Have you ever tried to make a non-sugar laden birthday cake? Me neither. This past week my family had a mini celebration for Mr. Bean’s birthday and I wanted to make something special that everyone in my family could enjoy. (To be honest, I also wanted to make a birthday cake to participate in the Daily Dietribe’s Gluten Free Birthday Cake Challenge. I’m a huge fan of the two birds with one stone thing.) In previous years, I’ve made some quite pretty birthday cakes (including this awesome one for Mr. Bean), but they all have too much sugar for what I (and my family) can handle:
FIL’s Roughriders Birthday Cake
Friend’s Birthday Cake
Mr. Bean’s Birthday Cake
Birthday Cake for Coworker’s Daughter
Sister’s Birthday Cake
First Birthday Cake
Jesus’ Birthday Cake
I didn’t think about it for very long – shocking I know as I usually scheme for a while before making something – but I decided to take this family friendly Happy Day Cake up a notch and add a raw cashew icing. (For what’s better than raw cashew icing? Not much.) I could have made this into a cake, but I wanted cupcakes as they are so much easier to transport and people can put on variable amounts of icing to their taste.
How did they turn out? Quite well, in my opinion. They had a nice crumb, weren’t too sweet (I reduced the amount of sugar from 1 1/3 c. to 1/2 c. plus a banana) and received rave reviews from my family.
Vegan, Gluten and Soy Free Blueberry Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes.
1 c. almond flour
1/2 c. each rice flour, potato starch and tapioca starch
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. xanthan gum
3 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest
scant 1/2 c. oil (I used a combination of canola and grapeseed oil)
1 c. rice milk (put 3 tbsp aside for egg replacer)
2 tsp. egg replacer mixed with 3 tbsp of the rice milk
1 banana, mashed
1/2 tbsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 c. fresh blueberries
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a 12 muffin tin with paper cups.
- Sift flours, sugar, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt.
- Mix in oil and milk – beat for two minutes.
- Add “egg,” mashed banana, lemon juice and vanilla and beat.
- Mix in blueberries until distributed in batter.
- Spoon batter into muffin tins and bake for approximately 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let sit in pan for a few minutes. The cupcakes will deflate a bit, but that is okay. Remove from pan and onto a cooking rack.
- Enjoy!
Note: The original recipe is made in a cake, so if you want this to be true birthday cake, divide the batter between two parchment lined 8″ circle cake pans and bake for about 20 – 25 minutes or until the cake is set.
Raw Cashew Icing
Makes about 1 c. of icing. Based on this recipe.
3/4 c. raw cashew pieces, soaked in water for a few hours
1/4 c. water (or enough so it blends well)
1 1/2 tbsp. coconut oil
1 tbsp. agave nectar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon juice
Pinch salt
- Drain cashews and place in blender.
- Add all the other ingredients and blend until smooth. I used my magic bullet – given the quantity and the consistency, it worked very well especially compared to my last experience using it!
- Place in fridge and cool for a few hours before using.
- Spoon it onto the cupcakes and try not to eat it with a spoon!
What is your favourite kind of birthday cake?
Linked up to: Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Gluten Free Wednesdays, Hearth and Soul Hop 51 and Seasonal Sundays.
What a great idea! I am going to have to try the Raw Cashew Icing for Josh as he is a huge fan of cashews and it looks much healthier than the icing I’d normally make.
If you try it, please let me know how it turns out! I think it’s pretty tasty, but I also just love cashews!
My mouth is watering, these look so tasty! I love blueberry cupcakes. Even better that they’re vegan. I just might have to make these for my brother’s girlfriend, as she’s vegan.🙂
Let me know how they turn out if you do make them!🙂
I was JUST thinking that I wanted to make my mom a birthday cake when I go back to visit this fall, but my uncle has Celiac’s so wouldn’t be able to eat my normal creations…may have to try this out!
Oh and my fave kind of birthday cake is ANY cake. Mmm.
That’s really cool and nice of you! I hope you do try it!🙂
Those look fantastic! I’m sharing this with my friend whose son is dairy/egg allergic. Vegan recipes work well for her.
Thank you! I hope she likes it!
Beautiful! I love the idea of a cashew frosting with the blueberry cupcakes. And this recipe is great for me because with only 1/2 cup of sugar, I can easily modify it to use stevia! Thanks so much for participating in the cake challenge!
No problem! Happy Birthday to you!🙂 If you try it with stevia, do let me know how it turns out!
Oh my goodness! These cupcakes look amazing! And totally healthy too! I will totally be giving these a try!😉
Thanks! If you do, please let me know how they turn out!🙂
Oh wow this looks good! I love the icing.. I haven’t ever gotten a chance to play around with trying to create a vegan icing — definitely going to be giving this a shot soon. Especially since it seems relatively easy!🙂🙂 Thanks!!
No Problem! I hope you have fun making vegan icing!🙂
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These sound wonderful! I’ve been trying to cut down on our sugar intake, so I’m glad I stumbled across this post. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you! I’m also trying to cut back the amount of sugar I eat as I don’t think large quantities of it are very good for me!
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These look awesome! Totally could go for one. Or two. Except that kind of negates the purpose of cutting back sugar, doesn’t it?🙂
This might be a silly question, but I’m a little bit confused. It says “1/2 c. each rice flour, potato starch and tapioca starch”. Does that mean you need all 3 of those ingredients? P.S. I can’t wait to try this out🙂
Hi Robin – yes, you need 1/2 c. of each ingredient. If you don’t have both starches you could probably use 1 c. of either one. I hope that helps!🙂
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I am just experimenting with vegan cheeses & vegan recipes using cashews, almonds etc. I love your frosting recipe a lot & made these cupcakes & frosting & loved every bite! thanks!🙂
Has anyone actually tried making this? I would love to hear how it turned out!
Tried these out, the recipe is perfect for my vegan, gluten free friends, and blueberries are ripe in my neighborhood! I haven’t done much vegan or gluten free baking, but my cupcakes came out a bit gooey and pretty dense. Is there any way to get past those issues?