You’ve heard that saying “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”? Well, that’s what my photography is like. A food photographer, I am not. If I bake something, it could take a day and a half before I get the final product and then I’ve got to try and take a photo, usually around 10:00pm at night and usually with children trying to stall going to bed. I’ve got no idea about lighting, aperture (is that the word?) or whatever. I’m afraid you’ll just have to take my word for it that it tastes nice and is worth making.

I’m not sure how I came about this idea for a cupcake (probably watching too much “Cupcake Wars”) but I was inspired by one of my favourite candy bars, the “Bounty”. Its very similar to the American “Almond Joy” but without the almond.
I decided to do my ‘old faithful’ cake recipe with coconut added and then topped the cake batter with an amount of coconut macaroon mixture and then finished with a chocolate ganache. The cake turned out lovely and dense and although I can feel the texture of coconut, a bit of coconut essence or even coconut milk may have made for a more intense coconut flavour (or even a shot of Malibu coconut rum if you’re that way inclined).
It’s a simple cake with an extra layer of coconut goodness and a rich chocolate ganache topping. I hope you give them a go and don’t rely on my photos for inspiration. I really need to do some kind of photography course or finish off my baking at a respectable hour.
{Bounty} Coconut Chocolate Cupcakes
  • 1 and half cups plain flour
  • 1 cup coconut
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 6 tablespoons oil (I use canola)
  • 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
  • half teaspoon salt
Macaroon mixture:
  • 1 egg white
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2/3 cup coconut

Chocolate ganache:

  • 100gm dark chocolate (or milk chocolate if desired)
  • 125ml thickened cream
  1. Preheat oven to 180 C (375 F). 
  2. Combine flour, sugar, coconut and water in a bowl. 
  3. Add vinegar, oil, baking soda and salt. 
  4. Mix with beaters until smooth.
  5. Fill cupcake papers to 3/4.
  6. For macaroon mixture, beat egg whites until white. Slowly add sugar, one teaspoon at a time until thick, white and glossy. Slowly fold coconut through and spoon teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto the cupcake batter.
  7. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until golden.
  8. For ganache, place broken up chocolate and cream in a microwave proof bowl and heat at 30 second intervals until chocolate has melted (for this quantity I did it twice for 1 minute).
  9. Allow to cool. Before mixture hardens too much, you can dip the cupcakes straight into the ganache or wait until it cools even more and the ganache could be piped onto cupcakes.
This recipe made 12 Texas sized muffin tin cupcakes and 8 mini cupcakes.