Easter desserts week 2: Gula Melaka (coconut sugar) Easter cupcakes

Have you ever woken up one morning with a brilliant idea? Well I had one when I woke up last Monday morning. I had a very nice Gula Melaka sugee cake over the weekend and it inspired me to adapt the Red Velvet cupcakes recipe to make Gula Melaka cupcakes! I wasn't very sure if I should add vinegar to coconut milk to make "buttermilk". I did some research online and it seems it can be done so I went ahead to try the recipe by replacing sugar with coconut sugar and milk with coconut milk. Since we are still in the Easter season, I have decided to localise the flavour of my frosting too.

Coconut Sugar (Gula Melaka) Easter Cupcakes (Makes 16 cupcakes)

Cupcakes:

250g self-raising flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

100g soft unsalted butter

180g coconut sugar (Gula Melaka)

2 large eggs

175 ml coconut milk

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1.    Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare cupcake cases.

2.    Mix 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar into the coconut milk and let it stand for 5 minutes.

3.    Sieve the self-rising flour and baking soda together in a bowl.

4.    In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar, till a soft, pale mixture forms.

5.    Into the mixture, fold 1 spoonful of the flour, then 1 egg, followed by some flour, then the other egg, followed by the rest of the flour.

6.  Pour in the milk mixture into the batter. Mix well and divide the batter into the 14 cases.  Bake in the oven for about 18 - 20 minutes.

7.    Leave them to cool before frosting or storing.

Cream Cheese frosting and decorating:

250g cream cheese

125g butter

½ - 1 cup icing sugar (to your taste)
2-3 tbsp of coconut sugar syrup

Pandan food paste 

1/2 cup desiccated coconut 

Chocolate eggs (I used peanut M&Ms)

1.    Leave the cream cheese and butter to soften at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

2.    Beat the cream cheese and butter together in a mixer till smooth.

3.    Add the icing sugar and coconut sugar syrup to the mixture and beat till smooth.

4. Fill a piping bag with the frosting and pipe all over the cupcake.

5. Put a drop of Pandan food paste into the desiccated coconut and mix well. Coat each cupcake with the coloured desiccated coconut.

6.Chill the cupcakes and put 3 peanut M&Ms on each cupcake before serving. 

Note: Do not put the M&Ms into fridge as the condensation will cause dis-colouration. 

The flavour reminds me of onde onde with the coconut and gula melaka. I frosted only half the batch of cupcakes as I was finishing up my leftover cream cheese frosting. My family prefers the cupcakes without the coconut as they are not fans.The unfrosted cupcakes were gone by the end of the day! Looks like I have to try another frosting for these cupcakes.