Gluten Free, Vegan cupcakes

This was an experiment of mine. One of my friends is vegan, her brother is on a gluten free, dairy free diet. None of these things are condusive to good cake. So I decided to try to make a cake without any eggs or butter, and while I enjoyed the challenge, I wasn't happy with the results really. Very, very dense, and a bit savoury tasting. I wouldn't really choose to have one, and thats my test of a good cake. Might be worth a try for a vegan though, as my friend seemed pretty happy with them.

Ingredients

4 Tablespoons dairy free spread
2 cups Granulated Sugar
500g passata
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
3 cups rice flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
2 teaspoons Nutmeg
½ teaspoons Ground Cloves

Icing
150g icing sugar
Teaspoon lemon juice/lemon extract
Water to form a thick paste

Recipe

• Cream together spread and sugar. 
• In a separate bowl, combine the passata and baking soda. Once combined, mix into the creamed sugar mixture. 
• Add all other cake ingredients in the order listed. 
• Spoon into cupcake cases and fill almost to the top.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes
• Place on a wire rack to cool
  Add the lemon juice to the licing sugar, add water until it forms a thick paste, then drizzle over the cooled cupcakes