Multi-Colored Mini Almond Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting and Coconut

Pin It We didn't have any dessert in the house, so I had to come up with a recipe to indulge my raging sweet tooth. Using the ingredients I already had in my kitchen, I came up with this beauty. It is multicolored because I knew my 3 year old would LOVE it! I suppose you could make it without adding any colors, but what fun would that be? Enjoy this recipe, it's *almost* like a tropical vacation!

Multi-Colored Mini Almond Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting and Coconut

Cake Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

6 tablespoons butter, softened

2 teaspoons almond extract

2 large eggs

2 large egg whites

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 cups buttermilk**

Cooking spray
Food coloring

Frosting Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Food coloring

Topping:

Coconut (I colored mine with food coloring)

1/2 cup lemon curd (usually found next to the jelly/peanut butter in grocery stores)

*If you don't have buttermilk, you can substitute with 1 1/4 cups milk mixed with just over 1 tbsp lemon juice. Just let the milk/lemon juice combination sit for 5 minutes before using.

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare cake, place first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes).

Add eggs and egg whites, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda; stir well with a whisk.

Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; beat well after each addition. Divide batter into two smaller bowls. Add different colors of food coloring to each one until you have achieved the desired color. 

Spoon batter into mini muffin pans coated with cooking spray, alternating colors in each cup. Sharply tap pan once on counter to remove air bubbles.

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan.

Cool completely on wire rack.

Frosting Preparation:

Place the butter in a large bowl and blend with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Stop the maching and add the powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons milk and almond extract. Blend with mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute more. If frosting seems too thick, add one more tablespoon of milk and blend until smooth. Add food coloring until desired color.



Frost cupcakes with a smooth edge spatula, and then dip the tops in a bowl of coconut. Top with a dollop of lemon curd.

Indonesian Beef Stew

Pin It This is a wonderful crock-pot stew that I found in my Williams-Sonoma Slow Cooker Cookbook. The original recipe can be found here. I couldn't find unsweetened coconut at my local grocery store, so I used sweetened and omitted the brown sugar. Cumin and Coriander are not spices I had used before, so I had to purchase them. I was able to find smaller jars for less than $3 at Target. I figured I wasn't sure if I would use them frequently, so that was a small price to pay to try something new! As I was making this, I was thinking that this stew would be equally good (and cheaper) if I used chicken breast instead. Just a thought. Without further ado, here is the recipe!

Indonesian Beef Stew

Ingredients:

1/4 cup canola oil
3 lb. boneless beef chuck, cut into 2-inch cubes (I used the pre-cut "beef for stew" found in the meat section of the grocery)
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cups unsweetened shredded or flaked dried coconut (I used sweetened)
1 Tbs. firmly packed light brown sugar (I omitted this because of the sweetened coconut)
1 Tbs. ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt, plus more, to taste
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper, plus more, to taste
4 cups coconut milk
Steamed white rice for serving

Preparation:

In a large fry pan over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Add the beef and onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is no longer red and the onion has softened, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle with the coconut, brown sugar (if using), coriander, cumin, the 1 tsp. salt and the 1 tsp. pepper. Continue sautéing until the meat and coconut are browned and the spices are fragrant, 5 to 7 minutes more. Transfer the mixture to a slow cooker.

Add the coconut milk to the fry pan, increase the heat to high and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape up the browned bits from the pan bottom. Bring the coconut milk to a boil, then pour it into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper. Ladle the stew over steamed rice and serve immediately. Serves 6 to 8.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Food Made Fast Series, Slow Cooker, by Norman Kolpas (Oxmoor House, 2007).