Happy new year!! I will start the year with this lovely sweet recipe- rice cakes! I have to be honest here, I can’t remember the taste of the original rice cupcake that is usually found in every Portuguese ‘Pastelaria’ (didn’t use to eat it that much)…BUT, I don’t remember it tasting as nice as this 100% vegan version. Bonus, is gluten free too!
Time: 1h approx
Type: cake
Difficulty: 2 pans
Makes: about 12 smaller muffins (about 8 if using the giant muffin tin)
What you need:
For the cake:
6 tbsp vegetable spread
3/4 cup brown sugar (can use a mix of brown and granulated sugar)
1 cup soya milk
2 egg replacements (I used ‘organ’ one but can be made with flax ‘eggs’too)
2 cups rice flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
zest of one lemon
juice 1/2 lemon
pinch of salt
granulated sugar to sprinkle on top
Utensils:
2 large mixing bowls and spoon
food grater
(giant preferably) muffin baking tray
baking wrapping paper shaped in cylindrical forms
Directions:
Prepare the baking paper by cutting it into a few cylindrical individual muffin forms- I used my blender lid as a reference- anything with about 10-15cm diameter works;
Pre-heat oven at 200 C;
In a large bowl whisk the vegetable spread with sugar until creamy;
Prepare the egg replacement- I mixed 3 tsp of organ powder with 4 tbsp of water;
Add lemon zest and juice and soya milk to the ‘egg’ and add to the previous mixture;
Slowly add flour, baking and soda powders and salt, mixing well until well blended;
Pour batter evenly into each cylindrical baking paper (already placed in the muffin tin) and let it rest for about 15 min;
Sprinkle each muffin with a little granulated sugar and bake for about 20 min.
NOTE: the picture muffins are quite small as I don’t yet have a giant muffin tin, so if you do, they’ll come out taller!
Plant Based Portuguese 