When I was informed that August is the month of 'Cupcake Day for the RSPCA', I was absolutely thrilled at the prospect of getting involved in an initiative that combines my passion for cupcakes with the chance to get my ever-enthusiastic friends together and support such a good cause. Essentially, the Cupcake Day encourages animal-lovers to host a morning or afternoon tea and collect funds for the RSPCA's various programs. This year, I was inspired to host a cupcake day for my girlfriends, the perfect occasion to create some animal-themed cupcake...
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| My chocolate-vanilla swirl cupcakes with chocolate and peanut-butter frosting and assorted animal themed decorations! |
I felt that it was fitting for this particular cupcake day to create some vegan cupcakes, the obvious animal-friendly choice (also cakes without dairy are suitable for lactose intolerant people like me!) I decided to create a fairly simple cupcake base, drawing on elements from several different vegan cupcake recipes that I have tried and tested over the years. For both visual appeal and taste, I settled on baking a batch of marbled chocolate and vanilla cakes, with beautiful intertwined swirls of cocoa and vanilla scented sponge. Making marble cakes always produces a striking result and is relatively easy to master - just add spoonfulls of different flavoured batters into the cupcake papers and use a knife or a skewer to create a free-form marbled design.
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| The marbled cakes just prior to icing - the marbled effect is best appreciated when the cupcakes are actually cut in half (or more accurately, when someone takes a bite out of one!), but this still gives a general sense of the technique |
For decorations, I went with two different frosting options, a light, fluffy peanut butter frosting, and a richer chocolate one. I then exercised a great degree of creative licence to add all manner of critter-related decorations, from little chocolate cookies depicting Australian native fauna to candy farm animals and the slightly more tenuous 'tiny teddies', not exactly a species of note in Australia but still delicious and worth including on my animal cupcakes!
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| The finished product, my celebration of all creatures great, small, and largely fictional (tiny teddies), perfectly framed against an animal-print themed serviette! | | |
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I hope to post again an update of the event and also with the vegan chocolate swirl recipe for those interested! I am looking forward to seeing the creative cupcake skills of my good friend Kate tomorrow and also having a chance to embrace the animal loving theme in all it's glory!
xx
Anne
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| Planning to add some animal-themed flair to the proceedings in a leopard print dress...matching outfits to serviettes is becoming a habit! |
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