Vegan Chai ‘Buttercream’ Icing

When I decided to make Macha Green Tea Cupcakes for this month’s Sweet Adventures Blog Hop I was at a loss on what to frost them with. The cupcakes themselves are pretty healthy – enough so to be perfectly acceptable for breakfast – and I didn’t want to ruin a good thing with mounds of sugar and butter. Who am I kidding, I’ll eat any cake for breakfast but these are just that little bit more justifiable…

I considered chocolate for a while as a topping but thought it may overwhelm the delicate macha flavour, plus I wanted to do something that could be flavoured with Chai Spices for a double-tea-inspired dessert. The resulting icing although called ‘buttercream’ contains no butter… nor does it contain cream. It also doesn’t contain sugar or weird shortening or soy either. So what’s left I hear you ask…

Well it’s simple. Hazelnuts, Banana and Coconut Oil – and some Chai Spices of course. If you think it sounds like my Nut-tella-type Choc-Hazelnut Spread without the cocoa powder you would be correct. I have some ideas about other options so I recon this will be re-visited at some point but for now, and for these cupcakes, this worked perfectly.

I must admit I did initially try to steep Chai Tea in the coconut oil. While it did perfume the oil I didn’t consider the result worth the effort in this instance and I subsequently added a homemade Chai Spice mix to intensify the flavour. The recipe below just uses added spices but you can certainly try the tea and oil method if you are so inclined!

Pop over to check out the Macha Green Tea Cupcakes and all the fabulous Sweet Adventures Blog Hop ‘What’s your cup of Tea’ creations that have been linked up. Don’t forget about the prize pack giveaway compliments of Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea – just join us for SABH to be in the draw!

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Vegan Chai ‘Buttercream’ Icing

Ingredients:

• 1 cup – approx 125 g – hazelnuts, roasted
• 1/2 c mashed banana
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp spices – from a mix of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, ginger and a pinch of black pepper
• 1-2 tsp lemon juice*
• pinch sea salt

Method:

Toast hazelnuts in a pan over medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes – shaking regularly until toasted and fragrant. Wrap in a tea towel to cool then rub to remove skins.

Place hazelnuts in a food processor and blend into a fine meal. Add coconut oil and process again. Add banana, spices and lemon juice and process until smooth and creamy.

Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes, serve immediately. Makes enough for 6 cupcakes.

*Notes:

• A bit of lemon juice will help the banana to stay light instead of darkening – ever leave a mashed banana out on the counter for a while, yeah, it’s like that – but it is still best to eat these shortly after icing.
• Any extra Icing can be stored covered in the fridge and used as a spread for toast. Mix in a bit of cocoa powder and you have Chai spiced Nut-tella-type Choc-Hazelnut Spread – it’s like magic. It is only logical that the chocolate version can be used as Icing just as easily as the plain Chai one. Go wild.

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