Vegan and Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 180'C / Fan 160'C / Gas Mark 4 and line a 12-hole cupcake tin with cake cases.

Step 2

Pour the almond milk into a jug and add the white wine vinegar. Stir well and set to one side for 2-3 minutes. It should start thicken slightly and may appear like it’s curdling – this is fine, you’ve made vegan buttermilk!

Step 3

Add the caster sugar, oil and vanilla extract to a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric whisk briefly. Pour in the buttermilk and then briefly mix again until combined.

Step 4

In a separate bowl, mix the gluten free flour, baking powder and xanthan gum. Pour into the cake mixture and then beat to combine. You don’t want to over-mix it, just enough so that there are no lumps of flour.

Step 5

Evenly pour the mixture between the cupcake cases. The batter will be quite runny – don’t worry, it should be like that!

Step 6

Place the cupcakes in the oven and bake for 25-27 minutes. They should rise nicely and be springy to the touch – they will stay quite pale but don’t worry, this is just due to the lack of egg in the recipe! Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

Step 7

To make the frosting, add the vegan butter and margarine to a large mixing bowl and beat together with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add the icing sugar and vanilla extract and beat again until fully combined.

Step 8

Add the frosting to a piping bag (if it’s a particularly warm day and the icing is too soft, place the piping bag in the fridge to cool for half an hour).

Step 9

Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes as desired (I used a 2D piping nozzle) and decorate with gluten free and vegan sprinkles.