1½ cup hot almond milk with 1tsp of coffee mixed in
265g white sugar
½ tsp bi-carb soda
2 flax eggs (2 tbsp flax meal mixed with ⅓ cup water)
1 pinch of salt
150ml vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 punnets of fresh raspberries
ICING – ERMINE FROSTING
400g castor sugar
90g plain flour
50g cacao
450ml almond milk
450g vegan margarine
1 tsp Vanilla
Pinch Sea salt
CRÈME PATISSERIE
250g oat milk
1tsp vanilla extract
50g white sugar
30g cornflour
30g vegan margarine
Instructions
METHOD
Pre heat oven to 175°C (347°F)
CAKE
Place chocolate, cacao in a medium bowl. Pour hot coffee milk over the top and mix until chocolate is fully melted. Leave to cool.
Mix in the oil and vanilla.
Add dry ingredients and mix until combined.
Mix in flax egg (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.)
Using an ice-cream scoop, add one scoop to each cupcake wrapper.
Bake for 20 minutes but check after 18 minutes as ovens can vary.
Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack until room temperature.
CRÈME PATISSERIE
Bring the oat milk to a boil
Whisk the sugar and corn flour in a medium bowl.
Pour a third of the milk over the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth
Add the sugar mix into the saucepan with the rest of the milk.
Cook on medium heat for 2-3 minutes whilst whisking
Remove from heat once mix begins to thicken & large bubbles appear
Add margarine & mix with a spatula until completely combined
Transfer to a shallow container which is lined with plastic wrap. Place plastic on top of the crème so a skin doesn’t form.
Once the crème patisserie is cooled and you are ready to ice the cupcakes, finely chop 1 punnet of raspberries and mix through crème patisserie. Cut a hole in top oft he cupcake and remove part of the inside of the cake (you can use a cupcake corer). Add crème patisserie mix into cupcake and put to top section of cake back on to fill the hole. Ice and top with fresh raspberries.
ICING – ERMINE FROSTING
Add flour and sugar to a medium saucepan and place over medium to high heat.
Gradually add milk and stir continuously until the mix is a pudding like consistency. I usually add milk in thirds.
Transfer container and cover with cling wrap – press the wrap onto the pudding mix to make sure that a skin doesn’t form. Cover container with lid and place in fridge until cooled. I will often do this the night before I need it.
Once cooled, beat butter until smooth.
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.
Beat in cacao.
Gradually add pudding while mixing. Add vanilla and salt & mix.
Recipe by my vegan plate at https://www.myveganplate.com/raspberry-chocolate-cupcakes/