Bites of spring.
So last week I decided to experiment with. Coconut and key lime and boy did the combination work. Using my favourite coconut recipe and swiping a key lime curd recipe from Martha Stewart I combined them to create a coconut base with a heart of key lime curd and lime buttercream. The result is a citrusy and distinctive flavour.
Before you do anything, you need to start with making the key lime curd. The inspiration came when thinking about a hummingbird bakery key lime pie I made for my hubby last year. I loved the tangy kick of the dessert and decided it would bring something special to my coconut cupcakes.
Key lime Curd
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons grated key-lime zest, plus 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed key-lime juice(6 limes)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1. Combine sugar, eggs, lime zest and juice in a saucepan and set over a medium low heat. Whisk it continually as it cooks. The mixture will slowly begin to thicken and with mark the whisking. This should be at about 10-12 minutes.
2. Once it is thickened enough remove from heat and whisk in the butter, piece by piece, allowing each one to melt before adding the next. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a glass bowl. Quickly take some cling film and lay it directly on the mixture in the bowl, so that it completely touches and covers the mixture. You do not want the curd to form a skin. Leave the mixture in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight. I actually left it for 2 hours and it was fine.
This is what is should look like after the cooling process. So easy to do and very taste effective!
While this is in the fridge you can get on with baking your cupcakes. I shall drop you the ingredients you need for the cupcakes but won’t go over the method again, as you can find this in an earlier post.
Coconut Cupcakes
1 3/4 flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 shredded coconut
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups of sugar
2 large eggs, 2 egg whites
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
Once out of the oven, allow them to cool completely. Once they are cold you can begin with the decorating and filling. To fill the core of the cupcake you can go about it in a few ways. Either you use a cupcake corer which you can get off Amazon or in your nearest hobbycraft store, a small spoon to scoop out the middle of you can use a Wilton icing nozzle numbered 230. This nozzle is especially for piercing cupcakes and squeezing icing/buttercream and so on into the middle. It means that you are keeping all the cupcake sponge, which is a bit of an advantage. I used this method but it is not particularly necessary.
Using the nozzle and an icing bag I filled it with some if the Key Lime Curd. Carefully I inserted the nozzle into the middle of the cupcake and squeezed slowly pulling my icing bag back away from it with the flow of curd. I then pierced it again all around the middle so that the body of the cupcake has Key Lime Curd running all the way through it. Each bite will have a flutter of lime.
Now for the Lime Buttercream:
Lime Buttercream
250g unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp lime juice
2 tsp key lime curd
500g icing sugar
Again, once made, fill an icing bag with the buttercream and ice over all the Key Lime Curd icing holes on top of each cupcake.
Lastly, scatter some lime zest on top of each cupcake to add a shot of green colour.
And so you have it, a Coconut and Key lime cupcake. Everything a light airy cupcake should have. Light spongy cake, with bubbles of tangy key lime curd that dances around the cake in a beautiful way. Every bite a delightful surprise. If you like Key Lime pie of any kind then you should absolutely try this recipe.
Enjoy.
bakerhomemaker 