Method (cakes)

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC  fan and line a cupcake tin or loose base sandwich tin with cupcake cases.
2. In a small bowl, combine the dairy-free milk with the apple cider vinegar and whisk until fully combined. This creates a vegan buttermilk.
3. In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Mix well to combine.
4. Add the vanilla extract oil to the ‘buttermilk’ and whisk to combine.
5. Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until a smooth batter.
6. Fill the cases 3/4 full with the batter. Make sure to tap the tins on the worktop to remove any air bubbles.
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 down the centre of the cakes and it comes out clean and they are springy to the touch.
8. Place the cupcakes on a cooling rack and allow to cool fully before filling and decorating.

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 on high speed until the buttercream becomes pale and fluffy in texture. If it’s too thick add in a splash of dairy-free milk to get it to the right consistency. It should be thick and creamy.
3. Transfer the buttercream in to a piping bag fitted with a small star tip nozzle.
4. Carefully peel the sponges from the cupcake cases. Slice each cake horizontally.
5. Pipe the buttercream decoratively over one half of the sponges, and pipe on some jam in-between the buttercream (watch the tutorial here).
6. Place the other half of the sponge on-top to create a sandwich. Press down slightly to stick, but not too much that the fillings will ooze out. 
7. Place into the fridge for 10 minutes to slightly set the buttercream.
8. Decorate with a dusting of icing sugar over each sponge top with half a fresh strawberry.
9. Tip: To make the strawberry stick, pipe on a star of buttercream and press the strawberry into it.