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!

Cherry Cupcakes with Tofu Custard Cream
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
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.
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