Friday, May 30, 2008

I've Got A Major Backlog!

IMG_2980_

It's been almost a month since I've last updated. And I have been cooking. I have not been making a lot of new things (lots of repeats, but I've never blogged or photographed them), or taking good pictures. I haven't even downloaded my camera since the beginning of May.

It's also been busy, being the last month of school and all. I've also had apathy for just about everything. Especially food styling. I have a list though, and I'm excited. Plus, summer means more light and outdoor shots, which are more fun. Except for when it's muggy.

Some of what I've neglected to blog about: the soda bread muffins from June's Bon Appetit the day it came in the mail because I felt like it; cocoa fudge cookies (for the fourth time); lemon buttermilk cookies (via Molly/Orangette); malted chocolate cookies for a Whoppers fan; actually tasty adventures with nopales; super easy peanut butter ice cream and some not as simple milk chocolate ice cream as birthday presents; oven fries I've been wanting to make since January; tried something new with the buckwheat calamari salad from Delicious Living; a newfound obsession with buttermilk and pancakes galore; finally trying coconut oil and making coconut mini cakes with pineapple; carrot-banana oatmeal muffins to sort of clean out the fridge; a memorial day dessert of inside-out carrot cake ice cream sandwiches (which are next on my list because they're apparently by a consensus of seven people the best frozen dessert I've made, and those plum ice-cream sandwiches are awfully tasty!) just because I had everything for the cookie part and had them bookmarked; gazpacho salad (via Deb over at Smitten Kitchen); amazing black-bean brownies that really are amazing (via Heidi@101 Cookbooks); and a lemon-poppy seed cake last night, my very first bundt cake.

I guess I was a tad bit busy. But most of those lack photos, or now that I just downloaded them, are pretty bad. Most are blurry. Some have terrible composition. It's pretty much a lose-lose situation. My layout's not pretty enough, and my writing far too bland.

But I'm starting with the coconut cakes before I lose the recipe that I wrote the receipt on the back of as I put it together. I adapted it from the golden vanilla cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. I wanted to try out coconut oil. Had I used soymilk, this recipe would have been vegan as well, but my goal wasn't vegan, it was just an easy yummy coconut cupcake to go with the pineapple we had in the fridge. Or in, other words, a simple but elegant dessert that I could put together with what I already had in the house.

The mini cakes, which I baked in a dessert bar pan, can also be made in a muffin pan but will probably yield a few more. I was expecting between 6 and 8, but only ended up with five. The milk can be substituted with soymilk, or the milk and vinegar with buttermilk. Canola oil would also make a fine replacement for the coconut oil (use a bit less) and increase the coconut extract.

Coconut Mini Cakes
Makes about 5 cakes

1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons (45 g) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (30g) whole wheat pastry flour (or more all purpose)
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
3/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (50 g) coconut oil
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons (75 g) sugar
1/2 or 1 teaspoon coconut extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 6 muffin cups with nonstick spray or line with liners.

Combine the flours, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.

Whisk the milk and vinegar together in a measuring cup and set aside for a few minutes to curdle.

In a large bowl beat together the coconut oil and sugar. If coconut oil is too hard, microwave in oven to soften/melt.

Sift in half of flour mixture and then the soymilk mixture and coconut extract, mixing well. Sift in remaining flour mixture and stir until no large lumps remain.

Fill liners 2/3 way full and bake for 20 minutes or until done. Transfer to cooking rack to cool.

No comments: