Healthy Vegan Cupcakes

  

 
These little cupcakes are full of good things, including fresh and dried fruit and even a vegetable too!  The surprise ingredient is pumpkin, handy when they are in the shops at Halloween, but at any other time butternut squash is fine too.

Keeping sugar to a minimum, there's no sweet icing on these fruit cupcakes but I'm sure you won't miss it as they're already scrumptious and much healthier too!

Ingredients                            Makes 12 cupcakes

Zest and juice of an orange

100ml sunflower oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

75g light brown muscovado sugar

200g peeled pumpkin or butternut squash

100g sultanas

200g self-raising flour

1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 level tsp cinnamon



Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas Mark 4.    Place 12 paper cupcake cases in a muffin tray.

Finely grate the zest of an orange.








Coarsely grate the peeled pumpkin or butternut squash.







Pour the sunflower oil into a large bowl and add the grated zest and juice of an orange, the vanilla extract and the sugar.  Whisk the ingredients together and then add the grated pumpkin.

Mix in the other ingredients - the sultanas, flour, bicarbonate of soda and the cinnamon.

The mixture should be moist but not wet.  If it seems too dry, just add a little cold water.
  
Spoon equal quantities of the mixture into the paper cases.   Give the tin a few light taps to settle the cake mixture. 

Bake for 25 minutes until the cupcakes are golden and feel springy in the centre. 

 Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.   Eat fresh or freeze for later.