To close my “Easter Special” I made a Bounty-inspired cupcake. Since I saw this chocolate cake recipe on Food Wishes I’ve been willing to make it and I finally got the chance today. I thought of making it as a bundt first, just like chef John’s, but as I went through my pantry ingredients I saw a bottle of coconut milk and decided that it would be the perfect match for my chocolate cake. So the bundt turned into a chocolate cupcake with a coconut filling and now I had to find the perfect frosting: one that was hot-weather resistant, full of flavour, “pipeable” and not as fatty as buttercream. I referred to my notes (read Evernote!) and found a pretty easy recipe that seemed almost neutral – but not bland. That’s how this cupcake was born.

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE
Source: Food Wishes

INGREDIENTS

250g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
350g (1 ³/₄ cups) sugar
1 ½ tsp baking soda
227g unsalted butter
30g (¹/₃ cup) high-quality cocoa powder (use the best you can find)
250ml (1 cup) water
½ tsp fine salt
2 large eggs
120ml (½ cup) sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD

Mix the flour, sugar and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside. Combine the butter, cocoa, water and salt in a heavy bottomed saucepan and place it over medium heat. Whisk it until everything is well dissolved and starts to steam. Add half of the hot mixture to the flour mixture and whisk. When the batter starts to get hard to stir add the remaining liquid. Add in the eggs, one at a time, and whisk. Then mix in the vanilla extract and the sour cream.
Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cups and pour the batter. Put it in a preheated oven (175^oC) for about 25 minutes. Let them cool in the tin for about 15 minutes then transfer them to a wire rack and let them cool completely before filling and frosting.

COCONUT CREAM
Original recipe

INGREDIENTS

200ml coconut milk
100ml milk
4 tbsp caster sugar (or to your liking)
1 tbsp cornflour

METHOD

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Count 1 minute and remove from heat. Set aside to cool.

FROSTING

INGREDIENTS

12 tbsp instant full cream milk powder
12 tbsp icing sugar
2 tbsp emulsifier*
200ml cold water

METHOD

Put all the ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat at high speed until it gets shiny and thick.

DECORATIONS

12 mini chocolate eggs
coconut flakes

ASSEMBLING

After cupcakes have cooled, core and fill them with the coconut cream. Put the “lid” back on, pipe some frosting on top, sprinkle with some coconut flakes and put a mini chocolate egg in the centre.

*I had a hard time looking for recipes using emulsifier and, although it is widely used here in ice cream making, it seems that it is not frequently used in home cooking in other countries. I used an equivalent of Tate & Lyle’s Frimulsion and Danisco’s Panodan DATEM (E472e), both approved and recognised as safe by the FDA and the EFSA.