Rose-water Ladies
Ingredients (for the cakes)
1 cup of soymilk
1 tablespoon of white vinegar
1/2 cup of olive oil/vegetable oil
3/4 cup of raw sugar
1 tablespoon of cornflour
2 cups of self-raising flour, sifted
1 teaspoon of rose-pink food colouring
2 tablespoons of rose-water essence
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
(for the icing)
2.5 cups of soft, twice-sifted icing mixture
3 tablespoons of softened non-dairy margarine
1 tablespoon of softened copha (about 20 grams)
1/4 cup of soy milk
2 tablespoons of rose-water essence
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Marzipan
Green and rose-pink colouring
Method
- Preheat oven 180 degrees celcius. Line a 12 cake pan with muffin cases, or grease.
- With a spoon, measure the vinegar into the soy-milk and stir. Sit for five minutes so it thickens.
- Now, add oil, colouring, essences and sugar and beat until frothy.
- Add dry ingredients and beat through until no clumps remain.
- Pour evenly into muffin cases and bake for 18-20 minutes until a skewer comes out mostly clean.
- DO NOT ICE UNTIL COMPLETELY COOL. Trust us on this one!
(for the icing)
- Sift, sift, sift. You want your icing sugar to be as soft and light as possible.
- Now, add copha and margarine and beat until it turns from a powder into a clotty paste. Stay with it. Sometimes it looks like it isn't going to happen but the longer you beat it, the better it will be.
- Add soymilk and essences and beat until thick and creamy. It should hold shape well - if too solid, add a bit more soymilk.
- Pipe onto cupcakes in swirls using a star nozzle.
- For the roses and leaves - knead a couple of drops of colouring through a small, 2 cm knob of marzipan. Make a ball of pink and a ball of green. Make sure your hands are clean and damp before the next stage.
- To make roses, flatten out a thin rectangle of marzipan, about 1 cm high and 2 cm wide. Curl up the marzipan, and pinch off the excess at the bottom. Make a couple of other "petals" and layer them around, flaring them slightly before pinching them off to give a blooming effect. When they are dry, use a pin to drop pink colouring inside the heart of each rose.
- To make leaves, make a small oval of green marzipan and lightly pinch the top and bottom to create the shape. Then use a sharp knife dipped in water to score the middle and sides to create veins. When dry, use a clean paintbrush and paint over them with green colour - it will flow into the veins and make them appear more marked.
Enjoy with tea and lots of cheerful company!
