Chocolate Cupcakes (Eggless) with Gingerbread Frosting - RECIPE

These cupcakes have a deep, dark, delicious flavour and a real wintery / Christmas feel.

They are very simple to make and require minimal time and effort. My gingerbread frosting is silky smooth - not overly sweet and lightly spiced with a strong biscuity flavour.

The chocolate cupcake part of this recipe is suitable for vegans or those with egg allergies and handy to have in your recipe book.

The dinky little chocolate bars are made in the mini tablet bar silicone mould which is available to buy from our website at www.siliconemoulds.com - currently for £2.25 plus p&p. Simply pipe in tempered chocolate and leave to set. As soon as they are hardened, the mini bars are ready to use.

I used a JEM 2D piping nozzle for the swirls on these cupcakes and 18" strong, savoy disposable piping bags - currently a bargain at 10 for £1.00 !

The chocolate cupcake recipe is enough to make 12.
The frosting recipe makes enough to do 18 > 24 cupcakes. Extra frosting can be frozen.

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES (EGGLESS)

1 cup (250mls) of milk - normal or soya
1 tsp cider vinegar

3/4 cup of sugar

1/3 cup of vegetable oil

2tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup of plain flour

2 tbsp cornflour

1/2 cup of cocoa powder

3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp of baking powder
good pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 170deg C fan / 180deg C normal.

Line a 12 hole standard muffin mould or pan with paper cupcake cases.

Sieve dry ingredients and add wet. Mix with a balloon whisk until well combined and no lumps remain.

Transfer the mix (will be runny) into a jug and split evenly between the 12 cupcake liners.

Bake for approx 20mins until cocktail stick comes out clean.

Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Here is the secret to my gingerbread biscuit frosting....

This stuff is awesome ! In Europe, it tends to be called Speculoos. In the UK, the closest we get are Lotus biscuits - yummy little carmelised spiced biscuits often served alongside coffee.

The lovely people at Lotus now distribute this as a spread in the UK and it's widely available in many supermarkets such as Waitrose and Sainsbury's.

GINGERBREAD BISCUIT FROSTING

125g salted butter

200g Lotus spread (1/2 a jar)

2 tbsp of condensed milk

1 tsp of vanilla extract
3 cups sieved icing / powdered sugar

150ml double cream

2 tsp mixed spice.

First of all, warm the cream and add the mixed spice. Leave to cool and infuse.

Cream the butter and Lotus spread until pale and fluffy. Add the icing sugar and infused cream. Beat with a hand mixer until thick and silky smooth (took about 10mins)

Enjoy !

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com  - December 2013