Image via Laws of Modern Man

 

Mini cupcakes are the best! I can’t believe it took me so long to bring these bite-sized morsels into my life. This recipe makes around 2 1/2 dozen cupcakes. They bake up light and moreish with a subtle citrus flavour; the perfect post-dinner treat!

If you can’t get hold of limes, just add more lemon juice. You could also sub in orange juice/zest instead. Either option: delicious.

They make a really cool present, too – stack ’em in a mason jar, with a square of baking paper between each layer, and top it all off with a sprinkle of edible dust for good measure. Food gifts are awesome.

 

Vegan Lemon-Lime Mini Cupcakes

 

Ingredients:

1 cup soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup rice bran oil*
2/3 cup raw sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp lime juice
zest of one lemon

For frosting:
1 tsp Olivani (or your favourite dairy-free butter sub.)
1 cup icing sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
water
a couple of chunks of dark vegan chocolate, crushed with a rolling pin**

 

What to do:

Preheat oven to 180 C. Line a mini muffin pan with paper liners.

In a small bowl, mix milk and vinegar; set aside for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine milk mixture, oil, sugar, vanilla extract, lemon juice and lemon zest. Add dry ingredients to wet in several batches, mixing gently as you go. Stir until well combined.

Spoon batter into liners until each is 3/4 full. Bake until inserted knife/pointy thing comes out clean, about 10 minutes.

Let cool before frosting.

For the frosting:
Mix Olivani, icing sugar and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Add enough water to make a very thick mixture.

To ice the cupcakes:
Pipe*** a swirl of icing onto each cupcake, and top with a big fat dose of crushed chocolate.

 

* Any other light tasting oil like canola or sunflower is fine if you don’t have rice bran
** I use Whittakers’ dark ghana; all of Whittakers’ dark chocolates are dairy-free, it is awesome
*** Or use a knife