Coconut cupcakes

    Christmas is coming and it is a time of a year when it doesn’t matter how old you are, you still get excited about it. In fact, I like to be prepared; I like to know if I am going to make certain dishes or certain desserts. And this time I am going to try out new cupcake recipe with coconut and colorful toppings. Once again, I am going to use an enormous amount of mixing bowls, so do not get lost!

This is one of the ways of making cupcakes without a pastry pan

For this recipe you will need:

·         60g/4tbsp unsalted butter;

·         200g/1cup sugar;

·         2 eggs;

·         160g/1cup flour /or self-rising flour, then exclude the baking soda;

·         1tsp baking soda;

·         120ml milk;

·         5-7tbsp coconut flakes;

·         1tsp vanilla extract;

·         A pinch of salt;

 Making:

1.       Pre-heat oven at 177⁰C.

2.       Bowl ONE: Mix the butter until it becomes soft;

3.       Add sugar and mix it with the butter, until it gets fluffy, then add eggs.

4.       Bowl TWO: Add flour, baking soda (if needed) and salt, mix.

5.       Bowl THREE: Add milk and vanilla extract and stir gently;

6.       Now take the bowl ONE and carefully add mixtures from bowl TWO and THREE alternately while mixing;

7.       Add coconut flakes, and use as much as you want to be inside of a cupcake;

8.       Add the mixture to the cupcake cups;

9.       Put in the oven for 22-24 minutes;

In order to make them look like from baking magazine, let them stay inside of an oven for some time, this way they will stay nice and shiny. But you are not obligated to do that. For the perfect top, I can recommend the butter-cream frosting. It stays nice and firm, doesn’t flow down after a while and, of course, is tasty.

For the frosting, you will need:

·         200g/1cup butter;

·         400g/2cups of confectioners/icing sugar;

·         2tbsp milk;

·         0.5tsp vanilla extract;

·         A pinch of salt;

Making: 

1.       Very basic recipe, add everything carefully to the bowl, make sure before you add the butter is at least at rooms temperature, otherwise it will be impossible to make frosting good;

2.       Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry, and then add milk;

3.       Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. Do not worry if you don’t put all of the frosting on the cupcakes, you can refrigerate it for 2 weeks or more, just before using make sure it didn’t attract any smells or tastes from fridge;

Also, you can add color to the frosting if you want. Just make sure it looks natural enough. Also, the overflow of color might lead to the colorful teeth, lips and tongue, so be careful.  Do not start covering the cupcakes in frosting if they still are warm, this will lead to the melting buttercream and usually ruined cupcakes.  To cover the cupcakes with icing use the decorating bag or a butter knife.  It all comes to your imagination after ‘the recipe is out of the oven’!

Make sure you enjoy your upcoming holidays!