Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes with Christmas Sugar Sparkles
I absolutely loved this creation. No prizes for guessing - because I love chocolate AND coconut AND sparkles :)
It could be a result of the 4 hours of labour I put in the kitchen just for this - there's this phenomenon called Effort Justification in psychology, which is about how we tend to attribute a much higher value to the outcome than we would have simply because of the effort we put in to obtain the outcome.
Last month, I was in Phoon Huat shopping for something (I can't even remember what it was now), and - as usual - I ended up buying a lot more things than I planned to. Things like Christmas cupcake holders, a piping tip, and very delightful Christmas sugar sparkles!
Nothing spells Christmas like dessicated coconut sprinkles on top to give that snowy effect. I could use icing sugar too, but I decided to be more adventurous.
Some of my friends asked "Why are your cupcakes square?" Here's the answer. Hahaha! I crammed too many paper linings on the tray, so when the cakes expanded in the oven, they squashed against each other and became squares. You can see how the one at the bottom left corner expanded indiscriminately without much blocking from other cupcakes and became some misshapen mutated cupcake. I need to get a proper cupcake tray.
Doing the frosting was not hard. It was the piping! #sorrypleaseindulgeinmyrantingforawhile
I didn't have a proper piping bag, and the tip kept slipping back into the buttercream in the makeshift piping bag I made...it was so messy and tedious, I lost count of the number of tissues I used just wiping the buttercream off the sides of the tip just so that I could get a good grip for piping. SO MUCH EFFORT.
I tried to do the 'proper' frosting you see on conventional cupcakes at first, but soon realised I had no skill. So I ended up doing stars and hearts.
I ended up with a lot of frosting towards the end, so I tried to do the proper frosting again and I think at least one didn't turn out too bad (see the one featured in the first photo).
I only trust the best, so I adapted my recipe from an award-winning cupcake entry and modified it somewhat. Theirs had additional coconut almond filling, but I left that out. Maybe I'll try it next time.
Recipe adapted from Chocolate Moosey
Makes 30 unfilled cupcakes that don't spill over the paper liners
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
250 - 260g dark chocolate, broken into pieces (feel free to use milk or white as per your preference)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup hot coffee
1/3 cup whole milk
1 1/3 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp dessicated coconut
141g unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Frosting / Buttercream:
3/4 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp plain flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp coconut essence
Method
1. Preheat oven to 160C. Line cupcake pans with liners, or place liners on baking tray.
2. In a heatproof bowl, add the chocolate and cocoa powder. Pour in hot coffee and HANDWHISK till smooth. DO NOT use an electric mixer unless you want chocolate coffee all over you and the table. Whisk in milk. Set aside.
3. Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, and dessicated coconut together in a bowl. Set aside.
4. In a large and high mixing bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until well incorporated each time. Add vanilla extract and beat well.
5. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the chocolate mixture. Mix till smooth after each addition, before adding the next.
6. Pour batter into paper liners and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes our clean. Leave to cool.
7. For the frosting, use a medium saucepan to whisk the milk, flour, and sugar until well-blended. DO NOT turn on the heat until after the blending, else the flour will end up clumping together! Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
8. In a large bowl on high speed, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy for about 5 minutes. Add the milk mixture and coconut extract, beating on high speed until it is the texture of whipped cream.
9. Scoop frosting into a piping bag and start having fun! After frosting, sprinkle dessicated coconut and Christmas sparkles on top.
10. Frosting might soften in room temperature (at least in Singapore's weather), so put cupcakes in the fridge for maybe 10 minutes to let it set better. Then serve and enjoy! :)
