Nadine Fownes at Nova Scotia News is as enthusiastic about cupcakes as we are:
"... cupcakes are experiencing a huge upswing in popularity right now.
Brides and grooms are serving cupcakes instead of the traditional multi-tiered wedding cake. Specialty bakeries have popped up in just about every major city and small town, their pastry chefs trying to outdo each other with unique flavour combinations and whimsical, over-the-top decorations that look almost too pretty to eat.
The latest cookbooks and magazines are filled with glossy, pastel-coloured spreads of cupcake porn.
The web is crowded with hundreds of frosting-fingered food bloggers posting breathlessly and endlessly about the joy of cupcakes, and only cupcakes.
And in big cities like New York, Chicago, London and Toronto, where there are as many cupcakeries as there are espresso bars these days, there are even organized cupcake crawls which promise to tour connoisseurs from shop to shop, where they can taste, compare and contrast cupcakes as if they were sampling fine wines.
And she posted several recipes, including this one for coconut cloud cupcakes (I can't tell where this one originates from, but am happy to credit whoever that is):
COCONUT CREAM CUPCAKES
175 ml (3/4 cup) butter, room temperature
300 ml (1 1/4 cups) sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
250 ml (1 cup) canned unsweetened
coconut milk (shake well before opening)
10 ml (2 tsp) vanilla extract
550 ml (2 1/4 cups) flour
5 ml (1 tsp) salt
5 ml (1 tsp) baking powder
175 ml (3/4 cup) sweetened flaked coconut
Coconut Buttercream Frosting
1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
50 ml (1/4 cup) heavy cream
10 ml (2 tsp) vanilla
500 ml (2 cups) icing sugar
375 ml (1 1/2 cups) sweetened flaked coconut, lightly toasted in a dry frying pan
Preheat oven to 175 C (350 F) and prepare muffin tins by lining with paper cups. Spray cups lightly with cooking spray. Recipe makes about 20 cupcakes.
Cream butter until light and fluffy; add sugar and cream till light and fluffy, scraping down sides halfway through to ensure even mixing. Add eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds each. Scrape down sides after each egg to ensure even mixing.
Sift together flour, salt and baking powder. In another bowl, mix together coconut milk and vanilla.
Add a third of dry ingredients to creamed butter, sugar and eggs mixture, then half the coconut milk mixture. Continue alternating dry and wet mixtures, ending with dry. Stop mixing just as ingredients become incorporated; do not overbeat or cupcakes will be tough.
Gently fold in coconut. Scoop into cupcake papers about a half to three-quarters full. Bake 18-22 minutes, rotating pan after first 15 minutes to ensure even baking. Cupcakes are done when toothpick inserted into centre comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool for a minute or two in the pan, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Make frosting: Beat butter until creamy, scrape down sides of bowl. Add sifted powdered sugar and milk. Beat until smooth. Add half toasted coconut and mix until combined. Spread or pipe icing onto cupcakes and sprinkle with remaining toasted coconut.
"... cupcakes are experiencing a huge upswing in popularity right now.
Brides and grooms are serving cupcakes instead of the traditional multi-tiered wedding cake. Specialty bakeries have popped up in just about every major city and small town, their pastry chefs trying to outdo each other with unique flavour combinations and whimsical, over-the-top decorations that look almost too pretty to eat.
The latest cookbooks and magazines are filled with glossy, pastel-coloured spreads of cupcake porn.
The web is crowded with hundreds of frosting-fingered food bloggers posting breathlessly and endlessly about the joy of cupcakes, and only cupcakes.
And in big cities like New York, Chicago, London and Toronto, where there are as many cupcakeries as there are espresso bars these days, there are even organized cupcake crawls which promise to tour connoisseurs from shop to shop, where they can taste, compare and contrast cupcakes as if they were sampling fine wines.
And she posted several recipes, including this one for coconut cloud cupcakes (I can't tell where this one originates from, but am happy to credit whoever that is):
COCONUT CREAM CUPCAKES
175 ml (3/4 cup) butter, room temperature
300 ml (1 1/4 cups) sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
250 ml (1 cup) canned unsweetened
coconut milk (shake well before opening)
10 ml (2 tsp) vanilla extract
550 ml (2 1/4 cups) flour
5 ml (1 tsp) salt
5 ml (1 tsp) baking powder
175 ml (3/4 cup) sweetened flaked coconut
Coconut Buttercream Frosting
1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
50 ml (1/4 cup) heavy cream
10 ml (2 tsp) vanilla
500 ml (2 cups) icing sugar
375 ml (1 1/2 cups) sweetened flaked coconut, lightly toasted in a dry frying pan
Preheat oven to 175 C (350 F) and prepare muffin tins by lining with paper cups. Spray cups lightly with cooking spray. Recipe makes about 20 cupcakes.
Cream butter until light and fluffy; add sugar and cream till light and fluffy, scraping down sides halfway through to ensure even mixing. Add eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds each. Scrape down sides after each egg to ensure even mixing.
Sift together flour, salt and baking powder. In another bowl, mix together coconut milk and vanilla.
Add a third of dry ingredients to creamed butter, sugar and eggs mixture, then half the coconut milk mixture. Continue alternating dry and wet mixtures, ending with dry. Stop mixing just as ingredients become incorporated; do not overbeat or cupcakes will be tough.
Gently fold in coconut. Scoop into cupcake papers about a half to three-quarters full. Bake 18-22 minutes, rotating pan after first 15 minutes to ensure even baking. Cupcakes are done when toothpick inserted into centre comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool for a minute or two in the pan, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Make frosting: Beat butter until creamy, scrape down sides of bowl. Add sifted powdered sugar and milk. Beat until smooth. Add half toasted coconut and mix until combined. Spread or pipe icing onto cupcakes and sprinkle with remaining toasted coconut.
Comments
Thanks bunches for posting!!
Love ya!
xoxo Jenny