Little Miss Meat-Free: Gingerbread Cupcakes with St. Clement's Buttercream

Gingerbread cupcakes are one of my favourite Christmas treats. I've been adapting this recipe for years, resulting in a dark and spicy, slightly sticky cake.

This year, I've decided to develop the vegan buttercream flavour too. St. Clement's buttercream is enriched with orange and lemon zest which lightens the flavour of the spicy cupcake, giving the perfect festive flavour in every bite.

The cake batter is very easy to make. Try to use molasses if you can, as it gives a wonderful depth of flavour, but if you only have black treacle in the cupboard, it works just fine. Flavours of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice are enhanced with maple syrup- a treat the whole family will love.

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

300g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

3 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1`tsp nutmeg

1 tsp mixed spice

100ml sunflower oil

4 tbsp dark molasses (I bought a large jar from Holland and Barrett)

100ml maple syrup

50ml almond milk

2 tbsp soya yoghurt

For the buttercream:

4 tbsp non-dairy margarine

1 tsp vanilla extract

Zest of 1 unwaxed lemon

Juice of 1 unwaxed lemon

Zest of 1/2 unwaxed orange

300g icing sugar

1/4 tsp yellow/orange gel food colour (Optional. I used Sugarflair- all vegan food colours)

Method

For the cupcakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/ Gas Mark 4 and arrange cupcake cases in a tin .

2. In a large bowl, sift in the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice.

3. In another bowl, whisk together the oil, molasses, maple syrup, almond milk and soya yoghurt until slightly foamy.

4. Pour the wet mixture into the well of the dry mixture and mix until just combined (don't over mix as this will affect the texture). Spoon into the cupcake cases, aprox 1 tbsp per case.

5. Bake in the oven for 20-22 minutes until firm yet springy to the touch. Cool completely on wire racks.

For the buttercream:

1. In a bowl, cream together the margarine, vanilla extract, lemon zest, orange zest and lemon juice. Gradually add the icing sugar in parts, stirring in. Use an electric whisk/ hand whisk to lighten the buttercream for 5 minutes until fluffy. Stir through the food colour if you are using and whisk for a further minute.

2. Spoon into a piping bag with a nozzle (I used a closed star shape) and pipe onto the cooled cupcakes creating a swirl of buttercream.

Enjoy!