Chocolate Cupcakes with Coconut Buttercream Frosting

Remember when I said I used up all the white flour that could've gone in the honey cake? Well, this is where it went.

As someone without much of a sweet tooth, I rarely bake without a purpose, so when I do, it's usually something new and different. Like the last time I made cupcakes, the purpose this time around was the Tribune. It was my turn to read the paper cover to cover, draw all over it with my Authoritative Red Pen, then translate my drawings for the entire ed-board.

And provide food, of course.

I got this recipe from the now-defunct Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit, thinking that I had a glut of coconut in my pantry (I had just enough for the recipe) and wanting to use up some more of my 1 kg bag of baking chocolate that I bought last year for my birthday.

The recipe does make an "old-fashioned" chocolate cupcake, and it was only after eating it that I realize I prefer the richer, fudgier, and denser brownie. Still, this cake was moist and light (aka not muffin-y) and baked up beautifully to act as a base for the coconut frosting.



As we learned last Christmas, frosting is certainly not my forte, and it didn't help that I baked these babies in the middle of the night and thus couldn't use an electric mixer for fear of rousing my slumbering roommates. The frosting ended up being a little thin, and with the coconut added in, it had the consistency of oatmeal. As I frosted through the night, the icing even separated at one point! It also doesn't help that I'm a sloppy froster.



But boy - who cares when the frosting itself gets so coconutty? The shredded coconut really works its magic in the frosting and makes this cupcake great.

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit
Makes 24 regular cupcakes

• 185 mL (¾ cup) butter, softened
  
• 375 mL (1½ cups) sugar
  
• 3 eggs
  
• 500 mL (2 cups) flour
  
• 5 mL (1 tsp) baking soda
  
• 2 mL (½ tsp) salt
  
• 185 mL (¾ cup) cocoa
  
• 375 mL (1½ cups) milk
  
• 10 mL (2 tsp) vanilla

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
   
2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating for about 30 seconds after each addition.
   
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa.
   
4. Pour milk and vanilla into measuring cup.
   
5. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine. Add about half of the liquid ingredients into the batter and beat to combine. Continue alternating with the dry/liquid ingredients, finishing with the dry.
   
6. Scoop batter into cupcake cups (or muffin tin lined with papers) until about ¾ full. Bake at 175°C (350°F) for about 25-30 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean.

Coconut Buttercream Frosting

• 185 mL (¾ cup) butter, room temperature
  
• 60 mL (¼ cup) milk
  
• 5 mL (1 tsp) vanilla
  
• 500 mL (2 cups) icing sugar, sifted
  
• 375 mL (1½ cup) shredded coconut (both sweetened and unsweetened work fine)

1. Beat butter briefly, scrape bowl.
   
2. Add icing sugar and milk. Beat until smooth.
   
3. Add in coconut and mixed until combined.
   
4. Top cupcakes with frosting and chocolate shavings.

Nutrition Info (per cupcake with frosting): 279 calories, 14 g fat (10 g saturated), 57 mg cholesterol, 36 g carbohydrate (1 g fibre, 25 g sugar), 3 g protein, 214 mg sodium. A good source of manganese.