It was my birthday last week, so I decided I was going to bake myself something really fun. I have been a coconut fiend ever since I was a little girl, and I have really been wanting to experiment with making coconut-milk dulce de leche and vegan caramel, so it didn’t take long to decide on these Toasted Coconut Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting. My father’s birthday is the day after mine (True story: if I had been born one day later, and another gender, I would have been Peik Johan III…), and since he was about to go out of town, we decided to celebrate our birthdays together.
Now, my Pops is a foodie. The man loves to cook, the man goes out to a good restaurant at least once a week, watches cooking shows, pre-orders cookbooks, etc., etc. Along with that culinary elitism also goes an unparalleled passion for animal protein. Like, seriously: my husband’s a meat-lover but he doesn’t even come close to my old man, not even the same ball-park. I daresay it even borders on mental illness…I’m not bad-talking my dad here — just having a little fun at his expense 🙂 For our birthday celebration I decided that I would challenge myself to see if I could bake vegan cupcakes good enough to slip by the old bear that nary a once-breathing thing was involved in our birthday yumminess. Success!
There are two common misconceptions about vegan food: 1)It never tastes good, and 2) It is always really good for you. Newsflash: any kind of food can be delicious or disgusting depending on the quality of the ingredients and preparation, and vegan definitely does not equal healthy — Oreos, Fruit Loops, and Sour Patch Kids are all examples of vegan junk food. Indeed, these cupcakes definitely expose both of those statements as falsehoods. I wish I could say these were good for you, but alas, find me a healthy cupcake and I’ll be your slave for life…However; creamy, decadent, and outrageously delicious, no one would ever guess these cupcakes were vegan, as my father proved…
Ingredients:
Yields 12 frosted, decorated cupcakes
Coconut Cupcakes:
– 1 1/2 c. flour
– 1 c. white sugar
– 1/2 c. unsweetened coconut flakes
– 1 tsp. baking soda
– 1 tsp. salt
– 1 c. coconut milk
– 1/3 c. vegetable or canola oil
– 1 Tbsp. dark rum, such as Meyer’s
– 1 tsp. vanilla
– 1 tsp. red wine vinegar
Coconut-Milk Caramel Frosting:
– 1 13.5 oz. can coconut milk
– 3/4 c. brown sugar
– 1/2 tsp. salt
– 3/4 c. Earth Balance, or other buttery spread (of course, if you are not a vegan you can use regular butter here)
– 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar, or more if needed
– 1 tsp. vanilla
– 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350F, grease cupcake tin or ready with paper liners
2. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, coconut, soda, and salt
3. Add milk, oil, rum, and vanilla to the dry ingredients. Add vinegar last, then stir well to combine
4. Pour batter into tin and place in 350F oven to bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer or knife inserted into the middle of cakes comes out clean
5. Set cupcakes aside and allow to cool while you prepare your frosting
6. Place coconut milk in a small saucepan or skillet over medium heat
7. Once skin begins to form over the milk and small bubbles appear, stir gently while adding brown sugar and salt
8. Gently stir until sugar is dissolved completely and color is consistent. Turn heat to medium-low
9. Cook until reduced by half — about 20-25 minutes — stirring often and scraping down the sides of the pan
10. Remove from heat and set aside to cool (This coconut-milk caramel could also be used as a sundae topping for soy or almond milk ice cream, spooned over grilled bananas with chopped peanuts, or anything else you could think to do with regular caramel sauce!)
11. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat Earth Balance until smooth and creamy
12. Add 1 c. of the powdered sugar and beat until lump-free
13. At medium speed add vanilla to frosting, then slowly begin to add the cooled caramel sauce
14. Once caramel has been combined, add remaining 1/2 c. of powdered sugar. Evaluate your frosting — if you want it thicker and stiffer add more powdered sugar. (Just be careful not to over beat this frosting as it can “break”)
15. Spread your coconut over a sheet pan
16. Bake in your 350F oven for 3-5 minutes. Watch carefully — coconut can burn in an instant!
17. You are now ready to decorate your cupcakes! Use a pastry bag to pipe frosting liberally over cupcakes, or simply slather it on with a knife. Top with toasted coconut flakes.
18. Try not to eat them all at once….
Recipe for cupcake batter adapted from vegweb recipe, coconut-milk caramel and frosting recipe developed completely by my own trial and error and recipe my own.
theindiehomemaker 