Friday, February 26, 2010

Coconut Cupcakes


 

Unless you really, really like coconut this is probably not the right post for you. If you do though, then continue on and enjoy! After flipping through the pages of my  Martha Stewart Cupcakes Book  and putting little post it notes all over the pages, I finally settled on her Coconut Cupcakes. 
This cupcake takes coconut to a whole new level. Every component of this cupcake has coconut in it one way or another. All the ingredients are straight forward and available at the supermarket. Look for the unsweetened coconut milk in the Asian food section and make sure to not buy sweetened coconut milk.
I had no problems finding unsweetened shredded coconut at my Fry's supermarket either but if yours doesn't carry it, most health food stores will.

First off let's talk about the cake. It is basically a yellow cake with all of your usual suspects of flour, butter, sugar and eggs. The addition of finely ground up sweetened coconut and unsweetened coconut milk takes this cupcake to a whole new level. It has a perfect crumb and sweetness without being overly sweet.

Next up, the frosting. This one is called Seven-Minute frosting. You start by making a sugar syrup that gets boiled to 230 degrees F (use your candy thermometer). The hot sugar syrup then gets added to lightly whipped egg whites which then get whipped with an electric mixer for seven minutes (hence the name). The frosting receives it's coconut taste from coconut extract that gets added towards the end of the seven minutes. The mixture becomes billowy and almost as light as whipped cream. The finished result tastes like a really fluffy coconut flavored marshmallow creme.

And after all of this the cupcake is pushed completely over the top by being sprinkled with unsweetened flaked coconut.

I loved this cupcake and so did the rest of my family (minus our youngest). We all thought it was a well balanced cupcake. I will most definitely make this recipe again!





6 comments:

  1. Bring on the coconut! Esp. the sweetened, flaked kind.
    I love how pretty your cupcakes look.

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  2. Well-balanced is definitely how to describe this. The coconut was subtly infused through the entire delicacy. The milk added to the yellow cake mix brought the cake to a whole new level of silky smooth yumminess, while the billowy frosting was my favorite part completely. I could just eat that in a bowl with a spoon all day long. One thing I wonder, would be how the flavors may be enhanced with a lightly toasted coconut shaves instead. Perhaps next time you try toasting some and doing a few like this so your family can experiment with the difference and see if the nuttiness enhances or detracts from the flavor.

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  3. Devon, my kids have already requested the toasted coconut topping for the next batch. The only thing that held me back this time was the fact that it would have "ruined" the all white look I was going for. But I will definitely give it a try next time around. Stay tuned for Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins!

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  4. Hamptons Event Planner, you can go here for the recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/coconut-cupcakes-with-seven-minute-frosting

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