Abomination cupcakes

Remember how I said a while back I am pretty good at research. I think I spend a minimum of 1.5 hours every day researching something. Often it is as boring as Professional Indemnity Insurance, other times is something geeky like downloading and unpacking primary school syllabus so I can better guide my toddler and sometimes it is how to make delicious treats that don’t turn my toddler into a screaming maniac. Below is the result of one such research session. (Gee I promise I’m not quite as boring as that paragraph suggests.)

If you aren’t a Mum, these are a relatively healthy cake recipe that you are bound to have the ingredients for in your cupboard right now. Just use a vegetable oil instead of applesauce.

Abomination cupcakes (a.k.a kid friendly cakes)

This is a variation of a vegan cake recipe. I have reduced the total sugar content because my son (and plenty of others) can do without loads of refined sugars. I replaced the oil with applesauce. I prefer unsweetened. And reduced the total liquid content to adjust for the liquid content of apple sauce. Note: Any pureed fruit will do so feel free to substitute what you have on hand.

Ingredients:

• 1 large lemon (juice and rind)
• 1 ½ cups all wholemeal plain flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tsp. bicarb soda
• 6 tbsp. apple sauce
• 1 tsp. vinegar (Yep, vinegar, but I promise you, you won’t taste it.)
• Water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°celcius
2. Put flour, sugar and baking soda into a mixing bowl. Mix them together fairly well. A wooden spoon will do.
3. In a plastic jug (easier for little hands to pour) add the zest of the lemon, the juice of the lemon and 6 tbsp of apple sauce. (I zest and juice directly into the jug to save on washing up.)
4. Now add water to the jug until the whole mixture combined is 1 cup (250ml).
5. Pour your lemon juice mixture into your bowl of dry ingredients. And add 1 tbs of vinegar to the mix. (You won’t taste it.)
6. Mix well with a wooden spoon. NB Mixture will foam. That is expected when you add bicarb soda and vinegar/lemon juice. This might be a good time for a science lesson if your kids are receptive.
7. Spoon mixture into patty pans in a cupcake tray. Fill each pan ¾ full. TIP If little hands are helping, it is worth putting the batter into a ziplock bag and cutting off the corner to make a little piping bag. It is far easier to handle than a spoon.
8. Bake until the centre of the cupcake is lightly springy to the touch. I use 12 min for little cupcakes and 15 for muffin sized cupcakes (they won’t have the muffin top).
9. Ice as you prefer. I leave them un-iced or at a push lightly dist with icing sugar. But as most icing is sugar laden, icing is a special occasion treat in our house. Then we do icing so well we ship it to friends in containers to eat by the spoon, Really.