I feel like celebrating!
It's been a very exciting week for me. Not only have I had my 50,000th click on the blog, but you, my readers, are letting me know more and more with comments and emails that you're loving what I'm doing, and I just wanted to say that I'm so very grateful. Also, I've been getting some very exciting requests for taking photographs for various people and their projects, and it has really made me believe in myself just that little bit more. So again, thank you oh so very much! You make this blog what it is, and if it gets better every week as a lot of you have said, its because of you and your support. I'll be posting more about my upcoming projects soon, but until then, these celebration muffins are just for you!
I actually wasn't going to make muffins at all this week. I was thinking something more chocolatey maybe. But I'd been craving coconut cake for weeks now, I had a whole bunch of limes at home, and when I walked into La Cuisiniere and saw the cupcake stand above, I knew my chocolate fantasy had to take a back seat for a little while. Speaking of which, a huge THANK YOU has to go out to all the lovely ladies at La Cuisiniere - especially Anne, Penny, and Mandaline. Thank you so much for all your help, support, patience and time - it is all very much appreciated.
Recipe after the jump!
Makes 12 muffins
Ingredients:
For the muffins:
450ml milk
3 eggs
Seeds of 1 vanilla pod
200g dessicated coconut
200g sugar
2 heaped tsps baking powder
500g flour (I mixed 300g plain white flour with 200g wholemeal flour for these, as I prefer the texture, plus I'd like to think it's healthier!)
3tsps cinnamon
110g butter, melted
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Add the vanilla seeds to the milk and whisk together with the eggs.
2. Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, and coconut in a separate bowl, make a well in the centre and slowly stir in the egg mixture until it has all combined, making sure not to over-mix. Pour in the melted butter and fold under until it forms a smooth consistency.
3. Place 12 muffin cases in a muffin tray and pour a little mixture into each one, making sure not to overfill the cases, leaving a little space for the muffins to rise nicely. Bake in the centre of the oven for roughly 20 - 25 minutes. Stick a metal skewer into the middle of a muffin - if no dough sticks to the metal, they're ready. I usually switch the oven off and keep them in there with the door open for about 5 minutes, before taking them out and allowing them to cool outside. This stops them from sinking down.
For the lime cream frosting:
3 egg whites
200g sugar
300g butter, room temperature
Zest and juice of 2 limes
1. Hand whisk egg whites and sugar in a bowl. Place the bowl over a bain-marie (water bath) and continue hand whisking until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is piping hot. Remove bowl from water bath and whisk with an electric mixer at high speed, until the bowl starts to cool down.
2. Add the butter, a little at a time, and mix on a low setting until all the butter has been incorporated. Turn up the speed to high for a minute or two at the end. Add the lime zest and juice and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate frosting and allow to thicken.
3. Spread the cream over the muffins with a knife, or hollow the muffins out a little and fill them with a teaspoon or two of cream. For the muffins I made above, I used a piping bag with a large star nozzle to create the swirling effect.
