Place pecan pieces on a baking tray and put in an oven pre-heated to 180°C.
Cook for approximately 8 mins until slightly golden and you can smell the pecans.
Keep an eye on them though because they can burn really quickly which makes them bitter and unusable. If you don’t think that they are ready after 8 minutes, check every minute after that.
Put 100g aside for the cake batter and use 200g for your pecan meal.
PECAN MEAL
Cool roasted pecans and then blitz 200g of them until all pieces are broken down and it is a meal consistency. It will smell amazing!!
CUPCAKES
Sift flour & add all dry ingredients (except flax) to a large mixing bowl and mix well.
Pour melted margarine, milk & maple syrup into mix, add vanilla and beat until combined.
To make the flax egg, mix golden flax and water into a small bowl and mix well. Do this just before you add it to the cake batter otherwise it becomes too thick. Add to batter just as it is thickening.
Beat until just combined – don’t over beat.
In a small bowl, sprinkle about 1 tbsp of plain flour over the pecan pieces and mix it through so they are all covered. The flour stops then from sinking to the bottom of the cupcakes.
Use a spatula to stir through the batter.
Using an ice-cream scoop, add one scoop to each cupcake wrapper.
If you are using the cardboard wrappers like I do, lift each once slightly off the tray and then drop. This ensures that the batter rises evenly.
Bake for 20 minutes but check after 15 minutes as ovens can vary.
Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack until room temperature.
Once cooled, use a piping bag to create a thick icing swirl on top of each cupcake and either stand the pecan crisp vertically in the icing or lie it horizontally on top of the icing.
ICING – ERMINE FROSTING
Add flour and sugar to a medium saucepan and place over medium to high heat.
Gradually add milk and using a large whisk, whisk continuously until the mix is a pudding like consistency. I usually add milk in thirds. It takes up to 5 minutes at the most until it becomes pudding like.
Transfer to a container and cover with cling wrap – press the wrap onto the pudding mix to make sure that a skin doesn’t form then cover container with a lid. If you aren’t using it until the next day, and place in fridge overnight.
It is very important that both the pudding and the butter/margarine are room temperature before you beat them together. This will produce the smoothest, most silky, delicious icing. If they aren’t at room temp, sometimes you will fluke it and the icing will be ok but then there are other times that your icing will separate and look disgusting. Learn from my mistakes – room temperature is the way to go!
Once cooled, beat butter until smooth with the paddle attachment on your mixmaster. Mix for a couple of minutes. I don’t know the science behind whipping it for longer (maybe extra aeration makes the icing lighter) – but it definitely makes a difference to the final product. You can use an electric hand mixer if you don’t have a mixmaster.
Gradually add pudding & maple syrup while mixing. Add vanilla and salt & mix.
Using vegan margarine, the icing will be quite soft. You will still be able to create a soft swirl of icing but if you want to make icing petals, it will be too soft. You can swap half of the margarine for vegetable shortening if you like.
PECAN MAPLE CRISPS
Pre-heat the oven to 175°C (347°F)
Put maple syrup, margarine & brown sugar into a small saucepan and melt, whilst stirring on the stove.
Once melted, add the pecan meal and plain flour together and mix until well combined.
Place baking paper on a large oven tray or 2 smaller trays. Add 1 tbsp of mix to tray and smooth with the back of the spoon until you have created a very thin circle. Continue doing this until you have used all of the mix. Leave maybe an inch between each one but if your mixture is spread thinly, it shouldn’t spread too much.
Place in oven and cook for 8 – 10 minutes. After 8 minutes, start to watch carefully. If it looks like there are still uncooked patches (usually in the centre) cook for another minute and check. If you get them out too soon, they won’t be crisp (but still delicious) & if you let them brown too much, they will be bitter.
Once cooked, remove from oven and place baking paper with crisps on the benchtop or large chopping board. Allow to cool slightly but only until they start to firm. This might only take a couple of minutes. Once they are firm enough to cut, use a sharp knife to cut diagonally across the circles a few times until you have little triangular wedges. Leave on paper until completely cool and if they have been cooked for long enough, they will be very crispy.
Store in a plastic container in layers separated by paper towel. I don’t put them into the cupcakes until I am serving the cupcakes because the icing and refrigeration will make them go soft. They will last a few days in a sealed container out of the fridge.
Recipe by my vegan plate at https://www.myveganplate.com/pecan-maple-cupcakes/