Vegan Cupcake Recipe – Black Forest Gateaux Cupcakes

[schema type=”recipe” name=”Vegan Cupcake Recipe – Black Forset Gateaux Cupcakes” author=”Rachel Howard” pubdate=”2013-09-15″ image=”http://www.sundaybaking.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Vegan-Black-Forest-Cupcake-1-700.jpg” description=”A delicious chocolate cupcake topped with cherries and a fluffy vegan buttercream frosting” prepmins=”10″ cookmins=”20″ yield=”12″ ]

Loaded with juicy dark cherries and vegan fluffy buttercream frosting these Vegan Black Forest Gateaux Cupcakes are a serious dessert suitable for many!

For a while now I have been wanting to make a good vegan cupcake. I work with a lot of vegans and after years of organising managers meetings where all the food is vegetarian and vegan I have seen the pain the vegans go through when all they are offered is fruit for dessert.

But I have tried them before. And they were a disaster. They looked disgusting and sunk in the middle. So I asked a fellow baker who is a vegan and she recommended a book – Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World.

There are so many good looking cupcakes in this book and after the success of my first bake I can safely say I will be trying more!

And I managed to do a great test – my sister and her husband popped round just after these were baked. I didn’t let on that they were vegan and they both thought they were absolutely beautiful. My husband then tried some and also said you would not know they were vegan. Mission complete.

[callout title=Ingredients for the Sponge:]

• 245ml soya milk
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 150g granulated sugar
• 75g rapeseed oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1tbs cherry brandy
• 140g plain flour
• 35g cocoa powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

[/callout]

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180C and line a muffin pan with cases
• Whisk together the soya milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle
• Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract and cherry brandy to the soya milk mixture and beat until foamy
• In a seperate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt
• Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until smooth
• Pour into the liners filling three-quarters of the way
• Bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
• Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely

[callout title=Ingredients for the Saucy Cherries]

• 285g frozen cherries, thawed (Tesco were out of stock so I had to use a tin of Black cherry fruit filling)
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp ground arrowroot
• 3 tbsp pomegranate juice or water

[/callout]

Method:

• In a saucepan over a medium heat, combine the thawed cherries and their juice, and sugar
• Stir till mixture starts to simmer, about 4-5 minutes
• Whisk together the arrowroot and pomegranate juice in a small bowl then steadily pour into the cherries, stirring constantlly
• Keep stirring – the mixture will rapidly thicken
• Remove from heat and leave to cool to room temperature

[callout title=Ingredients for the frosting and topping:]

• 115g vegetable fat (Trex)
• 115g soya margarine
• 560g icing sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 60g soya milk
• Chopped or shaved vegan chocolate
• Candied cherries

[/callout]

Method:

• Beat the Trex and soya margarine together until well combines  and fluffy
• Add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes
• Add the vanilla and soya milk, beat for another 5 to 6 minutes until fluffy

To Assemble:

• Cut a small cone out of each cupcake and leave to the side
• Pipe a small amount of frosting into each hole
• Spoon at least 1 cherry on top of the frosting along with a spoonful of sauce
• Pipe another dollop of frosting on top of the cherries
• Gently (but firmly) place the cut out cake pieces on top
• Top with another piping of frosting and then place a candied cherry on the top
• Sprinkle the shaved chocolate over the top
• These cupcakes taste best if allowed to sit for an hour before serving

These cupcakes are moist, rich in taste and look the part too. You could serve these up as dessert and no one would guess that they are vegan friendly.

Personally, I was put off when I saw the frosting had shortening (Trex vegetable fat) in it but I was pleasantly surprised when I tasted it. Wonderfully sweet and tasty. I looked into why Trex is used and this is what I found:

The brand of vegetable shortening readily found in the UK is Trex. It doesn’t have any ‘taste’ so it won’t add a strange flavour to your buttercream, but it will allow your icing to ‘stand up’. You can omit it and use equal amounts of dairy-free margarine but your buttercream will not hold its shape for very long and you run the risk of it separating. Q&A about vegan baking with Ms Cupcake

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