Carnation Cupcakes

My friend Amy left crazy busy London for a life beside the sea in Portsmouth a few months ago. I must say I was a little envious of her apartment when I went to visit for her Christmas party this weekend- a view of the sea, the Isle of Wight in the near distance and prime position for watching the (awesome) hovercrafts ferry people to and fro (to be honest a lot of it was hovercraft envy. Did I mention they have hovercrafts? They have hovercrafts!)

I made these gluten-free and dairy-free vanilla cupcakes to contribute to the party spread since Amy can't eat either. The sponge was a regular sponge cake recipe with Stork instead of butter and a gluten-free self-raising flour mix, and the 'buttercream' was made with vegetable shortening and coconut cream instead of actual butter. At first I was a bit worried about the texture of the mock buttercream as vegetable fat can leave an unpleasant film in the mouth, but the coconut cream seemed to balance this out, so it was all good.

Now that I'm back in London, I need to try to find a way to make hovercrafts common public transport here...