Coconut banana cupcakes (dairy-free & lacto-free)

Yesterday my little man said Good bye to Miss Willis, his nursery teacher, a lovely lady who worked in our school for 10 years. She is kind, motherly and oozing confidence. Alas, she had to leave as they were moving house. All the parents wanted to give her a parting gift, so we collected money and signed a huge card. But I also wanted to do a personal good bye gift for Miss Willis. I made some discreet inquiries, and have been told by another teacher that she is on a dairy free diet.
I rushed to the supermarket and got a tub of lacto-free spread for baking. On Thursday evening I baked a batch of coconut banana cupcakes, decorated them and was pleased with myself that I had everything under control. Then on Friday morning it crossed my mind to look more carefully at the spread, and I realised that lacto-free is not dairy-free, and that spread wasn't suitable for our gift recipient. Having a quick look around the kitchen shelves and the fridge, I found a jar of coconut oil and decided to have another go at baking, this time dairy-free for sure.
So, here are two recipes for both "free-from" versions, they are almost identical, apart from the different oil and also I used shredded coconut in Lacto-free recipe.

Coconut banana dairy-free cupcakes (makes 10-12, depending on the size)
Ingredients:
1 banana, mashed
150g caster sugar
80g coconut oil (for example, Pukka)
2 medium eggs
150g self-raising four
1tsp baking powder
25g ground almonds
100 ml coconut milk
1tsp vanilla essence
for the frosting:
300g icing sugar
40g coconut oil
30ml+ coconut milk
Dr Oetker silver pearls (for decorating)

Mash a banana in a mixing bowl, add the sugar and softened coconut oil, mix thoroughly. Add the eggs, flour, almonds, baking powder, vanilla essence and coconut milk, keep mixing. Spoon the batter in the muffin cases inserted in the cupcake baking tin. Place the tin int he oven preheated to 180Cand bake for 25 minutes (check after 20 minutes with a wooden skewer if they're ready). Take the tray out, let the cupcakes cool before decorating. Make the frosting by beating together icing sugar with coconut oil, add the coconut milk a little bit at a time to create  soft frosting. Using an icing bag, decorate the cupcakes and add the silver pearls on top.

Coconut banana cupcakes (lacto-free)
Ingredients:
1 banana, mashed
150g caster sugar
80g Lactofree spread (e.g. Arla)
2 medium eggs
150g self-raising four
1tsp baking powder
25g ground almonds
100 ml coconut milk
1tsp vanilla essence
for the frosting:
300g icing sugar
40g Lactrofree spread
40ml+ coconut milk
40g shredded coconut
Dr Oetker silver pearls (for decorating)

Mash a banana in a mixing bowl, add the sugar and softened Lactofree spread, mix thoroughly. Add the eggs, flour, almonds, baking powder, vanilla essence and coconut milk, keep mixing. Spoon the batter in the muffin cases inserted in the cupcake baking tin. Place the tin int he oven preheated to 180Cand bake for 25 minutes (check after 20 minutes with a wooden skewer if they're ready). Take the tray out, let the cupcakes cool before decorating. Make the frosting by beating together icing sugar with Lactofree, add the coconut milk a little bit at a time to create the soft frosting. Add the shredded coconut and mix well. Using an icing bag, decorate the cupcakes and add the silver pearls on top.

I used Pukka Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, and it is delicious in baking.