Recipe: Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Coconut Cupcakes

Oh my, these coconut cupcakes are teh yums. I adapted these from The Little Teochew's Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cupcake recipe. Her site is a treasure trove of some of the most reliable recipes - simple yet surefire.

Anyway, I wanted a good cupcake base recipe for a coconut cupcake and this was it. I simply swapped out half the milk for coconut milk, and used cake flour instead. I also reduced the sugar by a little bit, even though Ju-ee has already reduced it from the original. Ah, I love it when I find recipes that are keepers. These cupcakes are extra soft and fine in texture, and just the right level of sweetness.




They taste great on their own without frosting too - which is a godsend for lazy folks like me who dislike frosting (yeah, I know, I'm in the minority). The Magnolia Bakery one calls for a nightmarish 6-8 cups of icing sugar. Maybe they haven't read this report on sugar.

Here's my modified recipe:







MAGNOLIA BAKERY VANILLA-COCONUT CUPCAKES
Adapted from The LittleTeochew who adapted from Food Network

Yields 12 medium cupcakes

INGREDIENTS
- 155g cake flour (you can use all-purpose flour or self-raising flour and omit the baking powder bit)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder and half teaspoon salt
- 113g softened butter
- 150g caster sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup or 125ml santan (coconut cream, fresh is best, but if not, packet ones will do)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

METHOD
1. Preheat oven to 180°C (360°F).

2. Line muffin tins with cupcake papers.

3. In a small bowl, combine the flour and baking powder and salt, if using.

4. In separate container, combine the coconut milk and vanilla extract.

5. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

6. Add the dry and alternately wet ingredients in 3 parts. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

7. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 2/3 full.

8. Bake for 20 to 25* minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
* At the 20-minute mark, reduce heat to 160°C (325°F). The tops of the cupcakes should be lightly golden.

This seems optional. My oven doesn't go below 180, so I just stopped it there - it was just nice, even though I had a double batch of 30 medium sized cupcakes baking in three layers.

8. Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.





Oh how I love my Snapware cupcake carrier...so neat and nifty.




* Photos taken with Canon EOS M and 22mm lens*