Coconut Pandan Cupcakes with White Chocolate Lemon Ganache

Tau Hway.

Pandan Waffles.

Pineapple tarts.

Kueh Bangkit.

The list of my favourite Asian sweets are endless, but my point being that they aren’t given enough spotlight in the blogosphere, and even cookbooks! So when I happen to chance upon a well written, beautifully photographed Asian dessert book like Allanbakes Really Good Cheesecakes, I get all giddy with excitement because it’s a chance to combine Asian ingredients ( think mangoes, coconuts, lychees ) with Western techniques.

The NLB in Singapore is extremely up to date with the latest cookbooks and I happened to chance upon Our Sweet Kitchen, by two Vietnamese authors. It’s a beautiful book with glossy pictures and even better – desserts from all over Asia! Next on my to do list – a caramelly Leche Flan from the Philippines and Banana Bread Pudding from Vietnam. The blogging / cooking world has been all abuzz about using natural, local ingredients. We don’t get much of that in Singapore, given that we have close to none natural resources. But baking with regional recipes and tropical ingredients is probably the next best thing, right?

Pandan waffles are one of my favourite treats to eat, I devour several weekly (YUM). So these cupcakes are heaaaaaaven~~ because they’re light and fluffy because of the whipped cream. Interestingly, all the fat content is derived from the whipping cream as there’s no butter OR oil. Coconut and pandan are a no brainer, so to punch up the flavor, I’ve tossed in an extra ¾ cup shredded coconut and some coconut flavor. The ganache is my new favourite, the temptation to lick it by the spoonful is overwhelming. It’s sweetened by the white chocolate and given a zesty tinge with the tropical spices and lemon.

Whipped Coconut Pandan Cakes (Makes 10 cupcakes)

Loosely adapted from Our Sweet Kitchen by Chi Anh Dao & Hoang Ang Nguyen

For the sugar syrup

25g water

25g brown sugar

¼ teaspoon coconut flavor

1. Boil the 3 ingredients together until the liquid comes to a boil, and let cool.

For the whipped cream cakes

1 cup sifted plain flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

125ml whipping cream

100g castor sugar

½ teaspoon coconut flavor

½ teaspoon pandan paste

¾ cup sweetened desiccated coconut (Extra for sprinkling)

1.  Preheat the oven to 175C. Grease baking pans or line 10 muffin tins with cupcake liners.

2.  Sift the flour, baking powder and salt and mix well. Whip the egg and coconut flavor together. Pour the cream into another mixing bowl and whip the cream, starting on low speed, gradually raising the speed to medium-high as it thickens, until stiff peaks form when the beater is raised. On low speed, gradually whip in the egg mixture and the mixture will turn into a thick mayonnaise like consistency.

3.  Add the sugar and pandan paste in gradually and beat the mixture well.

4.  Taking a spatula, manually fold the flour into the mixture until all traces of white flour have disappeared. Gently stir in the sweetened coconut.

5.  Bake for 15 minutes in the muffin tin, rotating once after the halfway mark. Let the cupcakes cool for 2-3 minutes in the tin, then remove them.

6.  Using a wooden skewer, poke holes over the surface of the cake, and slowly brush the sugar syrup all over the cake.

7.  Use a spatula or a knife and generously frost each cupcake with a scoop of white chocolate ganache. Sprinkle on extra sweetened coconut as a finishing touch

Whipped White Chocolate Lemon Ganache (Makes about ¾ cup)

Adapted from The Cake Book, by Tish Boyle

6 ounces (170g) finely chopped white chocolate
1 cups heavy cream

Zest of 1 lemon

¼ teaspoon lemongrass powder

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

1. Place the white chocolate in the bowl of an electric mixer and set aside.

2. In a small saucepan, bring the cream, spices and lemon zest to a gentle boil over medium heat. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let it stand for about 1 minute to melt the chocolate, then whisk the mixture until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or overnight.

3.Using the whisk attachment, beat the ganache at medium-high speed until the whisk begins to leave a trail in it and it has the consistency of soft whipped cream.

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Baker’s Notes

1.    In Singapore, you can find pandan paste and coconut flavour at Phoon Huat stores. The cake gets it’s colour from the natural pandan hues.

2.    If you’re not a fan of coconut (then we can’t be friends… I’m kidding!), substitute coconut extract for vanilla. Corn and blueberry marry beautifully with pandan too.

Thai Tea Cupcakes with Coconut Cream

A trip to Bangkok is effortless from Singapore, a mere 2.5 hours away and we’re soaking in the chaotic, bright and TASTY mess that is Thailand. Thai food is brilliant, with beautiful punches of lime, lemongrass and chili. I’ve been on abit of a Thai food kick recently, whipping up elementary Pad Thai / Green Curry Fried Rice with chicken (recipe to follow soon! ) because the I love the feisty and rich flavours that are so easy to recreate.

This cupcake is easy to whip up, and brings me back to 2012 in Chiang Mai. We were university kids on a volunteer trip and raided the 7-11s like there was no tomorrow, and I FELL IN LOVE with their Thai ice tea on dispense. Creamy, cool and sweet, sort of like this cupcake. It’s topped with a frothy, slightly sweet coconut cream and filled with Speculoos (just because I had some extra… )

Thai desserts are often themed with coconut, and the pandan extract marries well with the Thai Tea, but substitute it with coconut extract or give it a miss if you can’t find it in stores. ( I got mine at a local Phoon Huat)

Rather excited to share this recipe with my fellow volunteer mates who are actually coming over for dinner next week, can’t wait to hear what they think!

          

Thai Tea Cupcakes (Makes 12 cupcakes or 1 9 inch round cake)

·       1/8 cup condensed milk

·     1 cup whole milk

·       3/4 Thai iced tea mix (see note, below)

·       1 3/8 cups cake flour

·       1 1/4 tsp. baking powder

·       ½ tsp. salt

·       1 stick (113g) butter, room temperature

·       3/4 cups sugar

·       2 eggs, room temperature

·       ½  tablespoon vanilla

·       ¼ teaspoon pandan extract (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Whisk together the milk and condensed milk in a medium pot. Heat over medium or medium-high heat until scalded – steaming with bubbles forming around the edge – stirring occasionally. Add the tea mix, remove from heat, cover, and let sit 10 minutes. Pour through a sieve to strain out tea leaves. Let the mixture cool to somewhere between room temperature (a bit warmer is okay, too), using the refrigerator or freezer to cool down quickly if necessary. You can work on the next few steps while you’re waiting for the milk mixture to cool down.

3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

4. Using an electric mixer (stand or handheld) on medium speed, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (mixture should be pale yellow ).Beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next. Beat in the vanilla and pandan extract.  Scrape down the beaters and the sides of the bowl as needed.

5. Reduce speed to low and beat in one-third of the flour mixture. As soon as the flour is almost incorporated, add half the milk mixture. Repeat with a second third of the flour mixture, the rest of the milk, then the rest of the flour, making sure not to overmix after each addition.

6.  Give the batter a final stir, scraping along the bottom and sides of the bowl to make sure all lumps are incorporated and that there are no pockets of dry ingredients hiding in the batter.

7. Pour the batter into cupcake trays, about 3/4 full. Bake for 15 minutes.  When done, the middle of the cake will spring back when lightly pressed with a fingertip and a toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake should come back with a few crumbs attached.

8. To assemble, core the cupcakes ¾ way through with an apple corer or paring knife. Using teaspoons, gently spoon speculoos spread into the cupcakes. Seal the hole with leftover crumbs. Top with a scoop of whipped cream and use a spatula to make random swirls. Sprinkle on leftover crumbs.

Coconut Whipped Cream (Recipe adapted from Nick Malgieri’s Perfect Cakes)

·      1 cup heavy whipping cream

·      ½ cup coconut cream

·      ½ teaspoon vanilla

1.      Beat the whipping cream, coconut cream and vanilla in a bowl on high speed for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy and small peaks form.

2.    Refrigerate if not using immediately. Cold cream can be rewhipped if it becomes too firm in the fridge.

Baker’s Notes

1.      Use real ground Thai tea and not the instant mix.

2.    The coconut cream is GENIUS, frothy and lightly sweetened. It does not need any extra sugar.