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

Gluten Free Chocolate Truffle Cake with Chocolate Cream Frosting

Not my usual photo but by the time I found my camera this was all that was left! However I think this is a good testiment to how great this cake was. Gluten free cakes are usually a lot denser than their floury counterparts, and this one was no exception. It was a lovely, thick cake with a rich but creamy frosting which balanced it out nicely. The one downside was the frosting did not blend 100% and there were a few lumps, which did not impact on taste but did look a little unprofessional. Despite this it was really easy to make, and everyone loved it, definate 8 or 9/10.

Ingredients


275g dark chocolate
100g unsalted butter
2 eggs
130g golden caster sugar
50g rice flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
65ml whole milk

Chocolate Icing

140g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
170g icing sugar
290g cream cheese
1 tablespoon cocoa powder

20cm tin, lined with greaseproof.

• Preheat oven to 160C/Gas 3.
• Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water. Stir until melted then set aside to cool. 
• Put the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk until they form a thick foam. 
• Add the rice flour and baking powder, mix, then stir in the butter and chocolate mixture. 
• Finally stir in the milk and pour into the prepared tin.
• Bake for 40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. 
• Leave to cool completely before turning out of the tin. 
• To make the icing put the butter, icing sugar, cream cheese and cocoa powder in a bowl or food processor and whisk until smooth. 
• Spread the icing over the cake.