Kitchen Chapters

Ingredients

For the pandan cupcake batter:
• 200g butter, softened
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups plain flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 Tablespoon pandan essence (green)
• 1 Tablespoon pandan flavouring (colourless)
• NB: Pandan is available from most Asian supermarkets. You could opt to use 2 Tablespoons of either the essence or the flavouring, but combining the two gives the best balance of flavour and colour.

For the caramel filling
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 40 g butter
• 1/4 cup cream at room temperature

For the coconut buttercream icing
• 170g butter, softened (I would recommend using a vegetable oil substitute such as Olivani, because they are less yellow than butter and will result in whiter coloured icing.)
• 3 3/4 cups icing sugar
• 2 Tablespoons coconut milk
• NB: If you are planning to pipe your icing, rather than spread it with a knife/spatula, I’d recommend doubling the amount of icing.

Instructions

Cupcakes:
• Preheat oven to 180˚C and line muffin/cupcake trays with cases.
• Cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
• Add the eggs and mix slowly until just combined.
• Sift flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl and mix lightly.
• Add milk, pandan essence and pandan extract, then mix gently until colour is distributed evenly.

• Half fill each cupcake case , then bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cakes comes out clean.

Caramel filling:
• Put sugar in a clean, dry saucepan and melt it over a medium heat. Do not stir until half the sugar is melted. NB: It will be very hot. Be careful – and don’t use plastic utensils!
• When the sugar turns a dark golden colour, take off the heat. Add butter and stir until it is melted.
• Add cream and stir quickly until the caramel is smooth.
• Allow to cool completely – it will thicken substantially.

Coconut buttercream icing:
• Beat butter until soft and pale, then add coconut milk.
• Add icing sugar a little at a time, beating until smooth.

Assembly:

• When cupcakes and caramel are completely cool, it’s time to get filling. This can be done in two ways: cutting a hole out of the top of the cupcake (use the bottom of an icing tip, an apple corer or a small knife) and using a piping bag to put the caramel in, or fitting your piping bag with a narrow tip and putting it directly into the middle of the cupcake. If you choose the second method, be careful not to overfill or your cakes will burst!
• Ice!

Notes

http://www.kitchenchapters.com/pandan-cupcakes-with-coconut-buttercream-and-caramel-filling/