Method (brownies)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees c fan, and line an 8 inch round baking tin/cake tin with grease-proof paper.
2. Make the flax eggs. Add 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed into a small bowl and add in 4 tablespoons of water. Stir to combine then set aside to thicken. This will take around 10 minutes.
3. In a large mixing bowl, add in the dairy-free butter/margarine, both sugars and flax ‘egg’. Whisk to combine until light in colour.
4. Add in the cocoa powder, baking powder and flour. Mix until a thick brownie batter.
5. Spoon then spread the batter into the lined tin, making sure to get it as flat as possible. Smooth out with the back of a spoon or offset spatula.
6. Place the tin into the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
7. When the brownie is ready, remove from the oven and allow to cool. You want to cut the brownie whilst it’s still slightly warm, as when it’s cold, it will crack.

Method (buttercream)

1. In a large mixing bowl, add in the dairy-free butter and whip until creamy. I use a stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment, a hand mixer will work great too.
2. Sift in the icing sugar and vanilla extract, whip for 5 minutes until creamy and pale in colour. If it’s too stiff / thick, add in a few more chunks of butter. Too soft, add in more icing sugar.

Decorate

1. Depending on your designs and colour choices, separate the buttercream’s into separate bowls and colour with your chosen food gels.
2. Transfer all the buttercream into separate piping bags with either the tip snipped off or with your chosen piping nozzles.
3. Decorate the brownies as you fancy. For the coconut covered brownies, once you have piped on your buttercream, pour desiccated coconut on to a plate and press the buttercream into the coconut. It will stick, then flip back and decorate as you like. I made the coconut ones into snowmen with black, pink and orange buttercream, and polar bears with black buttercream and vegan marshmallows for the ears and nose. Super simple but effective. 
4. For the reindeer, colour buttercream with cocoa powder (mix white buttercream with some cocoa powder in a bowl until smooth), pipe onto the brownie, then press on broken up pretzels for the antlers, fondant eyes and a ball of red fondant or a cranberry for the nose.
5. The trees are super simple, colour buttercream with green food gel, top with festive sprinkles / desiccated coconut and a star sprinkle at the tip.