Orange Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

My good friend Takeshi bought some Orange Extract for my birthday!  I thought it was about time I used it so what better occasion then for his birthday!
I think Chocolate and Orange is a perfect combination.  I had baked Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream the week before so was a bit chocolated out.  I had read on the Orange Extract bottle that Vanilla goes well with Orange.

The bonus about these cakes is that not only do they taste great but they are dairy-free!  It does contain egg so aren't Vegan.

I looked up fairy cake recipes and used this one as my basic recipe.  I bought some Billington's Natural Golden Icing Sugar but it had no recipe on the back.  It did mention a site called http://www.bakingmad.com so I had a look through the buttercream recipes and settled on this one: Basic Buttercream because it was simple and used the smallest quantity of the fat compared to the other recipes.

Makes 12 Cakes

Ingredients:

125g Pure Sunflower Spread
125g caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp orange extract
125g self raising flour
2 tbsp Alpro Soy Milk (I happened to use the UHT red, any will do)
A pinch of salt

1.  In a bowl, beat the spread and sugar until fluffy.  I used a wooden spoon.

2.  Pour the beaten egg slowly from a measuring jug and beat in.  Add the orange extract and pinch of salt.

3.  Sift in half the flour and fold into the mixture.

4.  Add the soymilk (put in the eggless measuring jug for easy pouring, you might need more or less depending on the consistency).

5.  Put your fan oven on now!  180 - 190.

6.  Line your cake tin with cases.  Spoon mixture into tin and whack the tin downwards so the mix settles into the cases.  (Don't be overzealous, you want the cake mixture IN the cake tin/cases not on the ceiling.)

7.  Bake for 10-15 mins until risen and golden.

8.  Allow to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.  Allow to fully cool before any attempt on icing.

I took this out about 12 mins.  Light and fluffy!

For the icing:

50g Pure Sunflower Spread
200g Billington's Icing Sugar
1tsp Vanilla Extract (or to your taste)

Decorations:

Always check the ingredients each time.  I chose these because they are Vegetarian.  The slices contain egg.

Soft Gold Pearls for the eyes
Orange Slices for the mouth I just ate the lemon ones, yum yum :D

1.  Put the spread into a bowl.  Beat it until soft.  Slowly sift in the icing sugar and stir.  Repeat until the icing sugar is mixed in.  Add your flavouring.

2.  I put some boiled water into a cup and swirled it around to cool it down.  I'm thinking hot water isn't just boiled.  I didn't want my icing sugar to dissolve into a runny liquid.  Add enough for a good consistency.

3.  Put your face on!

Review:

These made me smile!  They tasted really good.  The icing tasted toffee-like.  Probably the best cakes I've made so far :)
If I never told you they didn't contain dairy, you would never know ;)
Smiles all round!