butterless coconut cupcakes

I have not been posting for awhile.. main reason was that I was trying to refrain from baking since I was trying to cut down my calories to lose those 'baby fat' from pregnancy. My son turned one last month and I still have 8 kg to go to pre-pregnancy weight. It's already hard enough to control one's diet, I didn't want to make it worse by having oven fresh homemade treats and not getting to eat them.

These coconut cupcakes are really easy to make but what prompted me to do was the fact that it is butterless, and only needs 4 ingredients, which I have ready at home.

I made a big modification on the milk amount, the original called for 1 1/2 cups but when I started mixing, the batter was really runny at the point of 3/4 cup so I decided to stop and try out. It turned out fine.

Coconut cupcakes

1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup self raising flour
3/4 cup castor sugar (cut down from 1 cup)
3/4 milk

1. Preheat oven at 175 degree C
2. Toast the coconut in a shallow pan until slightly brown to bring out the aroma
3. Mix together the coconut, flour and sugar. Slowly pour in the milk while mixing and mix til all combined.
3. Bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

recipe adapted from allrecipe.com

I used some chocolate chips as decoration for some of the cupcakes but it is totally fine to skip this step as I don't think the chocolate chips complimented the coconut taste that well.

The texture of the cake is dense, flavourful and kind of reminds me of the traditional 'kueh', esp at the centre of mine which was very slightly under-baked. One thing to note, the fact that it is butterless means it will stick to the mold VERY MUCH. So unless you don't mind heavy cleaning, remember to grease or use liners.

I was very impatient to try one while the cupcake was still warm, so quite a bit of the batter actually sticked to the liner as you can see from the photo above. However, for those that I waited until they really cooled off came out clean with hardly anything sticking to the paper liner at all.

Though I am quite happy with the result, I am really curious how it will turn out if I would have sticked to 1 1/2 cups of milk instead. Maybe I will try again... but if there is anyone out there game to try, be sure to let me know the result, k? Oh, if I am to make these again, I will try adding a dash of salt to see whether it will bring out the sweetness more.

black bottom cheesecakes

I would like to think that cheesecake is one of the easier treats to make... well, there may be lots of people out there begging to differ. I can only say what works easier for me.

Some people claim that cookies are easy, but it's hard for me to get a consistent result for different recipes, sometimes they are too soft / too cakelike, sometimes they are off the taste slightly... they hardly turn out too hard for my case though. So, I can't claim cookies are easy for me.

Some people claim that cupcakes are easy, but for me, I tend to cut down the sugar too much (I seem to have this problem, bcoz I like my cake to be less sweet) and the cupcakes turn out not fitting the taste of people around me.

For cheesecakes, most of the times (well, most), they turn out delectable and they go down well with most  of the people around me, so I don't have to end up finishing most by myself :).

This black bottom cheesecake recipe is a nice twist from conventional crusted cheeseke. The chocolate taste from the bottom compliments the cheesecake portion well. The cake texture also goes well with the smoother texture of the cheesecake. 

Black Bottom Cheesecake

cream cheese filling:

8 ounce cream cheese, room temperature

1/3 granulated white sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract
chocolate chips (optional)

chocolate bottom:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup granulated white sugar (I used 1/2 cup)

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven at 175 degree C, line muffin pan.

2. With electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, egg, and vanilla extract and beat until creamy. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, mix together sifted flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In a seperate bowl, mix together water, oil, vinegar and vanilla extract. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients until smooth. 

4. Divide the chocolate batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups. Top each with cheesecake batter evenly. Sprinkler chocolate chips on top of each muffin.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 mins. The cheesecake should have set and chocolate cake portion springy to touch. 

6. Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool.

This recipe is adapted from Joy Of Baking

I really like to simplicity of this recipe. Yes, there are 2 portions to make but both are not complicated. The result is mouthfuls of rich wholesome taste - wonderful mix of chocolate and cheese, goes really well with coffee too.

cupcake in a cone

These cute little sweet treats are not something that I would dream of making but when I saw those cupcake cones on House of Hepworths, I just thought I have to try it.

Why? Bcoz they are just so adorable, bcoz they may come in handy if I need to bring some goodies to some kids functions, bcoz I am curious how the cone will taste.. and most importantly, there is this little kid in me that was just begging to eat one.

So, I got to work, and did a toned down version using cupcake recipe from awfully easy chocolate cake (minus the cocoa powder) that I posted last year, topped with icing from sugar cookies frosting from allrecipes. I happened to have some leftover pineapple paste, so I put some into the cone as filling, and some into the frosting for variation.

The cone itself became soft after the baking process and really feels like part of the cupcake. The feeling of eating one is like eating a cupcake together with the container/wrapper.

While I don't really fancy the taste, it leaves me with a childlike euphoric each time I ate one. So I reckon, with some additional touches, e.g. some choco chips or M&M or colourful sprinkers and some colourful frosting, the recipe has potential to be a hit in any family or children occasion. So, I really think the concept is a brilliant one. Good point is, you can use any recipe you are most comfortable for the cupcake. You can even steer the cones to a 'gourmet' direction. Dark chocolate cupcake in a cone with white chocolate ganache anyone??

orange semolina cupcake with orange glaze

This was done to be brought over to a friend's place when we went there for dinner awhile ago. I purposely chose something with glaze since it's less common in Singapore. I made it using recipe from my own archive in Jan 2012 - citrusy semolina cake

Reviews from fellow dinners were mixed, some liked it saying that it is moist and at the same time light and fluffy, some didn't like it thinking that it feels under baked with too much moisture.

Well, good thing is everyone thinks they are full of flavours :) .

low fat cupcakes with homemade applesauce

I like the concept of Aspiring Bakers.. it gives me an avenue and reason to venture out from my usual 'baking comfort zone', which involves mainly cookies & muffins & some occasional simple cakes. Without AB, I don't think I would have tried my hands at making mooncakes, for example :)

When I saw that the theme for Nov 2011 is Enjoy Cupcakes!, those little daintily decorated, calorie loaded sinful treats sprang to mind. Though I always enjoy baked goods, I must admit I have yet to try one of those pretty little thing. Main reason being that I love bake goods with some textures (wholemeal or with nuts maybe) and of natural sweetness (with real fruits maybe).... Also, with 8 kg to shed in order to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight now, I think I better stay clear of those.

A search online sprang some surprises, there are plenty of recipes for low fat cupcakes! And they look really yummy too. I decided to make some simple treats for myself.

Homemade Unsweetened Applesauce (produces approx 3/4 cup of applesauce)

3 apples

2 tsp ground clove

cinnamon powder (to taste)

water

1. Core, peel and dice apples into bite size pieces

2. Add enough water to cover about half the apples

3. Add cinnamon and cloves

4. Cook on high until the apples start to mush down

5. Turn to low and let simmer until seem done (use a fork to mash down the apples if need be)

The recipe above shows the measurement I used and how I did it. I only made enough for the cupcake recipe below. The recipe is adapted from www.food.com. The original recipe uses whole cloves but I only have ground clove at home. Also I have to use fork to mash the apples after they turn soft in order to get the mushy texture. It was quite a time consuming task, on hindsight, I should have used a blender instead to get a more even texture. But the applesauce was really delicious and the sweet fragrant smell while it was cooking filled the whole kitchen nicely.

Low Fat Cupcakes

1 & 3/4 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 egg

1 cup sour cream

1/2 lemon (juice & zest of)

1. Preheat oven to 165 degree C

2. Combine dry ingredients and set aside

3. Whisk together applesauce, oil and sugar.

4. Add egg and beat well, then stir in lemon zest and juice.

5. Alternately stir in flour mixture and sour cream in stages.

5. Fill in paper lines muffin mold and bake for 20-25 mins or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

The recipe is adapted from hubpages.

I always substitute the sour cream in a recipe with plain yogurt, so I thought of doing the same this time round. I remembered clearly of seeing the yogurt in the fridge in the previous night. But when I was done with the applesauce and was getting ready for the cupcakes, I couldn't find the yogurt. Apparently my dear husband, having checked that it's expiry date just lapsed, decided to throw it away. So, I was left with no sour cream or yogurt. The closest I could find was light cream, which I reluctantly used and kept my fingers crossed.

To my relieve, the cupcakes came out quite ok. The original recipe name it Low Fat Lemon Cupcakes but when I tasted it, the applesauce totally overpowered the lemon taste. In fact, I couldn't make out the lemon taste at all, so I dropped the word 'lemon' from its title. Even without the lemon taste, the cupcakes are delicious on their own, esp if you like apple and cinnamon. The texture was definitely more moist, dense and springy than what I would have imagined to be coming from cupcakes. But again, as I mentioned, I have not tried one of those 'real' cupcakes in the market, so I can't compare.

Hubby tried one and commented it was delicious, but when I asked how was it compared to other cupcakes, I just realised that apparently he has not tried one of those too. Maybe the 2 of us should make a date to sample one of those real pretty cupcakes =)

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #13 : Enjoy Cupcakes (November 2011) hosted by Min of Min's blog.