Citrus Cauli Cupcakes
Zesty, chewy and moreish, these little cupcakes will be a total winner for your entire family. Hand these cupcakes out to waiting hands and get them to guess the secret ingredient! Cauliflower is a fabulous veg to add to cakes as it gives a moistness and a great soft texture. Trust me, the lovely orange flavour shines through so they don’t taste at all ”cauliflowery”!
I use spelt flour in this recipe. Spelt is a type of ancient wheat grain that is easy on the gut and highly nutritious. It does contain gluten, but you can easily substitute for a gluten-free version if needed. These cupcakes are also naturally dairy-free. Coconut sugar is a made from the sap of the coconut palm and is lower GI than normal sugar, so it doesn’t give such a big sugar rush and then crash.
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Citrus Cauli Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 200 g Cauliflower
- 2 Oranges
- 125 g Coconut Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 65 g Olive Oil
- 150 g Spelt Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
Icing (optional)
- 6 tbsp Icing Sugar
- 2 tsp Orange (juice)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170°C (fan) and line a muffin/cupcake tray with 12 paper cases.
- Break the cauliflower into florets, and blitz it on pulse mode in a blender until finely chopped and looking like couscous.
- Zest the oranges into a mixing bowl. Squeeze the juice into a separate small bowl or jug and set aside.
- Into the mixing bowl, add the coconut sugar, eggs and vanilla extract and whisk well. Add the finely chopped cauliflower, 4 tbsp of the reserved orange juice and olive oil and whisk again.
- Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixing bowl, and fold through to combine.
- Divide the batter between the paper cases, and bake for 20 minutes, until golden, springy and cooked all through (test with a cake tester). Allow to cool for a couple of minutes, then transfer onto a rack to thoroughly cool.
- Optional – for the icing, mix the icing sugar with 2 tsp of the reserved orange juice, then drizzle over the cooled cupcakes.
Notes
- Suitable from 12 months without the icing.
- If you don’t have coconut sugar, you can substitute with golden caster sugar or light soft brown sugar. Reduce the added sugar by 1 teaspoon every time you bake these cupcakes to wean your family off over sweet foods. Let me know how low you can go to keep them sweet enough to satisfy!
- For a gluten-free version swap the spelt flour for a gluten-free alternative such as sorghum flour or a good quality gluten-free flour blend. We have not successfully recipe tested this for an egg-free version yet.
- These can be kept in an airtight container for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
Delicious! My daughter loved them but then looked a little puzzled and horrified when I told her the secret ingredient! Didn’t stop her having another though!!
These are a favourite and after testing the recipe on friends and family, no one guesses that it contains cauliflower! I think it has a sticky toffee pudding flavour