Vanilla coconut cupcakes - Cupcake book club

Kelly, www.americancupcakeabroad.com, has the most fantastic blog, everything looks yummy, don't read it if you are hungry!

In a fantastic flash of inspiration she has started a cupcake book club, the basic premise is to read a book with a foodie theme then bake a delicious treat inspired by the book. You can read all the details here, why don't you join in?

This months book is called Love in the making (also called Semi sweet: A novel of love and cupcakes) by Roisin Meany and it centres on Hannah opening a cupcake shop in Ireland. Lots of flavours of cupcake are mentioned but not specific execution, which allows you to be creative.

The words vanilla coconut jumped out at me and that was the starting point for my cupcake.

I made a vanilla cupcake filled with a coconut pastry cream, this was frosted with a marshmallow frosting and the whole thing topped with toasted dessicated coconut.

Vanilla Coconut cupcakes

makes 12

For the cakes:

125g butter at room temperature

125g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla paste (what I would recommend) or 1 tsp vanilla extract (NOT vanilla flavouring)

2 medium eggs at room temperature

125g self raising flour

½ tsp baking powder

3 tbsp milk 

For the pastry cream:

2 egg yolks (you will use the whites in the frosting)

50g caster sugar

12g plain flour

175ml coconut milk (I used light)

For the marsmallow frosting:

225g caster sugar

3 tablespoons water

2 egg whites at room temperature

pinch salt

pinch cream of tarter

First make the pastry cream to allow it time to chill in the fridge. 

In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and flour until light and thick. 

Put the coconut milk in a saucepan and bring it slowly just up to the boil. Pour the hot coconut milk onto the egg mixture slowly, whisking all the time. Return the mixture to the pan and stir over a low-medium heat until it comes up to a gentle boil. (It must boil for it to thicken.) Continue to cook, stirring all the time, for 2 minutes or until it has thickened.  Mine thickened very quickly.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour into a bowl.

Cover with Clingfilm, the surface of the Clingfilm must touch the custard or a skin will form, and allow to completely cool in the fridge.

Next make the cakes. Beat your butter, sugar and vanilla together until very light and fluffy, this can take up to 7 minutes (!) depending on the speed of your mixer, thankfully it takes me about 3-4.

Add the eggs one at a time and beat for a further two minutes.

Add the flour and baking powder and mix until just combined. Finally add 3 tbsp of milk and mix till combined

Fill each of your cases 2/3 full and bake in a preheated oven at 180/Fan 160^oC for ~20minutes. They are done when they are lightly springy on top. Allow the cakes to fully cool on a wire rack. 

Once the cakes are completely cool cut out a cone and fill the cavity with the pastry cream, put the cone back in, trimming it to fit. 

Next make the frosting. In a small saucepan, combine the caster sugar with the water and bring to a boil over a moderately high heat, stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved, this will take ~2 to 3 minutes.

Beat the egg whites (with a hand or free standing electric whisk) with the pinches of cream of tartar and salt until soft peaks form.

With the mixer at medium speed, carefully pour the hot sugar syrup into the egg whites, make sure you keep whisking as you pour the syrup in.  Continue beating the frosting until cool and billowy, the bottom of the bowl should feel cool, this will take about 5 minutes. 

Pipe swirls onto the top of the cupcakes and top with toasted dessicated coconut. (to do this just put dessicated coconut in a pan and toast lightly till golden, keep an eye on it, it will turn very quickly).

These cupcakes are one of the nicest I have eaten in a long time, the flavours and textures are made for each other. The general consensus is that the frosting could be eaten straight from the bowl with a spoon. Nb. Do keep an eye on your frosting otherwise partners/lodgers/houseguests might just well attempt to do this from under your nose...

The only downside was I gave most of these away as gifts. I am under strict instructions to make them again soon and this time not let one solitary cupcake out of our front door!

Cookies and cream cupcakes

I mentioned a few posts back about baking a selection of cupcakes to give away. I have already detailed the raspberry champagne cupcakes and next up is the turn of the cookies and cream cupcake.

Everybody probably has their own interpretation of how exactly this cupcake should be assembled but this is the one I came up with on the day. A chocolate cupcake filled with bits of broken Oreo, and a vanilla buttercream, containing finely crushed Oreos, as the frosting. The whole thing was topped with half an Oreo.

The chocolate cupcake recipe that I used was the basic chocolate cupcake recipe from the hummingbird bakery. Of course if you have another favourite chocolate cupcake recipe use that instead! I only needed 6 cupcakes and found that 3 Oreos broken up into the batter mix was enough to give each cupcake plenty of texture.

Cookies and cream cupcakes

Makes 12

For the cakes:

100g plain flour

20g cocoa powder

140g caster sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

40g soft unsalted butter

120ml whole milk (I used semi skimmed and all was fine)

1 egg

1/4 tsp vanilla paste

6 Oreos broken up

For the frosting:

80g butter

250g icing sugar

3 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla paste

3-4 Oreos, very finely crushed

6 Oreos cut in half

Preheat the oven to 170⁰C/Fan 150^oC and line a 12 hole cupcake tin with paper cases.

Put the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and butter in a large bowl and beat on a slow speed, with either an electric hand mixer or free standing mixer, until well combined and a sandy consistency.

Whisk the egg, milk and vanilla extract together in a jug and add half to the dry mixture.

Beat slowly to combine and then a little quicker to beat out any lumps. Add the remaining liquid mixture and beat slowly to combine. Do not over-mix. Finally fold in most the broken up Oreos reserving a few pieces. 

Divide the mixture between the cases, each one 2/3 full, sprinkle the top of each one with a few pieces of the reserved broken up Oreos. Bake the cupcakes for 20-25 minutes in the preheated oven until they spring back to the touch. Note the mixture will be very slack, do not panic this is how it should be.

Remove from oven and allow them to cool on a wire rack before frosting.

To make the frosting beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla together, at first the mixture will look a sandy consistency, but be patient, it will eventually come together. Add the milk a table spoon at a time, and continue to beat for 3-5 minutes until very light and fluffy. Finally slowly beat in your fine crushed Oreos until combined.

Using a piping bag or a palette knife frost the cupcakes and top them with half an Oreo. 

Oreo brownies

I have a brownie pan that is calling out to me to be put to proper use. I bought it during lent whilst I was off chocolate and so clearly no brownies were going to be made then. It did not languish in my cupboard for months however, it has had a couple of outings, first to hold my cinnamon buns and secondly for foccacia bread.

But now the time has come, I want brownies, and the pan can at last fulfil its true purpose.

I had half a pack of oreos left from baking cupcakes at the weekend, and figured waste not want not, and lobbed them in too. If you want plain brownies just leave them out!

Oreo brownies (Adapted slightly from Hummingbird bakery cookbook)

200g dark chocolate

175g butter

300g caster sugar

115g plain flour

15g cocoa powder

3 eggs

Oreos broken up (optional)

Preheat the oven to 170^oC/fan 150^oC and line you brownie pan with baking parchment.

Melt the chocolate and butter until smooth (I did this in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water).

Once melted, remove the butter chocolate mix from the heat and stir in the sugar until fully incorporated.

Add the flour and cocoa powder to the bowl and mix until combined.

Beat the eggs lightly with a fork and add to the bowl, mix until smooth and then finally stir through the oreos.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and cook for 30-35 minutes until lightly flaky ontop but not overcooked.

Leave to cool in the pan then cut into chunks.

A few notes, I only had 7 oreos left but I think 10 would be a good number to go in oreo brownies.

These brownies were lovely and fudgy in the middle, and I am one of those people who like a bit of a crisper edge, however my very corner pieces were maybe a tad crisper then even I like. I think next time I would cook them in my oven for 30 minutes. Every oven varies so it may be a case of trial and error with your brownies, even so I have no doubt that they will be delicious.

Finally my recipe says to cut into 12 chunks, even as an avid brownie lover that seemed large! So I cut into 20 chunks, I have no issues with people going back for seconds!

Easy Focaccia

This is a nice and easy focaccia bread that takes minimal effort from you, the bread does the rest of the work!

The recipe below is for a plain focaccia bread, feel free to tart it up with whatever takes your fancy.

You could use favoured olive oil to add a different taste, or sprinkle over some rosemary before cooking. Alternatively you could add ingredients to your dough before kneading, such as chopped olives, chopped sundried tomato, chilli flakes or any combination of the above.

Plain Focaccia bread (Hairy Bikers)


makes 1 loaf


500g strong white flour
7g sachet of fast action fried yeast
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp fine sea salt
2 tbsp olive oil + extra for greasing
300ml warm water


3 tbsp olive oil 
2 tbsp sea salt flakes
1 tsp ground black pepper


Put the flour, yeast, sugar and salt into a bowl. Mix the olive oil and water and add to the dry ingredients. 


Stir with a wooden spoon, then bring the dough together with your hands.


Knead the dough, on a lightly floured surface, for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic and then place into a lightly oiled bowl. 


Cover the bowl with clingfilm, leave in a warm place and allow the dough to rise and double in size  for about an hour.


Lightly oil a large baking tray (I used my brownie tin as my baking sheet does not have suitable sides). Tun the dough onto a floured surface and knock it back. Press the dough into a rectangle roughly the size of your baking tray. Carefully place the dough o the baking tray and ease it out to meet the sides.

Cover with oiled clingfilm and leave in a warm place to rise for a further 30 minutes. 


Preheat the oven to 220/200 fan. After 30 minutes your dough should look light and spongy. Remove the clingfilm  and use your finger to push dimples in the dough, right through to the bottom of the tray. 

Drizzle the olvie oil over the top of the dough, allowing it do trickle into the dimples. Sprinkle your salt and pepper over the dough along with any other toppings as you so wish.

Bake in the centre of the oven for 15-20 minutes, unti lwell risen and golden brown. 

This bread lends itself to dipping in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, or as part of a platter style meal.

We filled it with left over chicken, mozzarella, fesh basil and pesto and put it in a sandwich press to make a divine evening meal.

Raspberry champagne cupcakes

Phew I have just finished a marathon 3 1/2 hour baking bonanza. I wanted to make cupcakes as a thank you to someone, and not knowing what they liked I went for 3 different types!

I decided on raspberry champagne, cookies and cream and a rather special vanilla coconut (more on that in a later post).

If you are lucky enough to live in Edinburgh you may have heard of the cuckoo bakery and there seemingly never ending range of cupcakes. Check them out on facebook or visit their website here. The raspberry champagne cupcake recipe is courtesy of them, you can find it here.

The cupcakes themselves are not hard to make, they just take a little longer as they are assembled in a few stages. First the cake is made and allowed to cool, it is then filled with a champagne raspberry jam mix and finally topped with a champagne buttercream frosting.

The recipe makes 12, so I halved it to get 6, my cakes rose a little too well, I reckon that I could actually get 7 from it. Besides the frosting covered the dome so it was no huge problem.

The cupcake is lovely, I can definitely taste the champagne in the frosting and it gives the raspberry jam such a lovely fizzy tang. I personally feel it does subtly flavour the sponge, though you may not be aware that the flavour is champagne.

Oh confession time, I did not use champagne (shock horror)  I chose instead a cava with a biscuity taste, similar to a champagne. If you wish to splash out go ahead, you could really elevate your cupcakes to the next level!