coffee + coconut = cupcake happiness

I love watching 2 broke girls. But if we had to have a relationship status on Facebook it would have to say complicated. Every single episode manages to make me want to bake cupcakes. No not want to, desperately need to make cupcakes. So this week when I saw the delicious giant coffee cupcake with coconut frosting I could not stand it anymore. I had to have that cupcake in my hand and then in my tummy!!!

I searched all my recipe books and I found a coffee cupcake recipe and a marshmallow-coconut frosting recipe and decided that it was time to introduce them to each other to form the wonder that is the coffee cupcake with marshmallow-coconut frosting.

This is what happened.

 

I also wanted to bake cupcakes just so that I could use the amazing cupcake holders that I bought at Woolworths. The colours are so beautiful and I love the patterns. Plus as a bonus they sell them in packs of 100 so I won't run out of holders after one batch of cupcakes.

All the ingredients

My wonderful chocolate piping skills resulted in slightly messy zig-zags.

I was meant to wait until the chocolate had set, but I just could not control myself, I had to eat the cupcake as soon as it was done. And it was so very delicious!

Coffee Cupcake Recipe:

Ingredients:

115g self-raising flour

½ t. Baking powder

115g butter, softened

115g light brown sugar

2 eggs lightly beaten

1T. Instant coffee dissolved in 1T. Boiling water, cooled

2 T. Soured cream

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 190 c. Put 12 paper cases in muffin trays.

2. Sift the flour and the baking powder into a large bowl.

3. Add the butter, brown sugar and eggs, and using an electric mixer, beat together until smooth.

4. Beat in the dissolved coffee and sour cream.

5. Spoon mixture into paper cases. Bake for 20 minutes, or until risen, golden and firm to the touch.

6. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.

Marshmallow-coconut Frosting Recipe:

Ingredients:

115g white marshmallows

3T. Milk

300ml whipping cream

55g desiccated coconut

55g plain chocolate, melted

Method:

1. Place the marshmallows and milk in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Leave until the marshmallows have melted, stirring occasionally.

2. Remove from heat and leave to cool.

3. Whip the cream until holding firm peaks, then fold into the marshmallow mixture with 35g of the coconut.

4. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

5. Spread the frosting on top of the cupcakes. Sprinkle over the remaining coconut.

6. Spoon the melted chocolate into a small paper piping bag, snip off the end and pipe zig-zag lines over the top of each cupcake.

7. Leave to set.

I want to eat a rainbow, now!

In case you didn't know it is food colouring that makes the world go round. It is also food colouring that makes these cupcakes so very amazing. Although they are vanilla cupcakes, they look anything but vanilla, this is because of the food colouring. Once I saw rainbow cakes I just could not help but make my own version.

Once the mixture has been made you divide it into four bowls. The colour that is going to be at the bottom of the cupcake needs the most mixture and the colour at the top gets the least mixture. So in my case purple (at the bottom) needed more mixture and white (at the top) needs the least. So I put about two-three teaspoons of purple and just under one teaspoon of white. After you put the 2-3 teaspoons of purple mixture in each case, you put about 2 teaspoons of yellow, then 1-2 teaspoons of blue, then finally about 1 teaspoon of white.  It doesnt matter if it is not exact, just make sure the lower colours get a bit more mixture.

 

I can not describe the level of excitement that I felt when the cupcakes came out of the oven looking like mini-mountains. It was kind of like Kristen Bell's Sloth moment, maybe with a few less tears. But non the less I was so very excited I think that there may have been a moment of cupcake celebration dancing.

But the hardest part was not over, I still had the Swiss Meringue Frosting to conquer.

I have about zero egg separating skills. So this handy seperator makes this Swiss meringue frosting possible.

This is what makes the magic possible. These three ingredients and a whole lot of patience.

I find it almost impossible to not eat the entire bowl of frosting. It is so very delicious.

These make me think of fluffy clouds, delicious fluffy clouds.

I decided to decorate the cupcakes with mini umbrellas.

The amazing-ness inside these rainbow cupcakes.

Rainbow Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Frosting

Cupcakes:

I used the same recipe that I used for this vanilla cake.

You just turn it into cupcakes, instead of a cake.

Frosting:

Ingredients:

 5 large egg whites

200g sugar

1 t. vanilla extract

Method:

1. Put egg whites and sugar in a heat proof bowl in a double boiler. The water in the saucepan should be simmering.

2. Whisk with a hand whisk continously until the mixture reaches 65 degrees C.

3. Remove from heat.

4. Start whipping the egg whites with a stand or hand mixer until they become fluffy and white and the bowl is cool. This can take about 10 minutes.

5. Frost the cupcakes.

Makes enough to frost a 15-20cm cake, or the cupcakes in this recipe.