Coconut and Lime Cake

No special story behind this cake. Today I wanted to make a little cake so I stood in the pantry and stared. Then I opened the fridge. Closed the fridge. Stared in the pantry. Opened the fridge. And thus, a cake was born. I always aim to make little desserts - to prevent myself from eating family sized cakes on my own!

COCONUT & LIME CAKE

Gently melt together:
- 1/2 a can of coconut cream
- 1/2 a can of sweetened condensed milk 

- 75g of butter

Set aside to cool then add 1 egg and a bit less than 1 cup of self-raising flour.

My 3 layers of mini cakes took 17 minutes to bake at 160 C.

Take care not to overcook it as you want to keep the cake moist.

To frost, you can find the buttercream recipe here.
I scaled it down to 2 egg whites, 1/2 cup of sugar and 125g butter.
I added the juice of 1 lime instead of the melted chocolate.

Chocolate Cupcakes

With all the crazy, magnificent cakes and desserts social media present to us (think of fully loaded Nutella doughnut shakes; cakes with shimmering shards of chocolate bark, meringue kisses, ganache AND gold leaf), I sometimes find myself overwhelmed and I look for relief in something simple. Crêpes with lemon and sugar. Scones with cream and jam. Chocolate chip cookies. Pudding with butterscotch sauce. So I decided to create simple chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing. I even held back on the glitter and confetti.

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

Sift 3/4 cup of self-raising flour and 1/4 cup dutch cocoa and set aside.

Into a double boiler: 200g chopped butter, 100g dark chocolate, 1 cup of caster sugar and 1/4 cup espresso.

I used Cadbury's 70% Old Gold for this recipe

Stir until dissolved, then set aside to cool.

Add 4 eggs and gently combine. Fold in your dry ingredients and mix until smooth.

I made mini cupcakes as I feel the icing to cake ratio is much more appropriate.
Plus you can remain ladylike whilst eating, without ruining your lippy too much.

These tiny cakes took a mere 9-10 minutes at 160 C, but do check with a skewer.

This batch produced 30+ mini cupcakes (I lost count once I started eating).

CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM

The detailed recipe with pictures can be found here.

To make just enough frosting for these mini cakes (and my mouth at the end) I used:

- 2 egg whites

- 1/2 cup caster sugar

- 1/2 block soft, unsalted butter

- 50g melted dark chocolate

Whisk the eggwhites and sugar in a double boiler until the sugar is dissolved.

Transfer to a stand mixer and whip on high speed for about 10 minutes.

Once the bowl feels cool, add your soft butter a cube at a time.

Drizzle in your cool, melted chocolate.

Jam Drops

I have a bad habit of hoarding jam jars - I get enchanted by the flavour and the pretty jar it's in, buy it, use it once or twice, forget about it. Rinse and repeat. 8 half full jars later, I think I have a problem. Having lots of toast can get tiring, so I found another solution - jam drops. The jars I had to use up included: strawberry conserve, cherry conserve, orange marmalade and lemon curd. They're made from fruit so it must be healthy, right?

Here are a few tips for making these biscuits, which I learned from my mistakes:
1. Don't whip the butter and sugar for too long. This is fine for making airy cakes that you want to rise, but when I did that for these cookies, it made them spread out too far and thin. Mix the ingredients until JUST combined.
2. Plain flour. I tried them with self-raising flour the first time, but again, they just ended up spreading out thinly and making a mess.
3. Refrigerate. I was really determined to prevent thinly spreading cookies, so after forming the shapes, I popped the trays into the fridge for about half an hour with the belief that it will keep the dough firm in the oven! They did spread a little bit, but nothing like the first attempts.

JAM DROPS

Combine 1.5 cups plain flour and 1/2 cup dessicated coconut.

 Beat together 1/2 a block of unsalted butter and 1/2 a cup of caster sugar.

Add 1 egg and a generous tablespoon of vanilla extract.

Spoon in the flour mixture, beating on low speed until just combined.

Measure out balls with a big heaped teaspoon - I managed 30.

 Flatten the balls with your palm then using your thumb or a knuckle, create an indent for the jam.

 Spoon in your preserves then pop the trays into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Bake at 180C for 10-12 minutes (whenever the edges start to brown).