Cake Trails #1: Mango and Coconut Cupcakes

Well it's been a little quiet around here recently hasn't it? I'd love to say I've just been so busy working hard on my real life that I haven't had time to blog, but really I've spent a lot of time under a duvet (seeing as there's no sand to stick my head in).

Luckily I've got a really nice project that has just started, and I am so excited to share it with you. My friend Eve over at Sam Loves Cake had the great idea of starting an Edinburgh Cake Trail. We are tirelessly hunting down the best cake the city has to offer. Eventually we'll have a little map for you to take a quick look at to help you work out where to get your next cake fix. Until we get a few under our belt though, Eve is telling you all about our visit, whilst I am baking about it instead. For every venue we visit, I'll be whipping up a treat inspired by something we ate, or something that caught our eye.

This week it's Mango and Coconut Cupcakes, inspired by the decadent Mango and Coconut Cheesecake Eve tucked into at Mimi's Bakehouse in Leith.

Whilst we plough through this wintery January, a bite of these cupcakes is like a much longed for visit from a tropical breeze. Vanilla sponge with a mango centre topped off with coconut cream buttercream and another splodge of mango on top for good measure. They may look like fried eggs, but they are assuredly more decadent. Whipping them up couldn't be easier, and the coconut cream buttercream is a nice change from your usual buttercream.

Mango and Coconut Cupcakes

185g Sugar
90g Unsalted Butter
1 Egg & 1 Egg White
1tsp Vanilla Extract
200g Plain Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
125ml Milk

300g Frozen Mango

120g Butter
310g Icing Sugar
Half a Tin of Coconut Milk*

*This is a bit of a faff. You need to put the tin in the fridge over night, or for 8 hours before you want to make the icing, then open the tin from the bottom not the top. Drain off the thin coconut water (save it for a smoothie or something) then weigh out the remaining thick white coconut cream. You'll need half of the white coconut cream. Alternatively, I think in some places you can just buy coconut cream, but not in the tiny convenience shop by my flat!

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
2. Add the egg, egg white and vanilla extract.
3. Alternate folding in the flour and baking powder and mixing in the milk. I go flour, milk, flour, milk, last bit of flour.
4. Fill your cupcake cases and bake at 180oC for 18-20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
5. Leave to cool.
6. Defrost the mango and blitz until smooth in a food processor.
7. Core the cupcakes, either with a cupcake corer or just with a knife, and fill with around a teaspoon of mango, then replace the top of the cupcake.
8. Whip the coconut cream, then add the butter and the icing sugar. You might need a bit more icing sugar to thicken the icing if you're working in a particularly warm kitchen.
9. Pipe the icing onto the cupcakes or just use a palette knife, and then top with another dollop of the mango.
10. These cupcakes are definitely best eaten right away, but if you're saving them I recommend you keep them in the fridge or a very cool place, because the icing can get runny.