Cocoa Cinnamon Swirl Muffins

Muffins are such a great staple, slightly less fancy and celebratory than an iced cupcake, but perfect for an everyday treat. As they don’t have the extravagant toppings they do need an interesting flavourful sponge to shine through, and this recipe has 3 dimensions of flavour (sugar, cinnamon and cocoa) to delight the taste buds. A variation on The Misfit Baker’s snickerdoodle loaf these little beauties are utterly delicious. The sponge is light and fluffy and the sweet, spicy, cocoa swirl is just amazing. In fact, these muffins have seen the paper cases licked clean by all who ate them –  Now that is high praise!

Cocoa Cinnamon Swirl Muffins (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, soya-free (depending on the yogurt used), vegetarian and vegan)

Makes 18

• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 3 tbsp soft brown sugar
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1/4 cup cornflour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup dairy-free spread
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 3/4 cup dairy-free yogurt
• 1 1/2 tsps vanilla essence
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 3/4 cup dairy-free milk, I use oat milk

– Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade/Gas Mark 4
– Fill a cupcake tray with liners
– In a small bowl, mix together the 2 tsp cinnamon, cocoa and soft brown sugar
– Sift together the flour, cornflour, baking powder and 1/2 tsp cinnamon
– Mix together the yogurt, vanilla, lemon juice and oat milk. Set aside.
– Cream together the dairy free spread and caster sugar until light and fluffy
– Alternatively add some of the dry and wet ingredients until they’re all used up and you have a nice smooth, silky batter
– 1/3 fill the liners with the batter, sprinkle over 1/2 the cocoa and sugar mix.
– Add the rest of the batter on top, then again sprinkle over most of the rest of the cocoa and sugar mix.
– Using a blunt knife, give each muffin a swirl, then sprinkle over the remaining mix
– Bake for 18-20 minutes until the muffins have risen nicely and are cooked through (a knife/skewer comes out clean)
– Cool on a wire rack.