Coconut and chocolate – what is not to love? The coconut flakes in the cake gives a slight chewiness to the texture and then it is topped with silky soft ermine icing. The chewy chocolatey coconut rough on top finishes it perfectly although I always eat the first.
I wrote this recipe a couple of years ago which is when I took the photographs and since then I swapped out shredded coconut for coconut flakes. Shredded coconut is harder and kind of spiky while coconut flakes are soft and chewier which I personally find more appealing. The choice is yours though for your personal preference.
- CUPCAKES
- 275g self-raising flour
- 70g Cacao
- 265g white sugar
- 1 cup coconut flakes
- ½ tsp bi-carb soda
- 2 flax eggs (30g flax meal mixed with ⅓ cup water)
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1½ cup of almond milk
- 130g vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- COCONUT ROUGHS
- 300g vegan dark chocolate
- 250g coconut flakes
- ERMINE ICING
- 400g castor sugar
- 90g plain flour
- 50g cacao
- 450ml almond milk
- 450g vegan margarine
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- METHOD
- Pre heat oven to 175°C (347°F)
- CUPCAKES
- Add all dry ingredients (except flax & coconut) to a large mixing bowl and mix well.
- Pour oil and milk into mix, add vanilla and beat until combined.
- To make the flax egg, mix golden flax and water into a small bowl and mix well. Do this just before you add it to the cake batter otherwise it becomes too thick.
- Add coconut.
- Beat until all combined – don’t over beat.
- Using an ice-cream scoop, add one scoop to each cupcake wrapper.
- Bake for 18 minutes. Check with a cake tester before removing from oven because they might need another 2 minutes.
- Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack until room temperature.
- COCONUT ROUGHS
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave in a medium sized bowl. Melt in short bursts checking in between so it melts but does not burn.
- Add coconut flakes to the bowl and mix until well combined.
- Create small balls of chocolate coconut and flatten slightly onto a tray covered with baking paper.
- Place into the fridge to solidify.
- ICING
- Add flour and sugar to a medium saucepan and place over medium to high heat.
- Gradually add milk and stir continuously until the mix is a pudding like consistency.
- Transfer container and cover with cling wrap – press the wrap onto the pudding mix to make sure that a skin doesn’t form. Cover container with lid and place in fridge until cooled. I will often do this the night before I need it.
- Once cooled, beat margarine until smooth.
- Beat in cacao.
- Gradually add pudding while mixing. Only add one spoonful at a time and mix well. If you don't add gradually, the icing might split. If it does, you can get it back but it takes a lot of beating. Add vanilla and & mix.
- Use your favourite piping nozzle to make a pretty swirl of icing on top of the cupcake. Place a chocolate coconut rough on top.
BAKING TIPS
Flax Meal
My preference is for Golden flax meal. I feel like it works better in the cake batter but that could be my imagination. It definitely looks better in a light coloured cake because the brown flax meal can leave flecks of brown which you can see.
Golden flax seeds can be tricky to find so I usually buy mine online and grind them myself in my coffee grinder. It takes a few seconds in an electric coffee grinder and the meal is nice and fine.
Cupcake Wrappers
I also prefer to use the more upright cupcake wrappers in a thin cardboard rather than the traditional wrappers. The reason is that the traditional wrappers can be very fickle about peeling back from the cooked cake. If you undercook slightly then do it. If you keep them in a sealed plastic container, they do it. It doesn’t always happen but with the wrappers than I now use, it never happens and that make me happy! The other great advantage of these wrappers is that you don’t have to use a special pan. Then just sit on a flat tray and won’t lose their shape.
ICE-CREAM SCOOP
This is the best and fastest way to get the perfect amount of cake batter in each cupcake wrapper. You need the old style scoop with the release handle. Makes baking so much faster.
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