I’ve been thinking about how to begin this post for way too long. Ever since Monday when I baked these little chocolate coconut cupcakes you see up there to be exact. Bloggers often talk about writers block, so far I am yet to experience this… does that mean I like to talk too much? The reason I’ve been stumbling trying to begin this post has more to do with the fact that I have been reading way too many food blogs lately! I’ve come across some real amazing ones, and while the kids are fast asleep at night I’ve been staying up way past my bedtime, reading blog, after blog, after blog. Salivating over every photo, studying every recipe. Don’t get me wrong, I love nothing more than to do this. It’s just that I find my mind races after reading other peoples blogs, ideas spin around in my head keeping me awake at night, I come up with ideas for posts, and then change them the following day. So you see, it’s with that scattered mind that I bring you this recipe for chocolate coconut cupcakes today.
For a long time I have been reading the big blogs; the 101cookbooks, Tartelette, Cannelle et Vanille, Smitten kitchen and David Lebovitz kinda blogs. Those ones are easy to find. They have made their mark, big time. And their name is on everyone’s lips. What I am talking about here though, are the lesser known ones, the ones generally written by people out of blog-central America. The Green kitchen stories, My new roots, Easy-Peasy Organic, Scandi Foodie, a baking life, one small kitchen, Golubka,and Indian simmer to name but a few. Sometimes if I have a good stint of reading, I come away feeling rather overwhelmed. There really are so many amazing ideas and ultra creative people out there, so many recipes to try and not enough time! (That could just be my frustrated-too-busy-no-time-for-myself mother self talking though…)
In saying that, today’s recipe is made and in the oven in two seconds flat. And is even achievable with two kids hanging off you legs. I usually leave most of my cooking to do when Ada’s at kindy and Kye’s having a nap, but these cupcakes were whipped up while the kids played (nicely, for once) after eating lunch on a cold and rainy Monday. They are made in the food processor and can literally be in the oven in 5 minutes if you have all your ingredients out to begin with. They bake in 20-25 minutes which means; from start to finish they can be made in around an hour. Remembering that most of that time is simply cooling time too!
They are beautifully rich, only require a handful of ingredients, no gluten-free flours and I used the leftover chocolate from the block, to make a quick simple dairy-free icing. Sweetened with just a little maple syrup they are sweet without being sickly. Eaten on the same day of baking they are moist and chocolaty with just enough of a coconut flavour to let you imagine you are eating a bounty bar, but for me the true magic happens when they are left overnight in the fridge. The icing sets, while the cupcakes turn dense and ever so slightly chewy. Eating them with a spoon is a must, even if it’s just used to scrape the last crumbs off the paper cases.
flourless chocolate coconut cupcakes I used Whittakers 50% dark chocolate, but any good quality dark chocolate is fine. I prefer to use good eating chocolate to cook with (chopped up), but feel free to use chocolate buttons or chips. Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days (if they make it that long!) Elana uses agave nectar in place of maple, so feel free to use that, if that’s your thing. makes 8.
1 cup (150g) chopped dark chocolate
1 cup (65g) shredded coconut
3 large eggs
1/3 cup (80ml) maple syrup
pinch of fine sea salt
1/2 cup (90g) chopped dark chocolate
1/4 cup (60ml) coconut milk
toasted shredded coconut, extra (optional) to decorate
Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F. Line 8 muffin tins with paper cases.
Place the chocolate and coconut into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely ground (Elana says the consistency of coarse sand). Add the eggs, maple syrup and a pinch of fine sea salt. Pulse until well combined.
Using a 1/4 cup (60ml) cup measure, scoop out cupcake batter into the paper cases. Bake for 20-25 mintues or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre.
Leave the cupcakes in the tins to cool for at least 1 hour before icing.
To make the coconut ganache icing, place the coconut milk and chocolate into a small saucepan and melt over a very low heat, stirring as you go. Once it is melted and smooth, spread tablespoonfuls of the ganache onto the top of the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with toasted coconut.
Oh my goodness, I need one of these right about now! Thanks so much for the link… and for sharing the blogs you're reading – my blog curiosity knows no bounds! Right, am off to the wholefoods store to stock up on coconut! xo
Thanks for the recommendations to the lesser known blogs for me those are the real gems that inspire me to use ingredients in new ways.Also very happy to have discovered your blog:-)
hmmmm, your mortar and pestle will get a work out with this one Sam! 😉
Whoa. That is one simple recipe for some delicious looking cupcakes! I can't wait to try these!
Em I have so enjoyed following your blogs and love your recipes. It has become apparent that our family are also wheat and gluten intolerant so loving them even more xxx Love from the Bruntons
I have no understanding of food science and i just cant understand how these look like they have some kind of flour in them!!?? They look incredible!! I just LUUURRVE the idea of chocolate and coconut milk icing too!! YUM!!!! cant wait to try 🙂 xo
Yum! Just pinned it to my Pinterest board…. thankyou for sharing 🙂 I'm one kid down tommorow so I might whip up a batch
Yummmm x
yum! love that they sound so simple to make too. thanks for visiting my blog – it's lovely to have comments and new visitors! Laura x
mmmm. sounds delicious.
I have been thinking the same ting about myself doing too much blogging as my monkey brain will not let me get sleep that i so desperately need. Think I need some moderation.
really love your blog.
Hey, thanks for the shout-out! I love the look of these … I actually made a choc-coconut cupcake for a friend's baby shower recently … hadn't even occurred to me they were like Bounty bars. Now *that's* a selling point ;D
And I get what you mean … it's hard not to be overwhelmed with all the *potential* out there. I find I constantly have to reassess – am I reading about being a mother, writing about being a mother, or just being one? Sometimes I don't get the balance right, and I have to re-set.
But you'll find your balance!
Amanda~ Totally, it is so easy to get caught up in your online life. I have set myself rules that I try to stick to. Not always possible, but my kids always come first. And yes deux chiens et un garcon, moderation is the key!
Emma, thank you so much for the mention! Very sweet of you, and I am so touched that you enjoy my blog so much. Thanks also for pointing me to some new-to-me blogs. I'll check them out!
I have been feeling the need for moderation in my online life as well lately. To the point of wondering if I need to schedule some internet-free days for myself. I too get caught up reading blogs (and pretty much everything else I come across – I'm an obsessive reader), and while I come away inspired and brimming with ideas, I often don't have any time left to put that inspiration into action! Not good. A particularly modern problem, I suppose.
Your cupcakes look wonderful. We don't have Bounty bars here, but I think Mounds are pretty similar, and I love them. Coconut + chocolate is divine. I love the simultaneous decadence and simplicity of your recipe!
Thanks Tara, yes I too have been wondering about scheduling in a few internet-free days a week. It's way too easy for hours to pass on here…
Thank you so much for the mention! These cupcakes sound absolutely mouth-watering! Fantastic use of coconut and chocolate, yum!
The Choc cupcakes look good to me, especially the photo of the one with the bite, I wish it was me that did that (bite)!
I think that we all have our favourite blogs, to reflect our taste. From the big bogs I have big expectations, like perfect recipes, and yet…. I am mostly disappointed, and I don't visit them often anymore. One of the ones you mentioned, for the second time in a row I found a fault with the recipe. I read a few comments (not all, impossible) to see if I was the only one there noticing it, but most of the people go there to be seen, they couldn't care less about the post.
I just posted my comment today there, I can cook, I can't shut up! I think I may have a new enemy!!!
Well, I guess this is blogworld :-), if she is an intelligent person she will appreciate me more that the hordes who wrote 'I will make this thanks!"
hahaha
ciao A.
Oh do tell which one that was Alessandra? In code 😉 Or email me if you didn't want to write it here? Yes I am actually finding myself reading more and more of the lesser known blogs and only still keeping up to date with 1-2 of the big name ones.
I like the little blogs too – they seem to be by people who actually do cook, if you know what I mean? I adore Bounty Bars – I will certainly be making these! That's another problem with following blogs – so many recipes, so little time – and my own blog was supposed to be an online collection of the recipes I had marked in magazines… magazines I don't even read now!!!
Oh the dreaded food blog addiction! I wrote an article about it on Blogher when I was in recovery ;P http://m.blogher.com/food-blog-addiction-are-you-its-grip Good to see something that uses a bit of coconut milk – I made a dhal the other day which called for 150 ml and I didn't really want to make another curryish thing with it – I have lots of time to bake until school starts…
Funny, sitting here with Oliver asleep for a few precious moments this morning and what do I do? READ BLOGS! Did you know Chocolate and Zucchini also posted a gluten free dairy free chocolate and coconut muffine today? I know this because I looked at the RSS feed. But whose blog did I read and comment on? Guess. 🙂
Thanks for the recommendations to the lesser known blogs for me those are the real gems that inspire me to use ingredients in new ways.Also very happy to have discovered your blog:-)
Thank you for your sweet words about Green Kitchen Stories. We are very glad to have you reading. I am also happy to have found your blog, it is really beautiful! Luise has also been experimenting with a healthier bounty bar recipe lately. Her recipe is actually a lot more complicated (but super tasty). We'll see if they make it to the blog. Yours look so delicious and moist.
oooh I look forward to hopefully seeing that recipe on your blog David 🙂
Exciting! Chocolate and coconut are two of my very favourite things together, and I've wondered for a long time if coconut could replace ground almonds in a recipe. I can't wait to try these!
Yum! I do love how simple these are and how delicious these cupcake look! Sometimes simple and easy is best. 🙂
yummy! I just made these today actually and they were delicious!! (theres a few images on my blog!) Thanks for the recipe 🙂 🙂 Hannah x
It says there's Maple Syrup in them…can you really not taste it.
I couldn't. Chocolate is the dominant flavour.
Beautiful pictures! They look perfect and like they would be fudgy, which in my opinion, is awesome!
Simply beautiful! I feel like I could just reach right into my computer and take a bite….oh I wish.
just having a visit to your blog – love the recipe and love your musings on blogs big and small and on the way they pull your thoughts to and fro – have been thinking similar thoughts myself lately
Oh how I miss bounty bars. Thank you for this
Yum thanks Emma! I erred a little though – did not chop chocolate before putting in processor, just broke in to pieces – so to process fine enough it took a while, and melted the chocolate!! BUT the cupcakes tasted great, a little more truffle like than maybe intended, not a bad thing though, intense chocolate goodness! And strangely the coconut isn't actually as dominant as I would have thought.. . Great end to a dinner with new friends.
35 Responses
Oh my goodness, I need one of these right about now! Thanks so much for the link… and for sharing the blogs you're reading – my blog curiosity knows no bounds! Right, am off to the wholefoods store to stock up on coconut! xo
Thanks for the recommendations to the lesser known blogs for me those are the real gems that inspire me to use ingredients in new ways.Also very happy to have discovered your blog:-)
hmmmm, your mortar and pestle will get a work out with this one Sam! 😉
Whoa. That is one simple recipe for some delicious looking cupcakes! I can't wait to try these!
Em I have so enjoyed following your blogs and love your recipes. It has become apparent that our family are also wheat and gluten intolerant so loving them even more xxx Love from the Bruntons
I have no understanding of food science and i just cant understand how these look like they have some kind of flour in them!!?? They look incredible!! I just LUUURRVE the idea of chocolate and coconut milk icing too!! YUM!!!! cant wait to try 🙂 xo
Yum! Just pinned it to my Pinterest board…. thankyou for sharing 🙂 I'm one kid down tommorow so I might whip up a batch
Yummmm x
yum! love that they sound so simple to make too.
thanks for visiting my blog – it's lovely to have comments and new visitors!
Laura x
mmmm. sounds delicious.
I have been thinking the same ting about myself doing too much blogging as my monkey brain will not let me get sleep that i so desperately need. Think I need some moderation.
really love your blog.
Hey, thanks for the shout-out! I love the look of these … I actually made a choc-coconut cupcake for a friend's baby shower recently … hadn't even occurred to me they were like Bounty bars. Now *that's* a selling point ;D
And I get what you mean … it's hard not to be overwhelmed with all the *potential* out there. I find I constantly have to reassess – am I reading about being a mother, writing about being a mother, or just being one? Sometimes I don't get the balance right, and I have to re-set.
But you'll find your balance!
Amanda~ Totally, it is so easy to get caught up in your online life. I have set myself rules that I try to stick to. Not always possible, but my kids always come first.
And yes deux chiens et un garcon, moderation is the key!
Emma, thank you so much for the mention! Very sweet of you, and I am so touched that you enjoy my blog so much. Thanks also for pointing me to some new-to-me blogs. I'll check them out!
I have been feeling the need for moderation in my online life as well lately. To the point of wondering if I need to schedule some internet-free days for myself. I too get caught up reading blogs (and pretty much everything else I come across – I'm an obsessive reader), and while I come away inspired and brimming with ideas, I often don't have any time left to put that inspiration into action! Not good. A particularly modern problem, I suppose.
Your cupcakes look wonderful. We don't have Bounty bars here, but I think Mounds are pretty similar, and I love them. Coconut + chocolate is divine. I love the simultaneous decadence and simplicity of your recipe!
Thanks Tara, yes I too have been wondering about scheduling in a few internet-free days a week. It's way too easy for hours to pass on here…
Thank you so much for the mention! These cupcakes sound absolutely mouth-watering! Fantastic use of coconut and chocolate, yum!
The Choc cupcakes look good to me, especially the photo of the one with the bite, I wish it was me that did that (bite)!
I think that we all have our favourite blogs, to reflect our taste. From the big bogs I have big expectations, like perfect recipes, and yet…. I am mostly disappointed, and I don't visit them often anymore. One of the ones you mentioned, for the second time in a row I found a fault with the recipe. I read a few comments (not all, impossible) to see if I was the only one there noticing it, but most of the people go there to be seen, they couldn't care less about the post.
I just posted my comment today there, I can cook, I can't shut up! I think I may have a new enemy!!!
Well, I guess this is blogworld :-), if she is an intelligent person she will appreciate me more that the hordes who wrote 'I will make this thanks!"
hahaha
ciao
A.
Oh do tell which one that was Alessandra? In code 😉 Or email me if you didn't want to write it here? Yes I am actually finding myself reading more and more of the lesser known blogs and only still keeping up to date with 1-2 of the big name ones.
I like the little blogs too – they seem to be by people who actually do cook, if you know what I mean?
I adore Bounty Bars – I will certainly be making these!
That's another problem with following blogs – so many recipes, so little time – and my own blog was supposed to be an online collection of the recipes I had marked in magazines… magazines I don't even read now!!!
Oh the dreaded food blog addiction! I wrote an article about it on Blogher when I was in recovery ;P http://m.blogher.com/food-blog-addiction-are-you-its-grip
Good to see something that uses a bit of coconut milk – I made a dhal the other day which called for 150 ml and I didn't really want to make another curryish thing with it – I have lots of time to bake until school starts…
Funny, sitting here with Oliver asleep for a few precious moments this morning and what do I do? READ BLOGS! Did you know Chocolate and Zucchini also posted a gluten free dairy free chocolate and coconut muffine today? I know this because I looked at the RSS feed. But whose blog did I read and comment on? Guess. 🙂
Thanks for the recommendations to the lesser known blogs for me those are the real gems that inspire me to use ingredients in new ways.Also very happy to have discovered your blog:-)
Thank you for your sweet words about Green Kitchen Stories. We are very glad to have you reading. I am also happy to have found your blog, it is really beautiful!
Luise has also been experimenting with a healthier bounty bar recipe lately. Her recipe is actually a lot more complicated (but super tasty). We'll see if they make it to the blog. Yours look so delicious and moist.
oooh I look forward to hopefully seeing that recipe on your blog David 🙂
Exciting! Chocolate and coconut are two of my very favourite things together, and I've wondered for a long time if coconut could replace ground almonds in a recipe. I can't wait to try these!
Yum! I do love how simple these are and how delicious these cupcake look! Sometimes simple and easy is best. 🙂
yummy! I just made these today actually and they were delicious!! (theres a few images on my blog!) Thanks for the recipe 🙂 🙂
Hannah x
It says there's Maple Syrup in them…can you really not taste it.
I couldn't. Chocolate is the dominant flavour.
Beautiful pictures! They look perfect and like they would be fudgy, which in my opinion, is awesome!
Simply beautiful! I feel like I could just reach right into my computer and take a bite….oh I wish.
just having a visit to your blog – love the recipe and love your musings on blogs big and small and on the way they pull your thoughts to and fro – have been thinking similar thoughts myself lately
Oh how I miss bounty bars. Thank you for this
Yum thanks Emma! I erred a little though – did not chop chocolate before putting in processor, just broke in to pieces – so to process fine enough it took a while, and melted the chocolate!! BUT the cupcakes tasted great, a little more truffle like than maybe intended, not a bad thing though, intense chocolate goodness! And strangely the coconut isn't actually as dominant as I would have thought.. . Great end to a dinner with new friends.
Ooooh, yum. These look very good.
Has anyone tried freezing these? Thank you