Vegan jam filled cupcakes with banana flavour sponge and beautifully smooth vegan buttercream frosting!
These delicious vegan jam filled cupcakes are the perfect addition to any afternoon tea! They’re made from a banana sponge, filled with jam and then topped with buttercream frosting and MORE JAM!
I made these recently for with a cup of tea and I began all dainty like but ended up eating four of them…WITH A SPOON! They’re delicate and, depending on which jam you fill them with, can be different every time you make them.
They’re one of my all time favourites and I’m stoked to share them with you!
Jam filled??
Yes, I know! Filling cupcakes with stuff is trendy right now, but what can I say? I guess I’m trendy! There’s a cute story behind these lil fellas though!
Back when I used to run an ice cream company I used to spend my Saturdays at London’s Brockley Market. One of my fellow traders was a company named Single Variety. She specialises in some of the most spectacular jams and preserves I’ve ever come across.
Recently, they kindly sent me a selection of their three best sellers, one of which was a jar of King George Blackberry Preserve. It was just beyond delicious. Spreading it on toast didn’t do it justice. I whipped up a batch of banana cupcakes and piped the jam directly into them. The result was fantastic! Sharp and sweet with a beautiful creamy vanilla frosting. If you can’t get your hands on Single Origin, make sure you use a good quality jam for this recipe. It really is the star of the show!
Perfect buttercream!
Yeah, the frosting looks pretty good too right? Here’s how to make yours look and taste EQUALLY good:
- I use a blend of different vegan butters because they have varying water contents, which works well in this situation. IF you can get hold of them, great! If not, don’t worry. The most important thing is:
- MAKE SURE YOUR VEGAN BUTTER IS AT ROOM TEMPERATURE! And I don’t mean “five minutes out of the fridge” temperature. I mean, take the butter out of the fridge at least 2 hours before you use it. Vegan butter doesn’t soften like regular butter, so you’ll need to make sure it’s not too firm when you whip it up.
- Add your icing sugar in increments. The worst case scenario with this stuff is that it splits, and you end up with curds instead of a nice smooth frosting. Follow these rules and you’ll have the perfect frosting for your vegan caramel cupcakes.
A little variation never hurt nobody!
I love this recipe like a child, but there are NO LIMITS to what you could pipe into these cupcakes! Why not try:
- The lemon filling from my lemon meringue pie
- The caramel from my salted caramel brownies
Equipment
- no specialist equipment required
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 1 tsp psyllium husk powder + 4 tsp water (alternatively use 1 tbsp ground flax seeds and 3 tbsp water)
- 170 ml soy milk + 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 85 g vegan butter
- 85 g light brown sugar
- 115 g granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 ripe bananas
- 245 g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
For the Filling and Frosting
- 62 g vegan butter at room temperature
- 42 g vegan margarine at room temperature
- 270 g icing sugar (sifted)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 12 tbsp blackberry or blueberry jam
- Zest of 1 lemon
Instructions
To Make the Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 175c. Line a 12 well cupcake tin with cupcake cases. Set aside.Make your egg replacer by mixing together the psyllium husk powder or the ground flax seed with the water in a small bowl. Set aside to thicken.
- Make your “buttermilk” by mixing the soy milk with the apple cider vinegar in a small bowl. Set aside to thicken.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the vegan butter on high speed for a few minutes or until smooth. Scrape down the sides and then add the sugars and the vanilla. Beat to combine. In a medium bowl, mash the very ripe bananas until roughly smooth and add to the butter mixture. Beat to combine. Add the psyllium or flax egg and beat to combine.
- With the mixer running on low speed, add half of the soy buttermilk followed by half of the flour mixture. Beat briefly to combine. Repeat with the remaining half of the buttermilk and the flour mixture. Don’t overwork the batter, mix just until combined.
- Share the batter between the 12 cupcake cases and place in the oven for 18 minutes. Remove and allow to cool for five minutes before removing the cupcakes (still in their caseand placing on a cooling rack. Make the frosting while cooling.
To Make the Frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the vegan butter and margarine and beat until smooth. scrape down the sides and add the powdered sugar along with the vanilla. Beat until smooth. The frosting should be thick and pipeable or spreadable. You may not need all the icing sugar so be sure to add in increments.
To Finish and Frost
- Using a bottle cap or the large end of a piping nozzle, cut out the top and centre of each cupcake. You want to cut a shaft about half-way into each cupcake. Carefully fill the well in each cupcake with jam and smooth off the top with your finger.
- Fill a piping bag with the frosting and top the cupcakes. Finish with some more jam, if you like, and some lemon zest! Serve and enjoy!
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