Easter Raspberry & White Chocolate Cupcakes - Vegan & Dairy-Free

 Easy little raspberry and white chocolate cupcakes, topped with buttercream, raspberries and dairy-free white chocolate mini eggs. Perfect for an Easter treat or just for a cheeky afternoon snack.

EASTER RASPBERRY & WHITE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES - VEGAN & DAIRY-FREE

Isn't it fabulous how many new dairy-free and vegan products are appearing all the time?

I found these white chocolate mini eggs (I'll tell you about them further down) and immediately thought how cute they would be on soft, little cupcakes studded with raspberries and topped with dairy-free buttercream, fresh raspberries, and of course the mini eggs.

The perfect little treat for Easter or special occasions like birthdays.

I hope you try them.

VANILLA CUPCAKES

Mmmmm, doesn't that look good? 

Thanks to my husband for hand modelling. He wasn't allowed to try one until he did. Yes, I am mean!

These soft little cupcakes are flavoured with vanilla extract.

They also have little bites of fresh raspberry through them.

The raspberries pop and go all jammy while they are baking. 

Just look at it!

HOW TO STOP RASPBERRIES SINKING IN CUPCAKES

Fruit has a tendency to sink to the bottom in cakes.

My tip will stop the raspberries sinking in these cupcakes and fruit (or dried fruit, choc chips or nuts) from sinking in other types of cakes too.

All you need to do is coat the fruit in flour.

You can either toss it in flour before adding or mix it through the dry ingredients.

Simples!

HOW TO MAKE ALL THE CUPCAKES THE SAME SIZE

You can just scoop cupcake batter into the cupcake cases with a spoon, but there is a better way of doing it.

A spring-release ice cream scoop, gives you the same amount of batter each time and just the right amount.

The spring-release lever inside the scoop head helps as much of the batter as possible to be released into the cupcase cup each time.

I find it much less messy too.

It's well worth investing one of these ice cream scoops and luckily they are not expensive.

I use mine for cupcakes and muffins much more than I use it for ice-cream. True story!

VEGAN BUTTERCREAM

Usually, when I bake cupcakes or muffins I leave them plain on top, but with Easter fast approaching I thought it would be nice to jazz them up and make them a little more special.

If you're making these for lunchboxes, or want to keep them simple, just skip the buttercream.

This buttercream is made with softened vegan butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract and some melted dairy-free white chocolate.

Oh, it's such a treat.

TIPS FOR PIPING BUTTERCREAM

My first piece of advice is don't worry about the piping being perfect. 

A little wonky or homemade-looking cakes will not put anyone off.

I use plastic piping bags which I bought years ago. I don't mind using these as I have had them for years and I pipe very rarely.

Once they do run out, I will be looking at buying reusable piping bags to cut down on plastic use.

Use whichever nozzle you have, a larger one is better. The swirl will be a bit different from nozzle to nozzle.

If you don't have a nozzle, you can just cut the end of the piping bag and pipe straight out of the end of the bag.

BUTTERCREAM PIPING TIPS - STEP-BY-STEP

1. Make sure your buttercream is thick enough to hold it's shape before filling your piping bag. If it's not thick enough, mix in more icing sugar.
2. If you are using a nozzle, pop it into the bag and push down to the tip.
3. Pop the icing bag into a mug or glass, nozzle side down and fold the top edges over the top of the mug or glass out of the way.
4. Spoon the buttercream into the bag until fairly full.
5. Unfold the ends of the piping bag from the mug or glass and push the buttercream down towards the nozzle.
6. Use scissors to snip the tip off the tip of the bag where the nozzle is, so the nozzle can nestle down through the hole slightly.
7. Twist the top of the bag around the icing until the filled area of the bag is taut and start icing.
8. You can swirl around the outside towards the middle or from the middle to the sides. I like to leave some of the cake showing around the edge.
9. To finish your swirl, twist and pull up for a swirl in the centre or twist and press down a little to finish of the swirl around the edge.
10. Try to leave enough so all of the cakes have some icing and top up the icing bag if you need to.

BONUS TIP

For a swirl of colour through the buttercream, use a small paintbrush or clean eyeshadow brush to brush stripes of food colouring in the inside of the piping bag.

The colour will be picked up by the buttercream and will look really professional and pretty as it's piped.

You need to use gel food colouring for this. It's the best tye to have anyway, much better colour and it doesn't leave an after taste.

HOW TO PIPE BUTTERCREAM ON CAKES WITHOUT A PIPING BAG

If you don't have a piping bag, but still want to pipe the buttercream, there's an easy way to do it.

PIPING WITH A FREEZER BAG

1. Fill a freezer bag with buttercream.
2. Squeeze it down to one corner (bottom of the bag).
3. Twist the bag above the buttercream to make it taut.
4. Snip the tip off for piping. The further up from the tip you cut, the wider the hole will be for piping.
5. Pipe a swirl the same as you would with a piping bag.

ADDING BUTTERCREAM WITHOUT A PIPING BAG

You really don't need a piping bag to add buttercream to a cupcake, although it does look pretty.

Why not just spoon some onto the middle of the cake, then use a rounded butter knife or the back of a teaspoon to spread the buttercream.

DAIRY-FREE WHITE CHOCOLATE MINI EGGS

There are so many excellent vegan sweets and chocolate to choose from these days.

You can even buy vegan creme eggs (or make your own vegan creme eggs)!

For these cakes, I was looking for mini eggs made with white chocolate that was suitable for vegans and I found these Moo Free White Choccy Eggs.

Just perfect.

I bought them from an online vegan supermarket, but you can buy them from the Moo Free website too.

I'm sure there are similar dairy-free white chocolate eggs available if you do a wee search on Google.

MORE VEGAN CUPCAKES AND MUFFINS TO TRY

Here are a few more easy cupcake and muffins recipes for you to try.

VEGAN CUPCAKES

• Maple Syrup Cupcakes
• Vegan Cupcakes with Faux Buttercream
• Vegan Gingerbread Cupcakes with Pineapple Frosting

VEGAN MUFFINS

• Easy Vegan Lemon Muffins
• Vegan Blueberry Ginger Muffins
• Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Vegan Strawberry Milkshake Muffins

also try - Easy Vegan Coconut Ice

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HOW TO MAKE EASTER RASPBERRY & WHITE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

Scroll down for step-by-step photos followed by a full printable recipe. If you don't have a printer, hit the print button on the recipe card & save as a PDF.

STEP 1

Preheat your oven and line 1 x 12 hole or 2 x 6 hole muffin tins with cupcake cases.

Measure your milk into a mug or bowl.

Add the vinegar to the milk and set aside so it can turn into buttermilk.

STEP 2

Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl.

Then add the sugar, baking powder and salt.

STEP 3

Add the fresh raspberries to the dry ingredients.

Mix well. The flour coating will stop the fruit from sinking as it bakes.

STEP 4

Add vanilla and oil to the milk and mix well.

Now you're ready to add the wet ingredients to the dry.

Easy, isn't it?

STEP 5

Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients.

Fold in to mix until just combined.

Do not overmix or the cakes will be dense and rubbery.

Few bits of flour not mixed in, don't worry about it.

STEP 6

Scoop the batter into the cupcake cases and bake until lightly golden and a skewer or toothpick inserted into the centre of a cupcake comes out clean with no batter.

Leave them in the tin to cool for a few minutes, then move to a cooling rack to continue cooling.

STEP 7

Now it's time to melt the white chocolate. If you are not topping the cupcakes, you can skip this step and the next one.

Melt the chocolate in a small bowl in short blasts in the microwave or in a bain-marie (bowl over simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water or the chocolate will seize and go grainy).

STEP 8

With a hand whisk, electric stick blender or in a stand mixer, mix together the vegan butter (or margarine), icing sugar, vanilla extract and melted chocolate.

If you are piping it on the cool cakes, add it to a piping bag.

STEP 9

Top the cupcakes with buttercream, fresh raspberries and white chocolate mini eggs.

Enjoy!

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baking

British, vegan

Yield: 12

Author: Jacqueline Meldrum

Easter Raspberry & White Chocolate Cupcakes

Easy little raspberry and white chocolate cupcakes, topped with buttercream, raspberries and dairy-free white chocolate mini eggs. Perfect for an Easter treat or just for a cheeky afternoon snack.

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 35 Min

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 350ml / 1 ½ cups oat milk (or your regular milk)
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 5 tbsp vegetable oil
• 125g / ½ cup caster sugar
• pinch salt
• 300g/ 1¾ cups + 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 150g / 1 ¼ cups fresh raspberries

Buttercream & Toppings (optional)

• 100g / ¼ cup + 3 tbsp vegan butter (or margarine)
• 4 white chocolate mini eggs, melted
• 5 tsp vanilla extract
• 300g / 2 cups + 1 tbsp icing sugar
• 12 white chocolate mini eggs (for decoration)
• 24 raspberries (or 12 for one on each cupcake)

Instructions

Cupcakes

1. Preheat your oven to 180c/160c fan/350f/gas mark 4.
2. Fill a 12 hole muffin tray with muffin or cupcake cases.
3. Pour milk into a jug or bowl then add the vinegar and stir.  Leave for a few minutes to turn into vegan buttermilk.
4. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl, then add salt and sugar and mix well.
5. Add the raspberries (for the cupcakes) and toss in the flour.
6. Add the oil and vanilla extract to the milk and stir.
7. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and fold to mix (as little as possible), then scoop into the cupcake or muffin cases.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes until risen and baked through. Use a skewer to see if they are ready.
9. Remove from the oven, leaving the muffins in the tray for a few minutes, before moving them to a baking rack to cool completely.
10. Now decide if you are adding buttercream and toppings. They are good plain, but even better with them. 
11. Enjoy them which ever way you serve them.

Buttercream & Toppings (optional)

1. In a mixing bowl, mix together the butter until soft, then mix in the melted chocolate and vanilla extract.
2. Mix in the icing sugar. 
3. If you think it needs to be thicker, add some more icing sugar.
4. Add to a piping bag and pipe on to cool cupcakes or add with a spoon.
5. Top with fresh raspberries and mini eggs.
6. Enjoy!

Notes:

CALORIES PER CUPCAKE

Plain cupcakes = 205 calories per cupcake

Cupcakes with buttercream, 2 raspberries & 1 white chocolate mini egg = 468 calories per cupcake.

These cupcakes can be frozen (without toppings) or kept in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Toppings are optional. They are good plain, but toppings make them extra special for special occasions like Easter or birthdays.

Calories

205.27

Fat (grams)

6.11

Sat. Fat (grams)

0.48

Carbs (grams)

34.73

Fiber (grams)

1.68

Net carbs

33.05

Sugar (grams)

13.42

Protein (grams)

2.98

Sodium (milligrams)

53.57

Cholesterol (grams)

0.00

Created using The Recipes Generator