Drizzled Cupcakes Recipe (Vegan, obvs.)

I usually make nothing but chocolate cakes, but today I needed a change and 'made up' a recipe: i.e. I took a variation on a basic non-vegan chocolate sponge, de-choco-fied it, took out the eggs and milk, and added a different flavour as well as some spur-of the moment toppings.

Here it is for sharing :D By the way, you get a gold star if you can work out what flavour the cakes are from my oh-so-subtle and minimalistic use of a particular ingredient *G*

Recipe:

Modified from a plain chocolate cake from the M&S Chocolate book.

The Cake:

100g sugar
100g soy margarine
juice of 2 lemons
225g of flour
pinch of baking powder
approx. 200ml soy milk mixed with a little cider vinegar (yeah, I know...but the vinegar makes the soy milk thicker according to 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World')

The Syrup:

Juice of 1 lemon
50-100g of sugar

The Icing

Juice of 1 lemon
150-200g of icing sugar


Instructions:
Pre-heat oven to 180C.

Cream the soy margarine and sugar together in a bowl. Sieve the flour and baking power together, then alternate between pouring the soy milk and the dry ingredients into the bowl, gently folding the mixture together. Add the lemon juice and a teaspoon or so of the rind (this is why I like to be organic unwaxed lemons - so the rind is okay). At this point you can add some more soy milk if the batter looks too thick, or some more lemon juice if it isn't lemony enough.

Put the batter into cupcake cases and bake for approximately 15 minutes - the length of time depends on the size of the cakes, but you can test their readiness by quickly opening the oven door and prodding a knife into the nearest cake. If it comes out cleanly, the cakes are ready.

Leave the cakes on a wire rack to cool.

To make the syrup:

Heat the sugar and lemon water over a medium-level heat until the sugar has dissolved, and the mixture has started to thicken slightly. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Prick the tops of your cupcakes with a fork and drizzle some of the syrup over them.

To make the icing:

Make a simple glace icing but using the lemon juice in place of the water. Once the cakes are fully cool, dollop or drizzle on the icing and let it firm up a little before serving the cakes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few notes: I'm a chucker, so some measurements aren't precise. I tend to go by the 'look' of things and add liquid ingredients according to how thick the batter should look. You don't want a doughy batter, but you don't want something as thin as pancake batter either; somewhere in between is what you're aiming at.