Summer Berry Chocolate Cupcakes

Method:

To make the cupcakes, preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius and line muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

Whisk together soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, and vanilla extract, and other extract, if using, to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain. Add half a C of frozen berries to the mixture.

Pour into liners, filling three-quarters of the way, ensuring you distribute berries evenly. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Transfer to cooling rack and let cool completely.

To make the chocolate icing, beat margarine and icing sugar together in a bowl.

Combine cocoa and boiling hot water and beat into icing sugar mixture until creamy.

Once cupcakes are cool, lavishly spread over cupcakes and press a large strawberry into icing.

Recipe courtesy of Isa Chandra Moskowitz. 

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

• 1 C soy milk
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• ¾ C granulated sugar
• 1/3 C canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla extract
• 1 C all-purpose flour
• 1/3 C cocoa powder
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ – 1 C frozen berries
• 12 large strawberries

Chocolate icing

• 100g margarine
• 2 C icing sugar, sifted
• ¼ C cocoa powder, sifted
• ¼ C boiling hot water