Cakes, Breads and Muffins, Genuine Reads For Genuine People, Gluten-Free Recipes, Grain-Free Recipes, Real Food, Refined-Sugar-Free Recipes

Vanilla Patty Cakes

There’s something nostalgically comforting about baking cupcakes. For me, this nostalgia stems from memories of baking them with mum in kindy and primary school (okay, she did most of the baking, but I was a dedicated bowl, beater and spoon cleaner … okay, uncooked batter eater).

These little cakes are my grain and refined sugar-free adaptation of the recipe from The Australian Woman’s Weekly Original Cookbook. This was the recipe I was brought up on, either plain with icing or no icing but with sultanas (we called these “Queen Cakes” and would made them on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend).

img_3337

When mum ran out of her freezer stash of baked goods yesterday, I offered to procrastibake her anything she wanted (as I’m on SWOT VAC for uni exams and am looking for productive excuses to take study breaks).

She requested the AWW recipe, however when I bake for mum, I need to avoid both gluten (mum is coeliac) and refined white sugar (mum has arthritis that flares up when she eats too many processed foods). Enter sneaky ingredient swaps that make for a nutrient-dense cupcake recipe that is even healthy enough to have for a special breakfast treat (you heard it here first folks!)

Vanilla Patty Cakes

  • 2 eggs
  • 125g organic butter, melted on the stove top and cooled
  • 2 cups whole almonds
  • 1 teaspoon of pure cinnamon powder 
  • 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla bean powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon aluminium and gluten free bicarbonate soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon pure sea salt (I use Changing Habits seaweed salt)
  • 3 ripe bananas or use 12 pitted medjool dates and add 1/2 cup non-dairy milk of choice. This makes the cupcakes slightly sweeter and even closer to the original recipe. Try both and see which you prefer – both are delicious!

Method

Place wet ingredient, including peeled bananas (or dates if you’re choosing that option) at the bottom of a high speed blender. Add vanilla, cinnamon, salt, bicarbonate soda and blend on high for 30 seconds. Once that batter is smooth, blend in 1 cup of almonds on high for another 30 seconds. Add the second cup of almonds and blend for another 30 seconds.

The batter will be very thick and creamy – it is now ready to divide among 9 muffin tins lined with large baking cups (I use the “if you care” brand to stay toxin free, did you know that they BLEACH regular patty cases?!?!). Gently bang the muffin tray against the kitchen bench a few times to pop any lurking air bubbles.

Transfer muffin tray to a 170 degree C oven and bake for 20-25 minutes fan forced.

Remove and cool. You can enjoy these plain or make an instant frosting by mixing together equal quantities coconut oil and nut/seed butter – see basic recipe below (add raw cacao powder and honey to taste for a chocolate frosting; vanilla bean powder and sea salt for a salted vanilla frosting; or salt and date paste – omitting honey, for a salted caramel frosting)

Icing quantities (for 9 cakes)

  • 1/2 cup nut and/or seed butter. I like cashew butter because it’s naturally sweet and very creamy
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil, softened
  • Honey if needed. Try it first, you might find it sweet enough as is

Stir together until smooth and spread on cupcakes. Leftovers can be used as a dip for fruit (e.g. sliced bananas, apple wedges etc.), spread on this yummy bread or eaten by the spoonful for a quick energy booster and tummy filler when you’re starving but time is poor

img_3340

Variations

For dairy free, swap butter for coconut oil or cacao butter (or 50:50 coconut oil to raw cacao butter ratio) and be sure to use either nut, seed or coconut milk if using the milk and date option

For a lighter coloured muffin, use macacadmias and/or cashews instead of almonds

For nut free, swap nuts for sunflower and/or pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

If you don’t own a high speed blender use blanched almond meal (or nut/seed meal of choice) instead (reduce to 1 1/2 cups) and blend for as long as your utensil requires to yield a smooth and creamy batter. It might also pay to mash the bananas first.

To change things up, try these nifty ideas

For chocolate and macadamia cupcakes, swap almonds for macadamias, stir an additional cup of halved macadamias into the batter and add 1/3 cup raw cacao powder (try with chocolate frosting, above, and garnish with a few extra macadamia halves)

For sticky date cakes, stir 1 cup chopped medjool dates through batter and increase salt to 1 1/2 teaspoons (great with salted caramel frosting – above)

Leave recipe as is and stir through 1 cup sulphur-free, oil-free sultanas for Queen Cakes

*Though this recipe contains affiliate links, it’s not an advertising gimmick! I love Changing Habits products and am a big believer in sharing my favourite brands in case you want to try them for yourself). Feel free to use other quality brands if you’ve already got them in your pantry or can’t be bothered with online shopping