Eggless christmas cupcakes

Name: Eggless christmas cupcakes
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 15
Cuisine: En
Ingredients: 450 g self raising flour + 50g plain flour; 350 g mixed dried fruits; 320 g dark brown sugar (such as muscavado); 250 ml sparkling water; 80 g chopped pecans; 100 g ground almonds; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 3 teaspoons ground mixed spice (cloves, nutmeg, coriander seed powder); 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 2 teaspoons cornflour; Zest of 1 lemon; Zest of 1 orange; 50 ml lemon juice; 60 ml orange juice; 2 teaspoons natural yogurt; 1 ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar; 2 tablepsoons sunflower oil; 250 g marzipan; 250 g white icing (ready to roll); Golden syrup (or dark corn syrup) to brush on the cakes and stick the decorations on; Red and green food colours; Icing sugar to dust; Edible glitter

Other

Very Easy

40 min

Preparation

Preparation15 min

Cook time25 min

Mix together the dried fruits (chop up any large pieces) and chopped pecans with 50g plain flour. Set aside.
In a large bowl sift together the self raising flour, baking powder, baking soda, mixed spice, cinnamon and cornflour. Sift again then gently fold in the ground almonds, lemon and orange zest.
In a separate bowl whisk together the sugar, lemon juice, orange juice, yogurt, apple cider vinegar and oil.
Add the wet ingredients to the sifted flour mixture and add the sparkling water. Whisk and then fold in the flour-dusted fruits and nuts. Be careful not to overwork the cake batter.
Spoon the mixture into a lined cupcake tray. Bake at 160 degrees C for around 20 minutes or until a skewer poked through the centre comes out clean.
Don't open the oven door for the first 15 minutes of baking. Allow to cool. Brush with warm golden syrup and first stick on thin discs of marzipan .
Brush the marzipan with more golden syrup and repeat for the icing. If you don't want it to be too sweet, roll the icing thinner.
Colour your white icing with your food colours and roll the red into little berry-sized balls and roll the green, then cut into holly shapes. Dust with a flurry of icing sugar and edible glitter.