Vegan Cherry and Coconut Cupcakes

Veganism is becoming such a popular lifestyle choice now. With over 540,000 people in the U.K deciding to go vegan it’s no wonder shops and restaurants are taking the vegan or vegetarian route. Whether you’re vegan for health reasons, weight management or animal welfare, you’re still doing your little bit for the environment. And when everywhere is coming up with new, tasty ideas for vegan meals and snacks it’s becoming easier and easier to go vegan.

Lately I’ve been trying to come up with more and more dairy and egg free recipes, and let me tell you, it’s not that easy! Trying to make a cake without dairy and eggs without it turning into a flat, flavourless mess is harder than I anticipated. But I’m not one to give up on cake…

These Cherry and Coconut Cupcakes are so light and fluffy, you won’t even realise it’s vegan! With the addition of coconut oil in place of butter, apple sauce in place of egg (yes, apple sauce!) and a bit of coconut milk for moisture, these cupcakes are the perfect treat for your meatless Mondays, your veganuary, or just as a snack to accompany your vegan daily lifestyle.

These cupcakes use whipped coconut cream with a small amount of icing sugar for the frosting. I chose to use this method instead of buttercream as I thought it would be too heavy for the light texture of the sponge, and the coconut cream gives you the hit of natural coconut flavour you need for these cupcakes.

So without further ado, let’s get on with the recipe!

This recipe makes 24 cupcakes.

Prep time: 20 minutes

Bake time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

– 2 cups self raising flour

– 1 1/4 cup caster sugar

– 1 tbsp baking powder

– 1 cup coconut milk

– 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted and cooled)

– 1/2 cup apple sauce

– 1 cup cherry jam

– 2 boxes of coconut cream

– 1/2 cup icing sugar

– desiccated coconut and fresh or glacé cherries to decorate

Method:

– Pre heat your oven to 160 degrees (fan oven) or 180 (gas)

– Place boxes of coconut cream to cool in the fridge

– Mix your dry ingredients together

– Add your wet ingredients mixing well after each addition

– Pour mix into 24 cupcake cases

– Bake for 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean

– Once the cupcakes have baked are are cooling make your frosting

– Pour the coconut cream into a bowl with the icing sugar and whip using an electric whisk until soft peaks form, place in fridge

– Using a knife, cut out small holes in the middle of your cupcakes and fill with about 1/2 tsp of cherry jam, replace pieces of cupcake into the cakes to cover jam

– Spread about a tbsp of coconut cream onto each cupcake and decorate with desiccated coconut and a cherry

– Enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and don’t forget to let me know what you think in the comments!