Monday, May 18, 2009

Coconut heaven cupcakes

I’ve been on a baking bender lately. Hopefully nobody minds. I finally ordered Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World from Amazon last week, so in the meantime, I wanted to make some cupcakes from books I already have, since those recipes are likely to be ignored once I have a whole book of cupcakes to choose from. These are from Vegan with a Vengeance, and they gave me the chance not only to use more of the unsweetened coconut milk I’ve got, but also to break out the unsweetened shredded coconut I bought awhile back. These are pretty caloric, so I made some regular-sized cupcakes for friends and some minis for me. If you don’t have the refrigerated unsweetened coconut milk that I used, you can use canned coconut milk instead, it will just increase the fat and calorie content somewhat.

For the cupcakes:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut


For the frosting:
1/4 cup Earth Balance, softened
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin (or a 24-cup mini muffin tin) with paper liners. Spritz with cooking spray and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, coconut milk, sugar, and vanilla.



Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and whisk until smooth. Fold in 1 cup of unsweetened coconut. Fill each muffin cup about two-thirds full.



Bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes (18-20 for minis); the cupcakes should be slightly browned around the edges and spring back when touched. Remove from the muffin tin let cool on a wire rack.



Using an electric mixer or a whisk, cream the Earth Balance until light and fluffy. Add the coconut milk and vanilla and combine. Add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Fold in the unsweetened coconut, and refrigerate until ready to use.



Frost the cupcakes once they have cooled completely.



You can tell on the first bite that these babies are not "light" in any way. The coconut comes through loud and clear, lending the cake its dense chew. The rich, fluffy frosting is the perfect topper. These make a great (albeit once-in-awhile) treat for the coconut lover in your life.



Go ahead, indulge.



Yield: 12 regular or 24 mini cupcakes. Per cupcake (regular): 281 calories, 13.1g fat (5.4g sat), 41.1g carbs, 2.6g fiber, 2.1g protein.
Per cupcake (mini): 141 calories, 6.5g fat (2.7g sat), 20.5g carbs, 1.3g fiber, 1.1g protein.


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3 comments:

  1. That really does look like Coconut Heaven

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  2. Amber, have you ever made a vegetarian/vegan lasagna? Last one I tried had a lot of liquid from the fresh vegetables, but still pretty tasty. Do you have any suggestions? Have you tried cooking with Agave nectar? G

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  3. G: A vegan lasagna is something I actually hadn't thought of making. I never liked lasagna—creamy cheesy things really gross me out, so lasagna, especially the ricotta, has never been appetizing to me. That said, I've never tried making tofu ricotta, but I am very open to it. I'll have to see what I can come up with. Thanks for the idea! As for agave nectar, I have some in my cabinet, but have not gotten around to baking with it, mostly because it's so expensive, I don't want to have to buy more anytime soon! Some agave experimentation is definitely long overdue on this blog, however.

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