Coconut Buttermilk Cupcakes

I was trying to think of some kind of pudding/cake thing that would go with curry and this is what I came up with. I admit the coconut is a tenuous link to Indian cuisine, but we all know this was just an excuse to have cake with curry.

Ingredients

175g golden caster sugar

75g butter

3 eggs

½ tsp vanilla extract

175g self-raising flour

Pinch salt

1 ½tsp baking powder

50g desiccated coconut

100ml buttermilk

To decorate

Butter

Splash double cream

Icing sugar

Vanilla extract

Strawberry jam

Desiccated coconut

Preheat the oven to 180⁰C. This mixture made 16 large cupcakes, but would easily stretch to 24 if you made them smaller. Prepare your trays with cases- went for the strawberry pattern ones from Lakeland this time.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together the sugar and butter until creamy using an electric hand-held whisk.

Add the eggs and the vanilla extract and whisk again.

Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and gently mix again to combine everything.

Add the coconut and stir in using a spatula.

Finally pour in the buttermilk, and stir in until combined.

Spoon large dollops into each case and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown on top and springy to the touch. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Once the cakes have cooled make the icing. Cream a large knob of butter. Sift in some icing sugar. Splash some double cream in and mix. Add a drop of vanilla extract, a handful of coconut and more icing sugar until it’s reached the consistency where it will hold its shape.

Using a small sharp knife cut a circle in the middle of the cupcake.

Fill the hole with jam.

Cover the whole cupcake with a generous amount of icing.

Sprinkle with coconut to finish.

If you have any icing left over at the end you can mix it with the discarded bits of cake to make some cake pop filling that you can freeze for when you need it. (Or just eat it like we did).

Laaavely. I’d say these are best eaten on the day, with a cup of tea- obviously.

Rocky Road Popcorn

I am one of those annoying people that put minstrels in my bag of salty popcorn- call me indecisive but I just can’t live with having to decide between salty and sweet. I love marshmallows, so this decadent cinema treat seemed like the natural next step towards my mission to develop type 2 diabetes.

As a tip though, if you’re using a popcorn maker like me, remember to separate the popped corn from the kernels or they stick to the chocolate like sh*t to a blanket, as my mother would say.

Ingredients

Large bowl of popped corn

100g milk chocolate

100g white chocolate

About 150g marshmallows

¾ biscuits broken into pieces

Firstly make the popcorn. If anyone’s wondering if a popcorn maker is worth the money, they really are because they’re so easy to use and there’s no washing up involved.

Break the milk chocolate into pieces and place into a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of very gently simmering water. Stir until completely melted, making sure the water doesn’t get too hot.

Pour the milk chocolate all over the popcorn and mix it around to coat everything.

Line a small tin/baking tray with foil and turn out the chocolatley popcorn.

Add about three quarters of the marshmallows and broken biscuits and mix into the popcorn. Use your spatula to press the mixture down into the pan. Scatter the remaining marshmallows over the top. 

Melt the white chocolate in the same way as before and then pour all over the popcorn. Leave it to cool for ten minutes before transferring to the fridge for at least an hour to harden.

Cut into squares, which can be a bit tricky, or just eat straight from the pan if you’re feeling particularly fatty.

Banana Mocha Muffins

Since the last time I blogged I am now graduated from university with a degree, living back at home with my parents and unemployed…

I spent a happy July in Portsmouth working, swanning by the beach, reading books and generally loving life. I only moved home two days ago and I’m already a bit bored…but then I see the kitchen, literally bursting with baking stuff. So I guess what I’m saying is, sorry for neglecting my blog for the most part of the summer, but now I’m back and in between applying for jobs, have nothing better to do than dedicate my time to making my family obese. On that note if anyone would like to offer me a job that would be great? (No, really…)

I know I harp on about the merits of ripe bananas, but they really are banging. To make these ‘mocha’ I used an instant sachet of mocha mix, but that was just me being lazy, and they would probably be better if you used fresh coffee.

Ingredients

3 large or 4 small very ripe bananas

125ml vegetable oil

2 eggs

100g soft light brown sugar

225g plain flour

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

3tbsps mocha mix (basically one sachet)

About 50g dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 200⁰C and line a 12-hole muffin tray with papers. For some reason the only papers I could find in my mum’s house were these really random ones with Queen’s guards on them. Bit strange, but what the hey.

Mash the bananas in a large bowl.

Add the oil and mash some more.

Plop in the eggs, and then sieve in the sugar and mix all together with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Weigh out the flour and then add the bicarbonate and mocha sachet to it. Sieve onto the wet ingredients and carefully fold everything in.

Roughly chop the chocolate- I went for 70% cocoa because I like some bitterness with coffee, but if that’s not to your liking it would be just as good with milk. Scatter the chocolate over the batter and carefully mix in.

Spoon the mixture evenly between the cases and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until dark brown and firm to the touch. Let them cool for a little bit in the tins and then transfer to a wire rack.

I have to say these are delicious eaten whilst still warm, because the chocolate’s still all melty (even if eating just baked things gives you indigestion, it’s completely worth it).