Recipe Post- Vegan Maple and Walnut Cupcakes

One of my new purchases was Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Now as an owner of a Cupcake business I'm looking forward to trying lots of new recipes.



The first one I decided to do was Maple and Walnut Cupcakes. However I used my own recipe for the frosting.

I must say these cupcakes are lovely and are great with a cup of tea. Don't be put off that they are vegan as my other half who isn't vegan loves them!

This makes about 12 cupcakes.

Candied Walnuts

1 cup walnut halves

1/3 cup granulated sugar

3 tbsp maple syrup

a pinch of salt

a large pinch of ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 275F. Arrange walnut halves on a tray and toast walnuts for 10 minutes, until the are fragrant and golden brown. Leave to cool.

2. Line a baking tray with baking paper and lightly grease with oil.

3. In a large saucepan, combine sugar, maple syrup and salt. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon. The sugar should melt and the mixture bubbling. This will take about 5 minutes. Continue to boil for 3-4 minutes, until the mixture is a dark amber colour, thick and smells like caramel. Remove from heat and stir in walnuts and cinnamon. Coat nuts evenly with maple mixture.

4. Spread nuts out onto the lined baking sheet and make sure they are not in big lumps. Allow to cool.

5. Measure out 1/2 cup sugared walnuts and chop finely to use in recipe. Extra walnuts can be used as decoration after the cupcakes are frosted, eaten or stored in an airtight container and refrigerated.

Cupcakes

1/2 cup soy milk, at room temperature

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 1/3 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup canola oil (I used vegetable oil or you can use rapeseed oil)

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup candied walnuts, chopped finely

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Whisk together soy milk and vinegar. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 10 mins to allow milk to curdle.

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutemg into a large bowl. Whisk together oil, maple syrup, vanilla and brown sugar into the soy milk mixture.

3. Make a well in the dry ingredients and whisk in the wet ingredients in two batches. Whisk just until no large lumps remain, a few small lumps are okay. Do not overmix. Fold in chopped candied walnuts.

4. Pour mixture evenly into liners, filling up to 2/3rds of the liners, and bake at 350F for 20-22 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting with the recipe below.

Maple Syrup Buttercream

¾ cup Vegan margarine (I use Pure)
3 cups Icing sugar
¼ cup Maple Syrup

1. Place margarine and sugar into a mixer and mix until combined.

2. Add Maple Syrup and mix

3. If the mix is to stiff add a little soya milk or if it is too runny add some more icing sugar