Somewhere en route to a tropical paradise for Sugar High Friday 33, things went awry. Re-live the journey with me.
Having been toying with an idea for coconut cupcakes with mango mascarpone frosting, I was more than enthused by Alpineberry's choice of a tropical baking theme this month. Hell, with a coconut and mango concoction in hand and the Paris Plage along the Seine, who needs the tropics?
The journey started out relatively smoothly. A minor technical glitch in the form of a missing mango was soon rectified and, with all systems go, I prepared for take-off. Despite mild turbulence caused by a silicone muffin mould and a lack of paper liners early on, the coconut cupcakes baked up moist and to the perfect height. With the flight path looking clear from here on out, I switched to autopilot.
While the cupcakes cooled, I dumped the mascarpone cheese, softened butter and icing sugar into a bowl and took them for a spin. I was on the home stretch now, and my mind had already jumped ahead to the decorating phase and the best way to showcase the soon-to-be pale orange hue of the creamy frosting. Cue the mango, rosy-cheeked and fragrant...and completely rotten.
Feeling a change in cabin pressure, I reminded myself to breathe normally. Grabbing a lemon from the counter and blueberry jam from the fridge, I put all faith in my impromptu baking prowess and prepared for an emergency landing. With a bump and a skid, I arrived at Bleeding Heart Cupcakes.
It looks like Paris Plage is as close to paradise as I'm going to get after all.
Bleeding Heart Cupcakes
Coconut Cupcakes:
3/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 small eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
~ 6 tablespoons jam (I used blueberry)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare 6 muffin cups with paper liners.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a medium bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and mix until blended.
Add half of the dry ingredients, followed by the yogurt, and then the remaining dry ingredients, mixing briefly between each addition. Fold in the coconut.
Divide the batter evenly between the 6 paper liners. Bake until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes in the pan before moving to racks to cool completely.
Once cool, use a small paring knife to cut an inverted cone-shaped piece out of the top of each cupcake. Remove the cones from the cupcakes and slice off the pointed ends, leaving round lids. (Remember to keep the lids close to their matching cupcakes.) Fill each hole with about a tablespoon of jam and then place the lid on top.
Lemon Mascarpone Frosting:
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
lemon zest (to taste)
In a medium bowl, lightly beat together the mascarpone cheese and butter. Add 1 cup of the icing sugar and beat until smooth. Add the lemon juice and zest and mix. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of icing sugar, and more if necessary, to reach the desired consistency.
I chilled the frosting for 15 minutes before piping it onto the cupcakes, using a Ziploc bag with the corner removed.
Yields 6 cupcakes.
Source:A variation on The Barefoot Contessa's recipe for Coconut Cupcakes.Labels: Cakes and cupcakes
It looks like Paris Plage is as close to paradise as I'm going to get after all.