Eggless Lemon Cupcakes

Lemons remind me of spring.

If you love lemon desserts, this cupcake is for you. Most lemon desserts use the juice and/or the zest f a lemon. This one uses the juice, zest AND the peel. There is lemon in the cake, in the glaze and in the garnish of lemon peel, candied of course. Oh!

There's another thing that's special about this cake: it's eggless AND it can easily be adjusted to be vegan too. 

That this is an eggless cake is relevant to me because many of my family members are vegetarians who unlike me, don't eat eggs. Some are vegan too. As a result, I often can't share my cakes with them which is a darn shame. 

No need for fussy icing. Just a tangy glaze and some candied lemon jewels.

So yeah, there are no eggs, no butter and the milk and heavy cream which I used can be easily substituted with soya bean milk or almond milk if you want it strictly vegan.

There is also no need to whisk or beat; just mix with a wooden spoon.

The only extra mile you have to go is in making the candied peel for the garnish. This isn't difficult but it takes time. But, the garnish is optional of course.

Bright, tart and tangy.

Eggless Lemon Cake

11/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup milk/soya bean milk/almond milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup heavy cream (for vegans, omit this and double the soya milk/almond milk)

2/3 cup sugar (more if you prefer your cake sweet)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon zest

Zest and my brand new grater. Love.

Lemon glaze

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup powdered/icing sugar, sifted

Candied lemon peel

Skin from 1 lemon (unzested)

1 cup water

1 cup + 2 tbsp sugar

Add the apple cider to the milk and let the mixture sit for 5 mins. 

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

In another large bowl, mix the oil, milk, cream, vanilla, zest, lemon juice and mix till incorporated. 

Add the flour mixture to the batter in three batches and mix till smooth. 

Line a cupcake tin with liners and spoon the batter to fill 3/4 of the liners. Bake for 15-20 mins or till a tester comes out clean.

To make the glaze, simply mix the powdered sugar with the lemon juice till smooth. Once the cakes come out of the oven, let them cool a little before you pour the glaze over. Simply drop one spoonful of the glaze over the centre of each cupcake and watch it spread.

Candied peel. 

To make the candied peel, cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice out. Using a sharp knife, carefully scrape out the flesh, leaving the white pith inside the skin. Cut the skin into thin strips.

Put a pan of water to boil and add the strips. When the water comes to a boil, drain the skin and repeat the process twice more.

Drain once more. 

Mix one cup water and one cup sugar in a pot and put to boil. Once the sugar dissolves and the syrup comes to a boil, add the skins in. Let the strips cook in the syrup until soft and transparent, about 20 mins. Remove and roll in the remaining 2 tbsp sugar. 

Place the sugared strips on a baking sheet and leave over night to dry or bake in an oven (100F) for about an hour (keeping an eye on them midway and three-quarter way through to make sure they don't burn). 

Garnish.