Fluffy coconut cupcakes

I’ve been waiting to make these for some weeks and have finally got around to it! They had me at the title – fluffy coconut cupcakes – what’s not to love?

We all have flavours that grab our attention if they appear in the description of a cake or dessert and coconut is certainly one of mine. Others would be vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, apple, pear, custard...ok, so there are quite a few!


The cupcake recipe is different to others I’ve made as it has less egg but uses buttermilk. This gave a light, crumbly texture and it suited the coconut very well. Because of the low butter and egg content the cupcakes are pale, so I recommend using the skewer test for ‘done-ness’.

I love the colour of these; they are so clean and wholesome looking. Yes, I know...I need to get out more. But at least some of you must see what I mean? Anyone?


The buttercream, the observant among you will have noticed, is not smooth. This is because it contains desiccated coconut. It struck me as a halfway house between buttercream and coconut ice, the unashamedly sugary sweet.


Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:

125g self raising flour
25g desiccated coconut
115g caster sugar
125ml buttermilk
1 egg
1 teaspoon coconut extract
65g unsalted butter, melted

For the coconut icing:

280g icing sugar
70g desiccated coconut
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1-3 tablespoons hot water


How to make:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.
- Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.
- Combine the flour, coconut and sugar in a bowl and make a well in the centre.
- Into the well pour the buttermilk, egg, coconut extract and melted butter and mix until all the ingredients are combined.
- Spoon the mixture evenly into the paper cases.
- Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cupcakes comes out clean. Mine took 18 minutes.
- Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing the cupcakes and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.
- You can make the cupcakes a day in advance if you store them in an airtight tin. Make the icing on the day though.
- Now make the icing: place all the ingredients, except the hot water, in a bowl and mix together.
- Add just enough hot water to make a spreadable consistency.
- Spread the icing over each cupcake and decorate according to taste – I used wafer roses.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.

Brian Turner’s ginger cake

Brian Turner is one of the most well-known chefs in the UK, and has provided this recipe to Shelter’s cake time fund raising appeal. The idea behind the appeal is that you host a tea party and raise money for Shelter, the homeless charity. I like Brian Turner because he cooks what I call ‘proper food’ and never uses dirty words like “low fat” or “low calorie”.


I wasn’t going to make this cake as it uses buttercream and as I was also making cupcakes with buttercream it seemed like possible overkill. When I mentioned this to the CCM (Caked Crusader’s Ma) there was a pause, until she said with a somewhat incredulous tone to her voice, “but you can’t have enough buttercream”. Which of course is true...so I made the ginger cake!


Ginger cake really benefits from being made in advance; it matures and gets stickier and richer. This cake was lovely as it had the depth of flavour you want from a ginger cake but didn’t have a stodgy texture. The plain cake was beautiful on its own; I sometimes find that ginger cakes sink a little as they cool – this one didn’t:


I haven’t made a typo with the quantities of icing sugar and butter for the buttercream. Unusually, this recipe uses more butter than sugar which is in stark contrast to most other buttercream recipes. The buttercream was – unsurprisingly – buttery and it worked really well the intense flavour of the ginger.

Here’s the cake ready for serving; bonus marks go to those of you who spot my Kevin Spacey mug peeking around the tea cosy:


Ingredients:
For the cake:
230g unsalted butter
285g light muscovado sugar
3 tablespoons golden syrup
350ml boiling water
450g self raising flour
3 teaspoons ground ginger (or more if you dare!)
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
Splash of milk

For the buttercream:
170g icing sugar
230g unsalted butter
100g drained stem ginger, chopped finely

How to make:

- Preheat the oven to 170°C/fan oven 150°C/325°F/Gas mark 3.
- Line 20cm round springform tin with baking paper.
- In a saucepan melt the butter, sugar, golden syrup together with the boiling water.
- Sieve the flour into the melted ingredients along with the ground ginger and stir until combined.
- Blend the bicarbonate of soda with a dash of milk and then add to the saucepan. Beat well to ensure the bicarbonate of soda is evenly distributed.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Mine took 48 minutes.
- Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack and leaving to cool completely.
- The cake can be made a day or two in advance and stored in an airtight container.
- To make the buttercream place the icing sugar and butter into a bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.
- Stir in most of the chopped ginger, retain the rest for decorating the cake.
- Cut the cake in half horizontally and spread a generous half of the buttercream over the bottom layer.
- Replace the top half of the cake and spread the remaining buttercream on top.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.

Vanilla and chocolate sponge

Today is Mothering Sunday and what better way to celebrate than with cake?


As I’ve mentioned before, the CCM (Caked Crusader’s Ma) is rather partial to both Genoese sponge and Swiss meringue buttercream so I used these components to create a cake for her special day. The fact that I also like both these components is completely irrelevant......


The cake is far simpler and quicker to make than it perhaps looks. You need only make one batch of batter and then divide it in two. By adding cocoa powder to one half you get an impressive layer cake. It is rather tall:


Before you all start accusing me of breaching my own commandments, I should point out that the flowers are made out of wafer and 100% edible.


Happy Mothering Sunday CCM!


Ingredients:
For the cake:

225g unsalted butter, at room temperature

225g caster sugar

4 eggs
225g self raising flour

2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1-2 tablespoons milk

For the Swiss meringue buttercream:

4 egg whites

250g caster sugar

250g unsalted butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

How to make:
- Preheat the oven to 160°C/fan oven 140°C/325°F/Gas mark 3.
- Line two 20cm loose bottomed sandwich tins with baking paper.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Do not skimp on this stage as it’s the key to a lovely sponge.
- Gradually add the eggs and flour until fully combined and you have a smooth, thick batter.
- Add the vanilla and stir well.
- Divide the batter in two; I did this by counting spoonfuls but you can weigh the batter if you wish to be more exact.
- Place one half into one of the prepared tins.
- Beat the cocoa powder into the other half of batter. If this dries the batter, add the milk as necessary.
- Spoon the cocoa batter into the remaining tin.
- Bake for approx 25-30 minutes until a skewer inserted into the cakes comes out clean. Mine took 30 minutes.
- Leave to cool for 10 minutes in the tins before removing from the tins and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.
- The sponges can be made the day before and stored in airtight containers.
- Now make the swiss meringue buttercream. Place the egg whites and sugar in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir pretty much constantly to prevent the egg from cooking.
- After 5-10 minutes, when the sugar has dissolved (when you cannot see any crystals on the back of the spoon), remove the bowl from the pan of simmering water and whisk until the meringue has puffed up and the mix is cool.
- Add the butter and vanilla extract to the meringue and whisk until the butter has been completely incorporated into the meringue. At first it will look a disaster – it will collapse and look curdled but don’t worry! Stop when the mixture is smooth, light and fluffy.
- Cut each sponge through horizontally and place one piece on the serving plate.
- Spread a layer of buttercream on top and then put a piece of sponge of the other colour on top. Repeat this until you have all four layers of sponge sandwiched together.
- Use the remaining buttercream to cover the top and sides.
- Decorate as required.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.

Steamed rhubarb pudding

There are few textures lighter than a steamed sponge pudding and I am rather partial to it. As Spring seems to be finally upon us the opportunities for steamed puds are dwindling therefore I had to sneak this one in before it was too late!

This photo shows the light, open texture of a steamed sponge:


What I liked about this recipe was that it uses the rhubarb in two ways: some is steamed with the sponge and the rest is lightly stewed to serve with the pud. It created a rather colourful dish.


The pinkness of forced rhubarb always pleases me – it’s such a strong and happy colour.


I tried to keep the lightly stewed rhubarb a little tarter than I normally would in order that it contrasted with the sweet sponge and custard. It was a really nice combination as the acidity cut through the sweetness.


Ingredients:

For the rhubarb:
500g forced rhubarb
Caster sugar, according to taste

For the pudding:
3 tablespoons golden syrup
100g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
100g self raising flour
50ml milk

How to make:

- Start by stewing the rhubarb: cut the rhubarb into small chunks and place in a large pan over a low-medium heat.
- Add about 4 tablespoons of sugar and stir. It will take a few minutes for the rhubarb to start collapsing.
- When the rhubarb is soft, but not totally collapsed remove about 5-6 tablespoons of chunks and put to one side.
- Taste the remaining rhubarb and add sugar according to your taste.
- After approximately 10 minutes the rhubarb will be soft and partially collapsed. Remove from the heat and put to one side. I like it with a few chunks left in it.
- Now prepare the pudding: grease a 1.5 litre pudding basin with butter.
- Place the chunks you removed from the stewed rhubarb into the bottom of the basin and cover with the golden syrup.
- Beat together the butter and sugar until soft and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs, vanilla and self raising flour.
- Beat in the milk.
- Spoon the batter into the basin carefully, so as not to dislodge the rhubarb. The basin will not be full as the pudding needs room to rise.
- In your steamer, ensure that you have enough boiling water to come halfway up the basin. I used a steamer basket, so my sponge didn’t sit in the water. Both ways work just as well.
- Cover the top of the basin with a centrally pleated piece of baking paper, and another of foil.
- Secure with string and steam for approximately 1 ½ hours. A little more won’t cause any harm.
- Remove the foil and paper and run a knife around the edge of the pudding before turning out.
- Turn the pudding out onto a lipped plate, in order to ensure that you don’t lose any of the juices.
- In a saucepan gently warm the stewed rhubarb.
- Serve the pudding straight away with hot custard and the stewed rhubarb.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.