Oh Coconut, How I Love Thee...

In the Malayalee (see here) kitchen, the coconut is the undisputed king. This delicious fruit is infused into a wide variety of dishes, from breakfast chutneys to forming the base of spicy fish curries to decadent rice pudding. It even serves as an offering to the gods.

So, it is only fitting that my culinary journey begin at home, with an ode to the coconut. Of course, since I am also nursing a sweet tooth, the coconut offering will be in the form of a cupcake.

I hope you enjoy it!

 Coconut cupcakes












A few things I've learned along the way:
1. Always bring the butter, eggs and other ingredients to room temperature before working with them.
2. Always add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Do it the other way and you end up with dough and not really batter.
3. Be sure to sift. I know, I'm not a huge fan of this either but the lumpless cakes are reinforcement enough to keep on sifting.
4. Sample your delicious food along the way. It's the cook's prerogative!

Ingredients
-3 cups of flour, sifted
-2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon of salt
-1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
-2/3 cup butter, at room temperature
-2 eggs
-2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
-1 1/4 cup milk (I prefer to use whole milk, but 1 or 2% works fine too. Try to avoid the non-fat version)
-4 cups of sweetened, shredded coconut flakes; 1/2 cup for toasting
-4 packets of cream cheese, at room temperature
-1 cup of confectioner's sugar or to your preference
-1/2 cup of heavy cream

Directions
The cupcake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Start by combining the flour, baking powder and salt and sifting it. Set aside.

Meanwhile, using a hand held mixer or a stand mixer, cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. In small batches, add the sugar into the creamed butter. Allow the ingredients to combine well before continuing. Be sure to scrape down the sides...you don't want to miss any of the delicious goodness! Once the ingredients are well combined, add the eggs one at a time and 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla.

<<side note: For special occasions, you might want to use pretty cupcake wrappers. Click here for choices of elegant to whimsical cupcake wrappers. Yup, they're expensive..which is why I only use it on really special occasions>>


Allow the cupcakes to rest while you prepare the frosting.

The Frosting:
Before you start, make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature.

Using a mixer, mix the cream cheese until its soft and pillowy. Slowly add in the cream until it is well incorporated into the cream cheese. Add the remaining vanilla extract and mix well. Finally, slowly add in the powdered sugar to your desired level of sweetness. I prefer very sweet frosting, so I usually add a 1 1

<<side note: At this point, you can also divide the frosting up into smaller batches and add different food coloring to them. It makes for a festive presentation>>

Take 1/2 cup of sweetened coconut flakes and, on low heat, toast them on the stove until they begin to turn a light brown. Remove from heat.

Take a generous spoonful of the cream cheese frosting and liberally slather each cupcake. Top each cupcake with a couple of pinches of the toasted coconut.

You're all done and ready to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Till next time, To life!