Coconut Cupcakes

These are coconut cupcakes with a Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting!

The middle cupcake was my perfected Swiss Buttercream. The one on the right was less successful. However, it was the exact same portions, steps, even the same batter as the left one. Just skipped one small step.

I actually learnt this coconut recipe from a class at the Bonnie Gordon College of Confectionary Arts, and they were delicious. Mind you though, they were very very sweet. So in my recipe, I've cut down on the sugar content a little bit. You can always up it if you're big on sugary cupcakes.

During my class, they topped the cupcakes with a Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting. I love love love this frosting, but find it extremely difficult to make (I tried 4 times for these cupcakes, imagine how frustrating that is). Basically, it's an egg white, sugar, and butter frosting, with a little bit of vanilla. The egg whites and sugar are heated on a double broiler, and the butter and vanilla is beat in. There's also an Italian Meringue Buttercream (which is practically the same) but it's done in a slightly different order. Therefore, I've made a completely separate post for the Swiss Meringue Buttercream. So check that out!

Ingredients for the coconut cupcakes (makes 12):

• 1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp potato starch
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2/3 cup fully shredded fresh coconut (these come in cans) or 1/3 cup toasted dried coconut (you can toast them yourself)
• 75 ml coconut milk
• 75 ml plain yogurt or sour cream
• 1 tsp coconut extract
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 3/4 - 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp white vinegar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line your cupcake tray.

Beat your butter in a bowl (just to make it easier to beat later), mix in your sugar with the butter and beat for 30 seconds. Then beat in your egg and vegetable oil. Pour in your coconut milk and yogurt/sour cream, and just mix that with a spatula.

In a separate bowl, your dry ingredients: flour, starch, salt, baking powder. In three portions, mix your wet into your dry ingredients bowl, and beat in slowly each time. 

Toast up your dried coconut in your toaster oven for 2-3 minutes (if it wasn't toasted to begin with) and mix into the overall mixture. Be careful not to burn them!

In a little bowl, mix in your baking soda and white vinegar quickly so it fizzes up, pour that into your batter, quickly mix, and scoop into your baking tray. (The baking soda and white vinegar mix is my secret to making cupcakes rise, so do that quickly right before going into the oven).

Bake for 12-15 minutes. If you often end up with dry cupcakes or hard cupcakes, it's mostly because you're over-baking them. Check at the 12 minute mark to give you an idea of how done it is. If you stick a toothpick in and it's completely not set, you'll know you need 3-5 more minutes. If it's just about done but slightly gooey on the top, bake for another minute or two. 

You can choose to do an American Buttercream frosting, where it's just icing sugar, butter, vanilla, and milk, but I strongly detest that frosting. It's extremely sweet and just kind of tastes like icing sugar. However, it's much much easier. Nonetheless, here's a recipe for that.

You could also choose to the Swiss Meringue Buttercream route, which is much tastier, less sweet, creamier. but much more difficult. Here's the recipe for that. 

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Swiss Meringue Buttercream, oof.

I say oof because of how many bad batches I made to get one good batch. But I did learn how to get that good batch! However, I loooove the taste of this frosting. I also love the smell of it, it reminds me of the steam milked that goes into lattes.

Ingredients:

• 4 egg whites
• 3/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 cup of butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch salt

Here are my tips to start out:

• Try to touch the egg whites as little as possible, oil can ruin a meringue real easy.
• Wipe down your bowls with water and lemon juice to get all the oil off.
• Have 3 bowls for separating, one for yolks, one for whites, and one for mess-ups. Yolk in a meringue can mess it up just like oil does.

Get a pot, put in water (about 1/4 of the pot depth), and simmer it.

Meanwhile, separate your 4 eggs, and pour the egg whites into a heatproof bowl (that will go into your double broiler) and add the sugar (make sure it's lump-free!).

Double broiler:

Whisk slowly to mix for about 3 minutes, until it's been perfectly blended. To test, scoop a little out, it should be warm and smooth when rubbed between your fingers. Once it is, take it out, get out your eggbeater, and beat on high-speed for about 10 minutes or until stiff peaks (lift up and it should stay up).

Okay, now this is super important I missed these steps my first 2 failed batches and it turned out as goop. Cool your egg whites completely. This is around 10-20 minutes, until the very bottom of your bowl feels completely neutral. As well, your butter must be cool. So about 20 minutes out of the fridge. This isn't room temperature, because it'll turn to goop when mixed, but not cold, because cold butter gives lumps when whipped. 

Think about it this way, if your egg whites are still warm and you put your butter in, it'll melt, and your frosting definitely won't hold.

Whip your cooled butter in one bowl, just to get rid of lumps. In your separate bowl with the egg whites, rewhip those. This is what I messed up on in the 3rd batch. You must rewhip your cooled egg whites because it'll give almost a curdled look if you mix it straight with the butter. After everything is whipped, mix your butter into the egg whites, add your vanilla and salt, and beat on slow speed for 1-3 minutes until stiff enough to hold its shape. 

See how it's smooth but also holds its shape?

 Put it into your piping bag, and pipe onto your cupcakes!

Notes:

• If it does become too runny, you can put it into the fridge for 30 minutes, take it out, and try to rewhip it.
• You can put it in the fridge for 2-3 days and rewhip it for 5 minutes to reuse
• You can also freeze it for a while, and rewhip it

And there you are! Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting. Enjoy making!

- Jane Bakes Things

Carrot Cake

Carrot cake! Carrot cake used to bother me because of my dislike for carrots. I think it was out of hunger desperation one day that I actually got around to trying one and realized it tastes nothing like carrots. And the cream cheese frosting is just my favourite.

Besides, it could just as well be an apple cake or pineapple cake, right? Just substitute portions!

Unfortunately, my sister took our nicer camera with her to New York so these photos are far less impressive. Nonetheless:

Makes 2 8-inch or 9-inch layers or one 13x9 cake

Cake ingredients:

- 3 medium carrots

- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (I used 1 cup because I'm not too big on sugar)

- 1 cup vegetable oil 

- 3 large eggs

- 2 cups all-purpose flour

- 1/2 tsp cinnamon

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/4 tsp nutmeg

- 3 tbsp applesauce

- 2 tbsp milk

- 1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

Cream cheese frosting: (with frostings I recommend doubling up on ingredients in case you mess up)

- 8 ounces (1 cup) room temperature cream cheese

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- 2/3 cup cold heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 confectioners' sugar (icing or powder), sifted

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Spray down your cake trays with a cooking spray/ butter and flour them/ or if you're like me and super paranoid, butter them and line with parchment paper. 

Peel your carrots with your fruit/vegetable peeler and grate them down with the large grater holes.

I originally used 4 carrots which was way too much! 

Not a good carrot to grate (it's too thin!) but makes for a good wizarding wand

Separately, beat your sugar, vegetable oil, and eggs with your eggbeater. Once well mixed, add in everything else except the carrots and nuts. 

Mix those in nicely, then add in the nuts and carrots. I used full walnuts rather than buying the already cracked sets since they're actually quite pricey! I cracked about 10 walnuts, you can use more if you like more crunch in your cake. 

If you're doing layers, divide evenly and flatten out the batter, that's important!

If doing layers, bake for 25-35 minutes. If doing one cake, bake for 45-55 minutes. Make sure you check on them so they're not too hard/burn. Let it cool for about an hour. I've had cakes break on me from being too hot and it's a horrible feeling.

You can see why I used parchment paper to line my trays. Comes off nice and clean.

Carefully cut across the tops of the cakes to make sure they're flat. The difference between a slightly lopsided cake and a perfectly flat cake is that each of your layers are flat. I have a giant knife that I use to cut across. A tip would be to measure down the sides of your cake, then place toothpicks around your cake to show where you want to cut it to.

Now comes the frosting. Frosting/icing has always been the thing that pushes me far far away from doing cakes or cupcakes. This is the same recipe I used for the red velvet cupcakes (because it's absolutely delicious), but it's a bit of a hit or miss. I had to make 2 batches last time to get a good one and I had to make 3 batches this time around to finally get a good one.

Start with your whipping cream. Beat that with an eggbeater (I suggest a hand one since you keep a better eye on it) for about 5 or so minutes. Note that it's not a precise time that you should beat it, you really do have to keep watch. You want it just so when you lift up the cream with the eggbeater, it'll stay in that position. It's alright if it's a soft peak (softly holds that peak when you lift it up) because you will beat it with the cream cheese later.

Separately, beat your cream cheese, vanilla extract, and icing sugar. You don't really have much time to beat it when it's mixed with the whipped cream, so beat it meticulously now. Have your cream cheese at room temperature because it's much easier to get lumps out. Once it's soft and whipped, lightly fold in your whipped cream, beat for about 15-30 seconds. You really just want it mixed. What you should see is the ripples from the eggbeater actually staying in the frosting batter and not sinking away. If not, either beat it for 15-30 more seconds, or you've over beat it already. That's why it takes me 2-3 times to get this frosting right, it's so easy to mess up yet hard to tell, so give yourself time to get it right.

Your frosting batter should come out like this. It should be fluffy and light, but holding all the shapes you make in it.

Frost the layers of your cake, starting from bottom to up.

Don't mind mine, it's really not cut flat, I was losing patience. As well, there's my giant knife that I use to cut the tops of my cakes. This was my 2nd batch of frosting which was way too runny (as you can see).

Assemble your cakes and frost all over. I stuck mine in the fridge overnight after frosting and piping it completely.

And a lovely day of baking was over. My new piping tips and coupler, ahh! 

In the morning, I took my cake out from the fridge, and look!

You can see the original (and runny) frosting on the sides, which irks me to no end, but the 3rd batch of non-runny frosting is what I piped with. And it actually doesn't move in the least bit (I'm just not a good piper).

And that's a carrot cake! Enjoy baking!

- Jane

Red Velvet Cupcakes & Cream Cheese Frosting

Cupcakes have always driven me crazy. Always. Which is why I NEEDED to get them right this time, for my own sake.

My cupcakes have always turned out too stiff, didn't rise enough, or the frosting didn't set right.

This recipe made the cupcakes turn out just the way they should! The original recipe stated 12 cupcakes but it really only makes about 9. However, it does make 9 of the most delicious fluffy cupcakes with the creamiest frosting. 

What makes the difference is mixing baking soda and vinegar at once into the cupcakes and the whipping cream in the cream cheese frosting.

For the cupcake you'll need:

(check out the note right under the ingredients list)

• 1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cups granulated white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon liquid red food colouring
• 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Note: 

No cake flour? Substitute 1 cup of cake flour for 1 cup of all-purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons

As well, if you can't find buttermilk or can't be bothered to: Substitute 1 cup of buttermilk for 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar and use milk for the rest to achieve 1 cup, and let it sit for 5-10 minutes!

For the frosting, you'll need:

• 4 ounces (1/2 cup) cream cheese, room temperature (this has been recently changed, I halved the quantity of the cream cheese)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup confectioners' (icing or powdered) sugar, sifted
• 2/3 cup cold heavy whipping cream (double cream) (35-40% butterfat)

Okay! Start with preheating you oven to 350 F or 175 C. Line your muffin tray with your baking cups (cupcake liners?)

In a large bowl, sift your flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder together (especially that cocoa powder)

In a separate bowl, use a mixer and beat your room temperature butter at low-medium speed until soft. Add in your sugar and continue beating for a minute or so until fluffy and well-mixed. Add in your egg and vanilla extract.

In a measuring cup or small bowl, mix your buttermilk with your red food colouring. Be careful to put a towel under because red food colouring stains horribly. 

With your mixer at low speed, alternate between your flour mixture and buttermilk + food colouring mixture in three additions. Start and end with your flour mixture.

Mix the baking soda with the white vinegar in a small bowl. It should fizz up nicely or else your baking soda is a bit too old. Working quickly, mix into your cupcake batter. From there, divide your batter up into the muffin tray.

The batter should be a brilliant red like so:

Here's how important that baking soda and white vinegar mixture is:

The one on the left is with, and the one on the right is without

Pop your tray in the oven and bake for 18-23 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Meanwhile, clean up and make the frosting!

The original recipe calls for beating your in all your ingredients with the whipping cream going in last, where it will whip up and become thick and hold well.

However, that method is way too easy to mess up. So I somewhat worked backwards.

In one bowl, beat your cream cheese until very smooth. You don't want any cream cheese lumps in the frosting. Mix in your icing sugar and vanilla extract.

In another bowl, beat your cold whipping cream on high speed for a couple of minutes until it turns into a light whipped cream consistency, holding soft peaks. They don't have to be stiff peaks just yet because they will be beat a little more.

Once it's holding it's peak, mix in your cream cheese mixture and beat quickly until the lumps are out, and it holds it's shape. Don't over-beat because it may turn into an even runnier consistency.

Here's what the frosting should look like:

After that's done, put it into a piping bag with any piping tip, be sure to squeeze out the excess air, and have fun with it. For reference on how to assemble a piping bag, look at the last post!

Enjoy and good luck!

- Janeator Bakin'