Black Forest Cupcakes

I recently did a vegan baking course with the wonderful Wida from Cupcake Richard (@cupcakerichard on Instagram) and my sweet tooth has been feeling inspired ever since. I have always wanted to give vegan baking a try, but I tend to sway from recipes and make them up as I go, which doesn't always cut it with baked goods. So, it was fantastic to do a hands-on class and learn from someone with many years experience. Plus, her course is so beautifully presented in her very pretty home, and the gift bags and champagne made it all the more exciting!

In the course, Wida teaches you how to make a basic cake batter, which can then be adapted to various cupcake flavours, cakes and muffins. In the class we made two delicious cupcake variations and were given a recipe guide with an additional three flavours.

I found some cherries at a very good price this weekend, so decided to give the recipe my own Black Forest spin. They are decadently chocolatey and would make a wonderful vegan Christmas dessert.

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cup cake flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup cocoa powder
175ml agave nectar or xylitol syrup
100ml coconut oil
120ml apple sauce
½ tsp vanilla extract
125ml warm water
15 ml lemon juice (juice of half a lemon)
24-30 fresh cherries, pitted and halved (keep 12 whole for topping)

For the topping:

80g dark chocolate
1/4 cup coconut cream
30ml agave nectar/xylitol syrup (only if you are using unsweetened dark chocolate)

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line a cupcake pan with twelve paper cupcake wrappers. Sift all the dry ingredients together and mix thoroughly. Add the coconut oil, apple sauce, vanilla extract and agave nectar/xylitol syrup (if you have xylitol granules, dissolve 1 cup granules in 1/2 cup water in a small pan) and mix well with a metal spoon until fully combined.

Add the lemon juice to the warm water and pour half into the batter. Stir until it is completely incorporated, then add the remaining lemon water and repeat.

Pour the batter into the cupcake pan, you can fill the wrappers about 3/4 of the way as they don't rise too much. Drop about 3 cherry halves into each cupcake and using a wooden skewer, gently push them into the batter.

Bake for 20 minutes, then allow to cool completely on a cake rack.

Melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler, or in the microwave and stir the coconut cream and syrup in until it is completely smooth. If it is a little lumpy, pop it back in the microwave for a few seconds and stir a little more.

Pour the chocolate topping over the cool cupcakes and top each one with a whole cherry.

xxx