Cherry Cupcakes with Tofu Custard Cream

Cake + Cherries + Custard. It’s the BEST flavour combo. I live with an amazing extended asian family and they aren’t big fans of anything that’s overly sweet (unlike me who would literately eat sugar out of a bag and I have, please don’t judge me). Vegan buttercream can be tricky because we don’t use eggs and sometimes our buttercream can be too sweet. SO I used tofu as an egg replacer and IT WORKS!!! And it DOESN’T taste like tofu. It has a fab creamy texture followed by the powdery taste of vanilla custard. It’s delicious! 

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Cherry Cupcakes with Tofu Custard Cream

Course Berries, Cake, Cake Frosting, Cupcakes, High Tea, Mini Cake, Summer

Keyword cherry, cupcake, vegan, vegan custard

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 34 minutes

Servings 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

CUPCAKES

• 200 g plain flour
• 10 g corn flour
• 100 g powdered sugar
• 1 + ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 240 ml soy milk at room temp
• 2 tbs white vinegar
• 100 ml vegetable oil
• 1 tbs vanilla bean paste
• ½ tsp lemon extract or flavouring
• 1 can pitted cherries in juice

TOFU CUSTARD CREAM

• 160 g firm tofu
• 120 g icing sugar
• 100 g high ratio vegetable shortening
• 50 mls plant milk
• 35 g vegan custard powder
• 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
• 1/4 tsp lemon extract
• cornstarch/cornflour have handy just incase

Instructions

TO MAKE CUPCAKES

• Pre-heat oven to 180C/360F and place a heatproof bowl of water at the base of the oven. Make sure there is only the middle rake in the oven. Grease and flour a 12 whole cupcake tray or fill with cupcake papers.
• In a large bowl sieve flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt together and whisk together to combined well. Make a well in the middle of the bowl and set aside.
• In a small jug mix milk and vinegar until it becomes thick, add oil, vanilla, lemon extract. Whisk together until combined well.
• Pour 1/3 of the liquid into the flour and gently fold into the flour using a whisk. Repeat the process until all is just combined. Don’t stress if it’s a little lumpy. You don’t want to over mix.
• Pour into cupcake holes just below ¾ full.
• Open canned cherries and using a tsp, place a cherry on the center of each cake. It's okay to have a little juice in the cherry. Don’t push it down, it will sink with the bake.
• Bake in Oven for 24-26 mins or until the tops bounce back when you touch it.

TO MAKE CUPCAKES TOFU CREAM

• Completely drain and press out any water in the tofu. Using a powerful blender, blend tofu and milk until completely smooth.
• Using a mix master or hand mixer, beat shortening until soft and smooth.
• Add all other ingredients (including the shortening) to the blender and blend until thick and creamy. You may need to add a little more milk to the mix if it's too sticky. Just add a little at a time but don't add too much otherwise it won't reset. Don't worry if it's quick runny, as long as everything is mixed together well.
• Put into piping bag with a round nozzle and put back into fridge to reset the tofu. Leave over night if possible however you can leave for a few hours if you’re in a hurry, it just won’t be as thick. [See my note below if it didn't set well]
• Pip onto cupcakes and serve. I recommend keeping these in the fridge so cream stays firm.

Notes

If your custard is still too running add a few teaspoons of sieved cornflour and it will thicken it without effecting the taste. I used my Bullet blender to make the tofu cream.

DID YOU MAKE THESE CUPCAKES? Tag @veganbakesbysarakidd on Instagram and hashtag it #veganbakesbysarakidd

CHECK OUT THESE KITCHEN SCALES!
This photo isn’t as good, but I wanted to show you these amazing authentic retro scales I brought from a shop called Retro Addiction in Auckland, New Zealand. I LOVE them so much.