Monday 8 September 2014

Easy Pink Kid's Cupcakes (no artificial colouring!)

When did I realise the power of the cupcake?

It was before I was vegan and a time of my life when I didn't enter the kitchen for any reason other than to boil pasta or make coffee. I visited a friend of a friend's place and she was making cupcakes to take to a party from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess. They looked beautiful in a simple and honest way. It struck me that they are such heartfelt gift or contribution to a party.  

Over the years, I have made many cupcakes and I never tire of seeing people's faces light up when they taste and see them. I've made them for friend's and family gatherings, work events and weddings. I'm kind of known for them - not through any skill, but the sheer frequency! People, vegan or not, love them. 

And they are easy and fun to make, eat and decorate.

They are even more fun to make now that I have a daughter to help me! Sylvia and I made these for her friend's birthday party yesterday. 


Sylvia told me the specifications: vanilla cupcake, pink icing, with strawberries and sprinkles. One of her more reasonable and achievable requests!

I used this recipe for the vegan vanilla cupcakes from It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken. They were lovely and light. The recipe for the icing is below. I don't mind using food colouring occasionally, but I love it when there is an alternative. You could make them pinker by adding more raspberry purée and slightly increasing the amount of icing sugar. 


Naturally Pink Icing (enough icing to pipe onto 12 standard cupcakes or 24 mini cupcakes)

1/2 cup vegan margarine (I used Nuttelex)
2 cups icing sugar
dash of vanilla
2 tsp raspberry purée (see below)

To make the raspberry purée: Blend 1/4 cup of raspberries (I used frozen). Pass them through a sieve and there you have your purée!

I made my icing in my food processor. Process the margarine around for a second. Add in 1 cup of icing sugar, the vanilla and raspberry purée and blend for a few seconds. Add the remaining cup of icing sugar and blend until smooth.

Other cupcake posts:
Vegan Wedding Cupcakes
Bananas 'n' Cookies Cupcakes
Quinoa and cupcakes for meat eaters

8 comments:

  1. your cupcake skills are much admired by me - I am not much chop with icing - do you just use a star nozzle and a bag - I have a nozzle and a bag that works well but it is such a large star it seems like a lot of icing for anyone.

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    1. Thanks Johanna :) but really not much skill involved, I just enjoy it! Yep I use a star nozzle, I use those disposable ones you can buy in woolies. Not great for the environment but ok for occasional use I think - haven't had same success with non-disposable ones, I find them difficult. Maybe I've tried the wrong ones!

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    1. Thanks :) easy to make cupcakes look pretty!

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  3. I also like to avoid food colouring in preference to natural colours - but pink can be hard, as I have learnt that strawberries just don't give much colour! I love your effects with the raspberry puree.

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    1. Thanks Kari! I've also used a bit of beetroot juice before, which worked well

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  4. Wow! I love this recipe! Great job! I'd die to taste it!

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    1. Thanks! They are yummy cupcakes, you should make them :)

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