometimes, you don't have time for all of that. Sometimes you need to get things ready in under 2 hours and so, here's a cupcake recipe for if you're in a bit of a rush. I call this a 'throw it in' style. Not very intricate, but filled with flavour, packs a punch and goes lovely with whatever you're doing this spring during those nice sunny days.

(It actually started to rain whilst I was baking, but that did not kill the vibe. It's always raining in England in some form).

Part 1: The Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 110g Vegan Butter
• 110g Light Brown Sugar
• 1.5x Tbsp Apple Sauce
• 1x Tbsp Vanilla Essence
• 1x Lemon
• 10x Fresh Raspberries
• 120g Self Raising Flour
• 1/2x Tsp Baking Powder

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Note: here we use apple sauce instead of vinegar and baking soda because we want a denser hold (note 2: apple sauce/baking soda & vinegar are meant to replace eggs so that you can have a vegan cake).

Remember, the raspberries are going to release a lot of water as they start to cook in the cake batter. You want to make sure that cake batter is nice and sturdy. So, we add more flour and we use apple sauce to create a sponge-like effect.

Vinegar and baking soda leaves us with a cake that is far too light and airy - the raspberries, once mashed, will cause the cake batter to stay raw in places. We don't want that.

Another alternative to use could be a mashed banana mixed with a tablespoon of greek yogurt. But be careful, the banana can add a strong taste so make sure to adjust the recipe accordingly if you choose this rather obscure method.

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How To:

1. Preheat your oven to 200/C and line a cupcake tin with 12 cases
2. Cream together your butter, sugar and vanilla to begin with until the mixture is slightly beige and smooth
3. Add your apple sauce and keep whisking until smooth. You want to get all the apple sauce lumps out
4. Zest your lemon and mash up your raspberries and mix them together in a bowl
5. Sieve out the mixture of the juices and add this to your butter, sugar and apple sauce mix in the main bowl
6. Whisk this up until it is smooth and the only things that are visible are pieces of raspberry and lemon zest
7. Add your self raising flour and baking powder and mix this up again until the mixture is a smooth cake batter
8. Spoon this mixture across 12 cupcake cases and place the tray in the oven for around 18-20 minutes
9. When out of the oven, take the cupcakes from the tray and place on a cool plate (your cupcakes might be all nice and pink from the inside without the use of food colouring - mine definitely were!)
10. Leave them to cool for five minutes before placing the plate of cupcakes in the fridge

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Your cupcakes are going to need some cooling time and so, we will move on to the coconut cream buttercream. This is such a lovely buttercream and it comes out so nice and smooth - it also smells incredible. I actually (ironically) don't like coconut that much at all but it is a great springtime flavour. Also, if you want to add a kick to it, you can substitute the desiccated coconut out for shredded dark chocolate.

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Part 2: Coconut Cream Buttercream

Ingredients:

• 1x Tin of Coconut Milk
• 130g Vegan Butter
• 200g Powdered Sugar
• 1x Tsp Vanilla Essence
• 30g Desiccated Coconut
• 2x Tsp Your Choice of Gel Food Colouring

How To:

1. Don't you dare shake that tin of coconut milk
2. Whisk up your butter until it becomes white - this takes about five minutes with an electric whisk on the highest setting
3. Add your vanilla essence and open your unshaken tin of coconut milk
4. You will see that the coconut cream has risen to the top and solidified. Take it out and put it in the butter mix
5. Don't even think about adding the coconut water. If you want to, drink it - it's good for you
6. Whisk this mixture up until white - this will take another 3 or so minutes
7. Add the sugar and whisk again for another few minutes until everything is combined
8. Whisk in the food colouring of your choice and try not to add too much because you might accidentally give your buttercream a weird clinical tang underneath. It's strange to explain but you can always taste when someone has gone wacky with the food colouring
9. Fold in the desiccated coconut (or shredded chocolate if you're substituting - the measurement stays the same)
10. Add to a piping bag with a nozzle of your choice and decorate your now cooled cupcakes
11. Place them back in the fridge for about 20 minutes for the buttercream to harden
12. Enjoy your cupcakes!

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Cupcake Photo Drop!