I’m a real girly girl – in my opinion you can NEVER have too much pink, it’s just not possible. I’m 30 years old, yet when I go into clothes shops I find myself drawn to the kids clothes section and wishing that some of their pink sparkly numbers came in my size. So when I gave birth to my daughter I was so excited that I could live my life through rose tinted everything vicariously through her. Turns out she’s a bit of a tomboy – sod’s law hey!So I’ve decided if baby H and I can’t wear pink all the time we can eat pink instead. You are what you eat and all that right? These cupcakes are pretty damn special and with a little fuchsia frosting on top they’re especially damn pretty too.

I know you’re itching to make them (I can’t blame you there) so I’ll summarise them for you quickly – they’re; light, fluffy, sweet, vanilla-y (not a word), berrylicious (also not a word) and deeeeelicious! The combination of sweet vanilla and tart berries is an age old classic and with my insanely creamy coconut cashew frosting on top we’re talking serious cupcake heaven! I can’t wait for you to try these too – Barbie would be proud of them, and I am too!

Makes around 15 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes 

• 1 cup ground almonds
• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/2 cup berries (I used raspberries, strawberries and blueberries but you can use whichever berries you have to hand)
• 1/2 cup cashew butter
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup medjool dates
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp flax seeds soaked in 6 tbsp water and left for 10 minutes to thicken)
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the frosting 

• 1/2 cup cashews, soaked in water for at least 4 hours
• 1/2 cup coconut cream
• 1 tbsp beetroot or pink pitaya powder in 1 tbsp water, or 1 tbsp beetroot juice – this is for colouring so if you want cream frosting just leave this out
• 4 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

First preheat your oven to 180 degrees. To make the cupcakes, add all the ingredients except the berries into a food processor and blend for about five minutes, stopping every couple of minutes to give the mixture a good stir, until you have a smooth batter. Blitz the berries in a blender or food processor for about 30 seconds until you have a puree. Spoon a heaped teaspoon of the batter into cupcake cases, then add 1/2 teaspoon of the berries in the middle of each one, then cover with another heaped teaspoon of the cake mixture and bake them in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack for at least half an hour to cook while you make the frosting.

For the frosting, place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend for around ten minutes, stopping every couple of minutes to scrape down any mixture that’s climbed up the sides. The result should be super smooth and creamy, not to mention delicious! Place in the fridge for 20 minutes so that it can set (otherwise it will be too liquid to pipe onto anything) then spoon into a piping bag and frost away!
Love, Mrs H xx