Vegan Mango Cupcakes

Here's a slightly different cupcake I made a few weeks ago, inspired by the Indian Mango Lassi drink - a mango cupcake filled with mango puree and frosted with a lime buttercream, and it's all suitable for vegans :O The cupcake itself is egg-free, which I think makes the mango flavour really stand out. If you're not vegan, you could use butter in the buttercream, but a dairy free butter works really well too.

I used these cool black lace wraps for the cupcakes, which I found in my local home & bargains. Normal cupcake cases would work well too :)
Finally I used a Wilton 2D piping nozzle for the buttercream, which I've used before in my vanilla rose cupcakes :) I've been having a play with some other piping techniques, which I'll hopefully be able to share with you soon (some of them look SO cool).
You could also try two-toning the buttercream by painting a line of food colouring up along the inside of the piping bag. This gives a very pretty result :)

I found these cupcakes were perfect the day AFTER baking, so you could always bake the cupcakes one day and frost the next. I baked and frosted the same day and served them the day after, and they went down very well :D

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

• 180g (1 & 1/2 cups) self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 375g (1 & 1/2 cups) mango puree*
• 75g (1/3 cup) vegetable oil
• 125g (2/3 cup) caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the lime buttercream:

• 150g (2/3 cup) block of margarine (the Stork pastry block of margarine works best), softened
• 300g (3 cups) icing sugar, sieved
• 1-2 tbsp lime juice

To finish:

• Gold shimmer spray
• 50g mango puree

* If you can't find a can of mango puree, most big supermarkets (in the UK at least) sell frozen mango chunks. If you defrost and blitz these, they'll work just as well (just be sure to blend them until smooth).

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 170c (160c fan)/340f/gas mark 3. Line 12 cupcake wells with cupcake cases/wraps.

2. Pour all of the ingredients for the cupcakes into a large mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.

3. Use an ice cream scoop to evenly distribute the batter between the cupcake cases.

4. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the cakes feel springy to the touch. Leave to cool in the tins.

5. Use a teaspoon to dig into the centre of the cupcake, removing enough cupcake to go halfway down the cupcake.

6. Add a teaspoon of mango puree to the cavity of each cupcake.

7. Make the buttercream. Beat the margarine until really soft and spreadable.

8. Add half of the icing sugar and lime juice, and use a wooden spoon to beat the sugar into the butter.

9. Once all of the sugar has been incorporated add the other half of the icing sugar and keep beating until smooth.

10. Place a 2D nozzle into a piping bag and fill with the buttercream.

11. Cut the end off of the nozzle so that the tip of the nozzle has fully emerged from the bag.

12. Starting in the centre of the cupcake, pipe one continuous swirl (like a snail shell?). Repeat for all of the cupcakes.

13. Spray with the gold shimmer if you like and enjoy!