Saturday 23 July 2011

Coconut pandan cupcakes




So here is my first recipe with pandan. I was lucky to find some fresh but if you can't find it look for pandan essence in the baking section in Asian stores and just add some more coconut milk. You can make the pandan syrup in advance but the pandan juice should be made on the day as it will oxidize and lose the bright green colour.

COCONUT PANDAN CUPCAKES

125ml sunflower oil
100g sugar
2 eggs
150g plain flour
100g rice flour
6g baking powder
5 tbsp pandan juice*
5 tbsp pandan syrup**
5 tbsp coconut cream
toasted coconut flakes

for the buttercream

200g salted butter
400g icing sugar
5 tbsp pandan syrup*
5 tbsp coconut cream

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Mix the oil, sugar and the eggs. Beat until the mixture turns pale in colour. Mix the flour and baking powder and sift. Gently fold under the egg-sugar mix and incorporate the other ingredients, including some of the coconut flakes. Fill into muffin cases and bake for about 15 minutes. Let cool down on a wire rack. In the meantime prepare the butter cream. Beat the butter until pale and creamy. Add the icing sugar, beat well and add the pandan syrup and coconut cream. Spread over the cold muffins and decorate with the toasted coconut flakes.

* To make pandan juice take 10 pandan leaves, cut them in small strips and puree with 1/2 cup water in a food processor. Strain with a cheesecloth and discard the leaves.
** To make the pandan syrup put 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of water and about 10 fresh pandan leaves (tied to a knot makes it easier to remove them later) in a pot and bring to the boil. Leave to simmer for about 10 minutes. Let cool down before handling.

2 comments:

tinytearoom said...

fresh pandan leaves are nowhere to be found in my suburb. thank you for describing how to substitute with pandan essence. You cupcakes look dainty and lovely.

Vic Yap said...

Well done extracting the pandan flavour from the fresh leaves! Were they easy to find in Chinatown? x