Recipe of the Week - Quick Chocolate Cupcakes {Wheat Free & Dairy Free}

I've got a bit out of the way of sharing recipes over the last few months, but that doesn't mean that I didn't have any to share, or that I didn't want to keep posting them. I have a list of new free from recipes I'd like to share, plus I still want to re-share some of the older recipes from the early days on my old URL and transfer them to this blog. I'm hoping that this year I'll be able to share recipes most week like I used to, so let's get the ball rolling again with a nice quick recipe.

Last year my kitchen calendar was a Bake Off one, which had a different recipe for each month. Early on in the year there was a recipe for making some speedy cupcakes, and so I thought I would adapt it and try a free from version. It was a huge hit with the boys and is now one of my regular bakes.

It's one of those recipes where you throw everything in together and then mix, so not only is it quick to make, it's also quick to tidy up again afterwards!

If you've seen any of the recipes I've shared in the past you may have noticed that I always said that Doves Farm Gluten Free Self Raising flour was my go-to free from flour. That was until last spring/summer, when Sainsbury's brought out their own brand Gluten Free Self Raising and Plain Flours and these are my new absolute favourites for free from baking. They contain similar ingredients to the Doves Farm flours, but the Sainsbury's flours don't contain any Buckwheat. Buckwheat flour has quite a strong flavour and although the taste of baking with the Doves Farm flours was very good, there was still a slightly different flavour to all of the bakes when compared to that of wheat flour. The difference in taste between bakes made using the Sainsbury's free from flours and wheat flours is almost impossible to tell. 

I realise this is not very useful information if you don't have a Sainsbury's near you however! I know that Asda have also brought out their own brand of free from flour, and although I have never baked with it, I have tasted something baked by a friend and I would say it is very similar to the Sainsbury's one. As far as I know, and certainly the last time I checked a couple of months ago, Tesco don't have their own brand free from flour, which I'm surprised about given that the other two big stores do. Anyway, if you can get to a Sainsbury's then I highly recommend trying to stock up on their free from flours, but if not then just stick to the Doves Farm one as it is still an amazing alternative.

Now onto the cupcakes at last.

To make them you will need:
140g wheat free self raising flour 40g cocoa powder 200g caster sugar 125ml vegetable oil 175ml oat milk (or other dairy free alternative if you can't have oats) 1 egg, beaten
~Put the flour, cocoa, and sugar into a food processor and pulse a little to mix it all together. ~Measure the oil, oat milk and egg in a jug together and then add to the dry mixture in the food processor. ~Pulse the food processor just until everything has mixed together. Scrape down the sides of the processor to make sure all of the dry ingredients are mixed and then pulse once more, just for a few seconds. You will have a lovely smooth mixture, and it should be runnier than you would normally expect for a cake recipe. ~Pour the mixture into 12 cupcake cases and bake at 180C for around 20 minutes. ~Transfer the cupcakes to a cooling rack and mix up the icing.
For the simple butter icing you will need:
50g dairy free margarine 150g icing sugar 25g cocoa powder
~Put the margarine in a bowl and beat until soft. You can either do this by hand with a wooden spoon, a handheld mixer, or ideally a free standing mixer so that you can get on with something else at the same time! ~Once the margarine is soft then gradually add the icing sugar and cocoa until you have a nice creamy looking butter icing. ~Once the cupcakes are cool then spread the butter icing on top, or if you are feeling fancy then pipe it on in a nice swirl. 
Now, wasn't that straightforward and quick?

Sixteen

16 years ago today our oldest boy was born. 

He kept us waiting for 10 days after his official due date, the second latest any of the boys were in arriving - beaten only by Alasdair who was 11 days late.

James was named after my dad, and my grandfather- and quite a few generations of James' before them too. My father in law's middle name is also James so the name comes from both sides of the family.

Right from the earliest days he was a happy, smiley little man.

James aged 6 weeks

James aged 10 weeks

I remember when that photo above was taken. He was only 10 weeks old but to me that was already so old and it was impossible to remember life before him!

I've had fun going through old photo albums and thought it would be fun to mark his 16th birthday by looking at all of his birthdays through the years.

Starting with his first birthday.

His first birthday cake was a simple one with a picture of La-La from the Teletubbies drawn on it.

He loved La-La!

The album with his 2nd birthday photos in it must be in the loft as I can't find it anywhere else!

On his third birthday he had a little football cake. This was around the time that Calum, then 3 months old, was really struggling with severe eczema. James' was moderately bad at the time too, in fact I would have thought it worse if Calum's hadn't been so severe. So life was pretty tough for a while with two little boys with such intense skin care regimes. Plus very little sleep.

But by the time of his fourth birthday we had the skin care regimes down to a fine art. Their eczema was still there but I guess we had just become experts at managing it.

I think they could almost pass as Alasdair and Fraser in this photo!

Aged 5 and James was into his space phase. It was also the first year he had a party for his birthday with other friends around and not just his cousins.

The 6th birthday photos must be in the same place as the 2nd birthday ones as I can't find them either, so let's move on to his 7th birthday, which was around the time he started on his superhero phase.

When James was turning 8 he had a huge fascination with the Ancient Egyptians. It also happened that at that time there was a big exhibition of Egyptian treasures in the O2 in London. There was also a really great offer on train tickets to London at the time - I'm pretty sure that we got returns from Edinburgh to London for £5 each! So for James' 8th birthday we all took a trip to London for a couple of nights to go and see the Egyptian treasures.

When we were back home again he got his cake, which was shaped like a Dalek from Dr Who. My brother thought it was some sort of bug but James knew what it was meant to be!

By his 9th birthday he had brief obession with Ben 10, but still loved all things Egyptian and received quite a few Egyptian themed presents.

Aged 10 he had discovered Club Penguin and asked for a Club Penguin cake.

When he turned 11 he was still very interested in all sorts of history. His birthday party was a Medieval Banquet.

His cake that year was quite a work of art and is worthy of it's own photo!

I took his continued love of Captain America and Marvel as inspiration for his 12th birthday cake, this red, white and blue concoction.

When he became a teenager he asked for a chocolate cake. Simple.

You may remember me sharing some of these cakes in previous years, like the one he had for his 14th birthday which was meant to look like the Marvel badge. I love this photo of him and his cousin Finlay - a fellow Marvel fan!

Almost up to date now, and onto last year's cake which was this chocolate M&Ms cake.

And finally his 16th birthday, which we celebrated at the weekend rather than today as James has Army Cadets on Monday nights and so wouldn't have time to enjoy his birthday dinner and cake.

Birthday boys always choose the birthday dinner and this year's choice was no different than what he has asked for for the last five or six years - home made steak pie, which we had with roast potatoes, roast parsnips and veggies.

When I asked James what he wanted for his birthday cake this year he said, 'Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.'

I think I fulfilled the brief!

Chocolate cake surrounded with chocolate fingers and topped with milk & white coated chocolate Oreo truffles as well as coconut truffles.

Even I struggle to finish a slice of it but the birthday boy was delighted with it.

After all, if you can't overindulge on your 16th birthday then when can you?