Vegan + easy.
These easy reindeer cupcakes are perfect for the festive season and will become a family favorite in no time over the festive holidays.
Easy, moist and delicious chocolate cupcakes with a silky smooth butterscotch sauce core, topped with vanilla buttercream dunked in chocolate decorated with fondant details.
These are the perfect cupcakes for the whole family to get involved in making over the Christmas holidays.
This recipe is in collaboration with Natures Charm.
I used the Natures Charm ‘Butterscotch Sauce’ to fill the core of these cupcakes and oh my…it tastes delicious!
This sauce is perfect for filling cupcakes, drizzling over icecream, mixing into buttercream, etc, the list goes on!
I’m a huge fan of Natures Charm, not only do they have dessert sauces like butterscotch and salted caramel, but they sell coconut creams, condensed coconut milk (which you could just eat with a spoon it’s that good), custard, jackfruit etc.
All of them have a coconut base which means everything is silking smooth, you gotta try!
Check out my previous recipes ft their products here.
Preparation- 40 minutes
Baking time- 18-20 minutes
Makes- Around 10
Level- Easy
…
Ingredients for the cake
-240ml of dairy-free milk
-1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
-210g of self-raising flour
-2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
-100g of golden caster sugar
-1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
-60g of coconut oil (melted)
Ingredients for the core
Ingredients for the buttercream
-120g of dairy-free butter
-250g of icing sugar
-1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste (you can use extract)
-1 teaspoon of dairy-free milk (if needed)
Extras
-100g of dairy-free chocolate
-Pretzels
-Fondant (white and red)
-Edible gold paint
…
To make the cupcakes
Step 1- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees c.
Step 2- In a small bowl, combine the dairy-free milk with the apple cider vinegar and whisk until fully combined.
Set aside for 10 minutes to curdle. This creates a vegan ‘buttermilk’.
Step 3- In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
Mix well to combine.
Step 4- Add the melted coconut oil to the ‘buttermilk’ and whisk to combine.
Step 5- Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until a smooth batter.
Step 6- Fill the cupcake cases 3/4 full with the batter.
Make sure to tap the tins on the worktop to remove any air bubbles.
Step 7- Pop the cakes into the preheated oven and bake for 18-20 minutes.
You will know they are done when you put a knife or skewer in and it comes out clean and they are springy to the touch.
Step 8- Place the cupcakes on a cooling rack and allow to cool fully.
Once cool, pop them into a sealed container to keep them fresh before frosting/decorating.
Fill the core (optional)
Step 1- Using an apple corer, core the middle of the cupcakes.
Step 2- Add the butterscotch sauce into a piping bag and pipe some into each cupcake.
To make the frosting
Step 1- Cream the butter in a bowl, on high speed until creamy. I use my stand mixer with the balloon whisk attachment.
Step 2- When your butter/margarine is creamy & light in colour, add in the icing sugar and vanilla bean paste/extract.
Whizz together until fluffy & fully combined.
Add a splash of dairy-milk if the buttercream is too thick.
Step 3- Transfer the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle.
Step 4- Pipe a swirl of buttercream onto each cupcake, then pop the cakes into the freezer for 15 minutes.
Step 5- Melt some dairy-free chocolate and allow to cool for a few minutes.
Step 6- Transfer the chocolate into a mug or deep bowl so it’s easier to dunk the cupcakes in.
Step 7- Remove the cakes from the freezer and carefully dunk the buttercream into the chocolate, allow any excess to drip off.
Repeat for all of the cupcakes.
Step 8- While the chocolate is still wet, break a pretzel in half and stick into the chocolate. These are for the antlers.
Step 9- Out of fondant, roll out 2 small white balls for the eyes and large red ball for the nose.
Add a dot of the melted chocolate in the middle of the white balls for the eyes.
To decorate, I added some edible silver glitter and painted the pretzels with edible gold paint (optional).
Serve these cupcakes fresh or store in a sealed container in or out of the fridge, the buttercream will firm up at room temperature.
Best eaten within a few days.
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A huge thank you to Natures Charm for collabing on this recipe with me!
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