MAKES 20
350ml unsweetened soya milk
15ml apple cider vinegar
330g white sugar
100g vegan baking margarine
300g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
80g cocoa powder
0.5 tsp salt
0.5 tsp instant coffee granules
FOR THE ICING
75g cocoa powder
500g icing sugar
100g vegetable shortening
125ml unsweetened soya milk
- Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Line cupcake tins with 20 paper cupcake cases. Put the soya milk and vinegar into a jug and give the mixture a good whisk to combine.
- Put the sugar and margarine into a bowl and cream together with a hand blender until the mixture is soft and smooth. Set aside.
- Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder into a bowl. Add the salt and coffee granules. Mix well with a whisk, ensuring there are no lumps. Tip the dry mixture into the creamed mixture. Pour in the soya milk mixture. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet using a figure of 8 motion. The mixture will seem dry but will loosen quickly – try not to over-mix it. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
- Using a small metal spoon, put a rounded spoonful of batter into each case – too much will cause the cake to rise over the top and spill out of the cases.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for about 25 mins or until the cakes spring back when gently poked. Leave to cool completely in the tins before decorating.
- To make the icing, sift the cocoa and sugar into a mixing bowl. Transfer to a food processor and add the shortening. Combine the mixture, gradually incorporating the soya milk until your icing has the desired consistency – pliable, but not sloppy.
- Transfer the icing to a piping bag. For the whippy look, use a wide open plain round nozzle. Make a blob of icing in the middle of 1 cupcake. Then, starting at the outside edge of the cake and working towards the centre, pipe a series of overlapping concentric circles. When you reach the centre, finish with a tiny push down, then lift up the nozzle.
Dirty Vegan by Matt Pritchard, published by Mitchell Beazley