Willie's Cupcakes (wheat & dairy free)

Mel's family has a traditional birthday treat, Willie's Cake. It's a yellow cake with chocolate frosting made from scratch and is a Sweet favorite. When Maisha was having mystery allergies, we adjusted the recipe so that it would be wheat and dairy free. Mel was nervous to mess with tradition, but everybody who tried it said it was just as delicious as the original. Also, we made them into cupcakes instead of the usual doubly layered cake.

Ingredients

• 3 egg whites
• 3 cups granulated white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, unsalted (vegetable oil or margarine work, too)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 1/3 cups soy milk, separated (plus a bit extra for dissolving cornstarch)
  
• 2 1/2 cups white spelt flour
  
• 4 squares baking chocolate, unsweetened
• 2-3 tablespoons cornstarch

Instructions

For the batter...

1. In small bowl, beat 3 egg whites until stiff & foamy.
2. In large bowl, mix 2 cups sugar, butter (softened/melted), vanilla, baking powder.
3. Gradually add 1 cup soy milk & white spelt flour to mix.
4. Add beaten egg whites to mix. Fold in by hand until just mixed.
5. Place cupcake papers in a cupcake pan. Pour batter equally into them.
6. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes, until middle is not sticky.

For the frosting...

1. Put a medium sized pot on the stovetop on medium heat.
2. In the pot, add the baking chocolate, 1 1/3 cups soy milk, 1 cup sugar.
3. Mix together. Let it begin to boil. Leave it at medium heat the entire time.
4. In a small bowl or cup, dissolve 2 heaping tablespoons of cornstarch in a bit of soy milk.
5. Pour the dissolved cornstarch/soy milk into the pot. Continually stir until mixture thickens.
   

For the assembly...

Once the cupcakes are baked, let them cool completely. Let the frosting cool, too - it will be easier to decorate this way. Then, you'll be free to frost the cupcakes and decorate them however your heart desires.

Reflections

The traditional Sweet family recipe is the same as blogged here, but with wheat baking flour and cow's milk (to be exact, an even more traditional recipe calls for chicken fat instead of butter - we think butter works nicely enough). Instead of using a cupcake pan, you can use two greased 8-inch pans and assemble them like a standard cake.

Important! Make sure the spelt flour is white spelt. Mel tried using brown spelt flour and was disappointed at how un-"Sweet" it was.