Go Back
Spring Violet Cupcakes

Spring Violet Fairy Cakes {dairy-free}

Print Recipe
Servings 12 fairy cakes
Author Samantha

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes:

  • 1 cup /120 g all-purpose einkorn flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 6 tablespoons /90 g Melt (a butter substitute), or refined coconut oil, melted
  • ¼ cup /60 g plain coconut yogurt, or any other plain, unsweetened yogurt
  • ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • ⅔ cup /135 g granulated organic cane sugar

For the Icing:

  • ¼ cup freshly foraged wild violet blossoms, and a few more for garnish if you wish
  • ½ cup /100 g organic cane sugar
  • ½ cup /89 g organic, sustainable palm shortening, or grass-fed butter if not dairy-free (optional)
  • ½ teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon blueberry juice for colour (optional)
  • pinch of sea salt

Instructions

For the Fairy Cakes:

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Fill a muffin tin with 12 parchment paper liners.
  • In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar with an electric hand mixer on medium speed for approximately 2 minutes, until the mixture is thick and frothy, and doubled in size.
  • In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
  • In a measuring cup or small bowl, whisk together the Melt or coconut oil, yogurt, and vanilla extract.
  • Sprinkle half of the flour mixture over the egg mixture, and fold in with a silicone spatula.  When it is almost completely blended, fold in half of the yogurt mixture. Repeat with the remaining flour and then yogurt mixture just until combined.
  • Divide the batter equally between the 12 muffin cups. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, until the cakes are lightly golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Set the baked cakes, still in the pan, on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the cakes from the pan and cool on a rack until completely cooled, about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

For the Icing:

  • Blend the violet blossoms together with a couple of tablespoons of granulated sugar in a spice/coffee grinder.  Scrape this mixture into a medium sized bowl.
  • Blend the rest of the sugar in the same manner, until a fine powder is formed, and then add this sugar to the violet mixture in the bowl.
  • Add the remaining ingredients, and beat with an electric mixer until the icing is light and fluffly.  If you wish, you can add a bit of blueberry juice (1 teaspoon or so) to colour the icing a bit more. Taste, and adjust flavourings as you wish.
  • To serve, spread the icing on the fairy cakes, and top with one of the reserved violets just before serving. To make a traditional fairy cake icing, leave out the fat and use a bit of water with the lemon juice to make a glaze, something like royal icing, which you can spoon over the cakes.
  • The cakes can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day, and in the refrigerator for 3 days.  They can also be frozen, without the icing, in a sealed container for up to three months. The icing can also be frozen, and re-whipped after thawing.

Notes

* each fairy cake is low oxalate, at 1.5 mg total oxalates per cake.  I couldn't find what the oxalate content of the violets might be; they could be left out of the icing and just one placed on top for garnish.