I finally got around to making a batch of Momiji Cupcakes. The recipe I ended up using is:

For the cupcakes
2 free-range eggs
75g cooking margarine
150g caster sugar
125g Alpro Soya yoghurt
225g self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 tsp red food colouring
3 tsp Black sesame seeds

For the icing (optional)
25g cooking margarine
45 icing sugar
1 tsp Vanilla essence
sprinkles or sweets

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. You'll need to take the vegetable oil or cooking margarine & mix the sugar together, which actually sounds easier than it actually is, you may need to get your hands dirty for this.
3. Take the black sesame seeds & crush them with a pestle & mortar.
4. Next, we add the eggs, yoghurt, vanilla seeds, food colouring & crushed black sesame seeds to the sugar & vegetable oil & mix together well.
5. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and cocoa powder together, add it to the cake batter and fold gently until the flour & batter have mixed well.
6. using a desert spoon, carfully place some of the cake mixture into 12 Momiji cupcake cases set in a cupcake tray. Bake for 10-15 minutes, then remove from the oven and place onto a wire rack to cool.
7. For the topping, whisk the vegetable oil/cooking margarine, & vanilla together in a separate bowl, until smooth.
8. Gradually add the icing sugar, stirring well to combine and avoid any lumps from forming.
9. Spoon the topping into a piping bag and pipe a neat swirl of icing onto the top of each cupcake.

You may actually find that the recipe for the butter icing is barely enough to cover one cupcake, so you'll have to use it sparingly, or you could increase the amount of ingredients you're using, but it's ultimatly up to you how you decorate your cupcakes as you're the one who'll be eating them.

Try this recipe for yourself & let me know how it goes. I found that the black sesame seeds added a delightfully nutty texture to the cake, although I had intended on using them to add colour to the cake, but I couldn't grind them to a fine enough powder to actually affect the colour of the cake mix.

I took a few photos, for some reason, but got slighly carried away, taking far too many pictures than I necessarily needed. But it was far too much fun, but that's  a story for another time!