Coconut Cocoa Cupcakes

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Hello again :) I must admit the only reason I'm getting my act together so quickly is because I ran into my friend Lea on the subway today and she complained about yesterday's recipe, can I just point out that it tastes rather amazing, but for those of you who don't want a drink that involves cocoa powder and PB2, how about cocoa and coconut in a cupcake?
Rather than giving you a recipe that involves a cake mix, I thought I could share this cupcake recipe with you.
Sometimes I start thinking of flavours and then I can't get them out of my mind.

A few weeks ago that happened with the combination of chocolate and coconut - back in high school we went on a trip to Budapest and I have this vivid memory of going out to this bar where a few of us shared this coconut chocolate milkshake. 

I think part of why it was so amazing was that what I had grown up knowing as a milkshake was banana milk. 

What really got me, though, was how well coconut and chocolate go together. It's one of those combinations that never seems to fail you. Sometimes it can be slightly overpowering. Which is why I made these cupcakes with cocoa powder rather than melted chocolate. If I'm perfectly honest with you, I do actually prefer this combination because it is lighter and if you can be bothered to make some icing for the cupcakes (how about some seven minute icing or some traditional red velvet cake icing?) the icing actually has a chance to add to the overall flavour.

One quick note of warning - if you can't find coconut extract, I'm not sure whether I would make these - imitation coconut stuff is vile. Perhaps you could add more vanilla extract or actually go down the chocolate-chip route. Or just go straight for red velvet cupcakes.
Also, I used coarse grained wheat flour because I like how it handles, for those of you in Germany, that is Spätzlemehl/Weizendunst. If you can't get hold of it the cupcakes will taste just as nice, I just happened  to have some sitting around, and decided that I wanted the cupcakes to have more of a grainy crumb (does that description make any sense to anyone other than me?)

Coconut Cocoa Cupcakes (makes 12)
100g Coarse Grained Wheat Flour
50g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
30g Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
75g Butter
150g Sugar
2 Eggs
150ml Buttermilk
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 tbsp Natural Coconut Extract

Preheat your oven to 175˚C and line a muffin tin with some pretty paper liners. May I recommend Ernie and Bert ones because they go really well with these cupcakes :)
Combine the flours, baking powder, cocoa powder, and salt in a bowl and set them aside.
Cream the butter and the sugar together until the mix goes all white and slightly fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until they are properly incorporated. Add the vanilla and coconut extracts.
Reduce the speed of your mixer (or if you're doing this by hand you'll probably be tired by now anyway) to low and start adding the buttermilk and dry mix. I find this is the easiest if you keep alternating a few spoonful of the dry mix with a  swig of the buttermilk.
Fill the paper cups with the batter and bake the cupcakes for 20-25 minutes depending on your oven.
If yours doesn't distribute the heat evenly you'll want to rotate the tin after 15 minutes or so.
When your cake tester (a.k.a. a dry spaghetti) comes out clean, take them out of the oven, let them cool in the tin for 10 minutes or so and then move them onto a wire rack to cool completely.

As I said, I think seven minute icing would be my first choice for these but they're lovely just plain as well (especially with a glass of milk).

I hope you have a fabulous rest of your week and an even better Pentecost/Memorial Day weekend!

Oh, and before you go, I was wondering - what is your favourite cupcake flavour?

Rhubarb and Polenta Muffins

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Last week I felt really old.

After being responsible adults and making sure that my bottle of Chase Gin (soo nice!!!) hadn't gone off, Verena and I spent the evening listening to 1980s music on youtube and looking at cookbooks.

And while I'm still slightly worried about my music taste I came across this lovely recipe for a Rhubarb and Cornflour Cake in Nigella Lawson's 'How to be a domestic goddess' which just sounded divine.

And compared to the other recipes in the book it's actually not that unhealthy (ok, still not healthy but you know what I mean....) :)

Sooo, since I've been trying to find something to do with all this rhubarb I've been hoarding in the freezer this was my chance.

I felt like making something slightly more girly than a loaf cake (something has to balance out the bad music...) These muffins/cupcakes (I think muffins sounds nice in the name but they feel a bit more like cupcakes) are super easy and reallyreally nice and if you're looking for something to bring to a birthday party you can feel all Stepford without the effort by making the yoghurt cream to go with it (which takes like 2 seconds).

Rhubarb and Polenta Muffins (makes 24)

700g Rhubarb
300g Sugar
150g Flour
150g Polenta
1tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda
A pinch of Salt
1tsp Cinnamon
1tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
125g Butter
250g Plain Yoghurt

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Line two muffin trays.
If you haven't already washed and trimmed the rhubarb now's the time :)
Cut the rhubarb into 1cm pieces, then mix with 100g of the sugar and set aside in a bowl.
In a bowl, mix the flour, polenta, bicarb, salt, and cinnamon.
Cream the butter and the remaining sugar. In case you haven't heard me drone on about creaming butter and sugar, it takes time :) give it about 5 minutes with a handheld mixer. I know, it's annoying, but it's really worth it. Listen to some embarrassing music on you ipod if you get bored.
Mix in the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla extract.
Add the dry mix and the yoghurt alternating as you go along. Since we're making faux-muffins, don't worry about everything being properly mixed, otherwise they can get a bit chewy.
Now add the rhubarb (including the juices), give it one last stir and then have fun trying to get similar amounts of rhubarb into each muffin paper.
Bake for about 20 minutes.
You can either eat them as they are, but if you're looking for something slightly more fancy, add some of the boozy yoghurt cream below.

Boozy Yoghurt Cream
200ml Whipping Cream
150g 0% Greek Yoghurt
1tbsp Sugar
2tbsp Desert Wine

Whip the cream with the sugar until soft peaks form (gosh I love writing this!), mix the greek yoghurt and the wine, then fold into the whipped cream.
Done :)

Red Velvet Cupcakes

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©Anna Blanch

Don't you love those recipes that don't ever fail you?
One of my favourites is that for the Red Velvet Cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery. I got this recipe from their cookbook 'More From Magnolia' which is my favourite one...not so keen on the other ones....but oh, the amazingness....if I didn't have to sit on my hands to stop the hyperness from taking over I wouldn't mind eating 3 in one go...
If you stick to the recipe (yes, I can't believe I'm saying this...but for this recipe it's true....the batch I made for this year's Eurovision party was an embarrassment....too chocolatey, too dense....do you want me to continue?) it will not fail you. So dig out your measuring cups and spoons and go crazy :)
That aside, I can't think of any cake or cupcake (though I prefer the cupcake version...) that combines all the good things in life....food colouring, sugar...lots of sugar....and the most amazing icing I have ever come across.
Anyhow, here we go:

Red Velvet Cupcakes
makes 2 dozen and a few spare ones you can feed whoever is helping you with the icing
-31/3 cups plain flour
-3/4 cup unsalted butter (if you're metric that is about 85 g), softened
-21/4 cups sugar
-4 medium eggs at room temperature
-Red food colouring - if you're using liquid use 6 tbsp, if you're using paste like me I don't have a clue....I think I tend to end up with about a tsp but I can't get a measuring soon into the tub so go for what I tend to do....use lots :) you want a deep and rich colour
-3 tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened) - this is where proper measuring spoons come in handy....
-11/2 tsp vanilla extract
-11/2 tsp salt
-11/2 cups buttermilk (if you can't find any in the shops use milk and about 1 tbsp of cider vinegar)
-11/2 tsp cider vinegar
-11/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat your oven to 175 degrees.
Line the cupcake tins.
Sift the flour in a small bowl and set it aside.
Cream the butter, add the sugar and keep going for about 5 minutes (and yes, we're using an electric mixer here....unless you've got the most amazing arm muscles ever!!). Once you get a fluffy consistency you start adding the eggs one at a time (beat well after each of them).
Now you mix the food colouring, the cocoa and the vanilla in a small bowl. If you're using food colouring paste you might want to add 5tbsp of water for the consistency. Now you get to feel like a kid because we're adding the colour to the batter :)
Stir the the salt into the buttermilk and add it to the batter alternating with the flour. Splitting the flour into 4 parts tends to work the best for me. At this stage you don't want to overbeat the batter so make sure the ingredients are mixed in but don't worry if it's not completely mixed through.
Now you mix the vinegar and the baking soda and add the bubbling mixture to the batter. Once it's properly mixed in, scrape down the batter in the bowl (make sure the batter is smooth) and fill the tins.
Bake for 20-25 minutes but check with a cake tester before you take them out.
Let the cupcakes cool in the tins for 10 minutes and then put them onto a wire rack so they can cool completely.

The Best Vanilla Frosting
makes enough for your cupcakes and to keep your helping hands happy
-6 tbsp plain flour
-2 cups milk
-2 cups unsalted butter (450 g), softened
-2 cups sugar
-2 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk the flour and the milk in a saucepan until you have a smooth mixture (i.e. lumps are bad!!!) and put it over medium heat, stirring constantly (no watching 5 minutes of something online or fixing some code or whatever.....) until it becomes really thick and starts bubbling like custard tends to (this should take about 10-15 minutes if you listened to me and put it over medium heat....).
Take the saucepan off the heat and cover the mixture with waxed paper - make sure the paper sticks to the surface (otherwise you get that weird skin custard gets and while it is amazing in custard it will turn your icing into a lumpy mess) and let it cool to room temperature.
If you're struggling time-wise I would do this step either before you start with the cupcakes in the first place or once you've put them into the oven.
Now, once the milk mixture has cooled down you beat the butter in a large bowl for 3 minutes (we're still using an electric mixer...in case you were wondering....) at the medium high speed. It will get smooth and creamy. Slowly add the sugar and keep beating continuously for 3 minutes until it's all fluffy. Add the vanilla.
Add the milk mixture and keep beating for another 5 minutes (don't be tempted to switch to the high speed because you'll get too much air into the icing and it goes all weird...) until it goes whiter - you'll notice it, suddenly it seems to go from it's buttery colour to a lighter shade of off-white...just wait for it....
Cover the mix and put it into the fridge for 15 minutes (any shorter and it's going to be too soft to spread it with a spatula, any longer and it gets too hard...so no running off!)
Now you're ready to ice your cupcakes!

©Anna Blanch